Family sells lease for Ketch Joanne and Harbor Bar

“The Ketch has been the heart and home of this community for nearly half a century and it is with heavy yet hopeful hearts that it is time to say goodbye and set sail for a new adventure,” reads the release. 

Joanne Franklin first opened the restaurant doors in 1975. Her daughters, Wendy and Heidi, began working at the restaurant as teenagers and eventually traded off running the business. Wendy Franklin-Willis, who no longer works at the restaurant, recalled that the original space only seated around nine people. 

“My mom was always an amazing cook,” she told the Review. “We needed a way to make money, so we decided to open a restaurant, and she’d always dreamed of one.” 

Wendy Franklin-Willis also fondly remembered how the early days catered largely to the fishing community. She reminisced about the lively scenes the restaurant hosted as fishermen from Oregon and Washington came south during crab and salmon season. 

“It was a little city at night with all their lights on,” she said. “They’d sell their catch and come in to eat. And they’d be from all over.” 

The Franklins and business partner Albert Dunne sold three separate leases to Pelagic Restaurant Group, a collective composed of 15 local residents and business owners that includes David and Mishelle Westendorf of Jettywave, Marcos Ruiz Mendez and Edward Wilkinson. Though lease details are still being worked out, Pelagic plans to have a fish market on the tenant row and keep the “Ketch” name in the restaurant that will occupy the building. 

In June, the San Mateo County Harbor Commission approved the sale of the lease for the restaurant, Harbor Bar, Ketch Café and Order at the Corner. The lease for the restaurant and bar was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2024. Part of the condition of approval was that Pelagic must negotiate new leases for the properties within 90 days of the lease assignment, and each contract cannot exceed five years.

David Westendorf said the new ownership group hopes to transition the local institution while still keeping a similar footprint with a fully functioning restaurant, bar and fish market. “We’re passionately working together to create a new vision for the next chapter of the iconic restaurant location in our Princeton harbor,” he said in a statement to the harbor board in July. 

The restaurant and bar have been closed for most of the year. Starting on Jan. 23 it began renovations to its bathrooms, which stemmed from an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit in 2018. The upgrades were initially anticipated to be finished in March but dragged on for four months, and the restaurant remained closed during construction.