insiderseattle
It’s official.
Joshua Henderson has sold the majority of his restaurant group the Huxley Wallace Collective to partners Chad Dale and Ira Gerlich. Westward, Saint Helens Cafe, and the Great State franchise were all part of the purchase, official July 1st, 2018. Huxley Wallace Collective will continue to solely own and manage Quality Athletics, Kiki Ramen, Poulet Galore, and additional projects down the line.
Dale and Gerlich will join forces with Renee Erickson’s Sea Creatures restaurant group in managing the restaurants that Henderson decided to sell from Huxley Wallace Collective’s portfolio.
About 11 years ago Henderson founded Skillet Street Food out of an old Airstream trailer, and from there grew that restaurant group to 4 brick and mortar locations, two street food trucks, and a nationwide food product line. In 2013 Josh moved on to found the Huxley Wallace Collective and in a span of five years created 10 more restaurants. Among those restaurants were James Beard nominations, yearly best of the city and country awards, top restaurant lists, and countless features in publications and broadcasts around the world.
All the while, he had two growing boys, Huxley and Wallace, and felt a tangible desire and pull to see more of them. “I realized that the call of ‘empire building’ and accolades couldn’t compete with the generational and visceral impact that being a present father would have,” said Henderson. “Plus, I simply missed them and had spent long enough feeding my ego, or making choices that only involved me. I was lucky to be in a great position with all HWC had created, and able to make the decision to sell and change focus for a bit.”
Josh will spend half his time on Lopez Island, where his two boys reside. He will continue to also spend half his time in Seattle and abroad being the visionary leader of HWC and continuing to create and develop projects that are interesting, and add to his quality of life.
Josh has promoted Seth Richardson to Director of Operations of the restaurant group. Seth has been with Josh since being a sous chef at the Skillet Diner on Capitol Hill in the early 2000’s. Henderson will continue to be heavily involved in the vision, culture and identity of Huxley Wallace Collective, but Seth will be given the full reigns to steer the ship and be the one guiding on a daily basis.
While proud of the restaurants and concepts that he has helped found and been a part of including skillet, Cone and Steiner, the Hollywood Tavern, Scout and the Nest at Thompson Seattle, Westward, Quality Athletics, Saint Helens Cafe, Great State Burger, Kiki Ramen, Vestal, Noroeste, and Poulet Galore, Josh is excited and beyond grateful for the next chapter. He’s also thankful for those that stand, and have stood alongside him in his journey.