Popular Lynden restaurant is for sale, but maybe not for long. How it could stay open
Jake’s Lynden Western barbecue restaurant is listed for sale.
But it may not stay that way if they find a general manager.
The restaurant space is currently listed for $225,000 by The Muljat Group. The restaurant recently opened its second restaurant, Underground Burger, which operates inside the same restaurant space in Lynden, as well as a location in Arizona that opened in 2022.
“We listed the restaurant for sale, because of the distance between locations and differences in the business environment between the two areas. We are currently interviewing General Manager applicants as an alternate plan to selling,” explained Brian Poag, the owner, in an email to The Bellingham-Herald. “We love our business in Lynden and the community support is tremendous, so our plan is shifting to holding onto these two profitable concepts and hiring great management to run this location.”
Brian Poag and his wife, Tanya, originally opened the restaurant in 2008, but later sold it in 2017 when they moved away. In 2019, the beloved restaurant reopened, according to previous reporting from The Bellingham Herald.
“The only negative to possibly selling our business is the assumption that things are bad and we have to sell it, but nothing could be further from the truth for us,” Poag wrote. “We have a great team and customers and closing these profitable businesses is not even a consideration.
“Our business is strong and the systems that we have built into it will make this operation strong for a long time; we are extremely confident about that,” Poag added.
The restaurant may not stay listed for sale, as “we are not in a position where we have to sell it,” Poag said.
Poag also noted that Underground Burger in Lynden could also be a part of the sale, with a separate license agreement.
Resumes for the general manager position can be emailed to brian@jakeslynden.com.
