Sea Dog Brewing Company owner Fred Forsley would like to set the record straight after rumors began swirling that the Exeter pub restaurant was shutting its doors. “We’re definitely not closing,” he said. Forsley, who has owned the Sea Dog chain since 2002, isn’t sure where rumors about its future in Exeter originated, but he insisted that the restaurant on Water Street with views of the picturesque Squamscott River isn’t going anywhere.
Sea Dog, which also has a restaurant in North Conway with five additional locations in Maine and one in Florida, opened in Exeter in 2018 in the former Loaf & Ladle building after it received a major facelift. While the improvements to the aging building and Sea Dog’s arrival were celebrated, the Exeter location isn’t immune from the struggles that many restaurants have faced, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and with the sting of rising prices in recent years. One of the biggest challenges, Forsley said, is finding a way to bring back the weekday lunch crowd as consumer habits change.
“Exeter is a great town, but it’s just tough to get people out during the week. I’ve been in the business for 33 years and lunch is not as busy as it used to be. People don’t go out for lunch as much as they used to,” he said.
Sea Dog is hardly alone. According to a report released last year by the digital payment platform Square, nationwide weekday lunch sales fell 3.3% from 2019 to 2023.
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