AYER — After running nightclubs, bars and restaurants for more than a decade, Reza Rahamani still remembers the moment he decided to start his first business as a “heart-wrenching process.”
Lahamani recalled struggling to raise funds for his first nightclub in Amherst and having to rely on family and friends.
The experience inspired Rahamani to consider handing over the rights to Bar 25, one of his three Massachusetts businesses, to someone who could, in theory, now fill the shoes he should have filled so long ago.
Rahmani opened Bar 25 in 2018, but initially wanted to try his hand at running a 1920s-themed cocktail bar. He worked with local artists to transform a former office space at 25 Main Street into the bar.
That bar inspired the opening of a much larger, similarly themed bar in Newburyport in 2021, also named “Bar 25.”
“When I got into the restaurant business, I'd run Mediterranean restaurants and nightclubs, but I'd never done this,” Lahamani says. “This became a testing ground for our vision of just serving cocktails and a few bites.”
“This place means a lot to me because of what it has done for me.”
Lahamani, who also owns China Tacos in Salisbury Beach, said his decision to give up the remaining four years of his lease on the Main Street store in Ayer came about because he wanted to shift his focus to his other two stores.
But in the meantime, Rahamani has no intention of leaving the spotlight on whoever takes over.
“This is a very intelligent community, and they have really good taste,” Lahamani says. “They fill these tables night after night, and they're here to test you. They know their way around cocktails, so we want to make sure they're in the right hands.”
“The ideal pitcher will be someone who can take a bar idea and bring it to life as a brand and has a passion for the restaurant business.”
With the deadline approaching on Friday, they say they have already received about 15 proposals and there is a lot of interest.
A panel of tasting judges will also choose a winner at the event, which will be held at Lahamani's other restaurant in Newburyport.
Rahmani knows what it takes to run a successful business not only from his own experience, but as the son of an Iranian immigrant family that ran a Persian restaurant called Moby Dick in Cambridge's Harvard Square for nearly 20 years.
Even though he earned a dual degree in business and economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and spent several years working in supply management at Honeywell Aerospace, “the restaurant industry always called me back.”
“I left a very comfortable, easy job to do this,” Lahamani says. “It's who I am.”
Rahamani said he hopes that by giving away his Ayer store, he can help others get what he needed years ago, after having borne the brunt of “a lot of failure and no guidance” over the years.
He said, among other efforts, he is working on raising funds for the next person and will also be offering consulting services on how to run a business, including overhead costs, which “can be devastating on the first try.”
Rahmani said if successful, his decision to hand over the license to Bar 25 could start a trend of more established, experienced businessmen opening up their smaller storefronts to new business.
“The rent is controllable, the overhead is very controllable,” Lahamani said. “This gives them a launch pad and, God bless them, they can open a chain from here.”
“The goal is to use these spaces to continue the trend of more independent visions, especially attracting young talent to join the industry.”
