The Past 23 Years

Bill and Sabra Nickas’ vision of bringing an upscale restaurant to Anderson became a reality in February of 1999 when they opened Sullivan’s Metropolitan Grill. The idea of a fine dining menu in an elevated atmosphere was new to this community and there were many who were unsure if our city could sustain a restaurant like that. Bill served as the executive chef, and his wife Sabra, as the pastry chef. They knew it would be a challenge to grow this business, especially with a growing family. However, through dedication and hard work to their dream, the Nickas’ experienced success like they had not anticipated. They received numerous culinary awards and were featured in “Southern Living Magazine”, “South Carolina Magazine'', as well as on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The community has been faithful to support this business for 23 years, and we experienced our best year yet in 2019. The restaurant remained busy, our catering business was booming, and we were grateful.

As anyone who is reading this knows, COVID-19 hit our nation in early 2020, causing shutdowns of millions of businesses and bringing uncertainty and many questions to restaurant owners. This pandemic forced us to stack our chairs and move our tables aside while we solely took to-go orders and wondered how long we would have to go without being able to serve our guests at a table. While we were extremely grateful to remain open, we missed the service aspect greatly. Not surprisingly, we did experience a significant decrease in sales and revenue and struggled for several months as did many local restaurants. Miraculously through COVID relief funding programs, we were able to keep every single employee on payroll and avoid any lay-offs. Bill ensured his employees were taken care of and were able to take a paycheck home to their families. That’s what success of a business looks like during a pandemic.

Fast forward several months and our doors were opened once again to provide dine-in for our guests. That first day was so exhilarating! There was an energy and a joy among our staff like we hadn’t seen in a while. Business picked up day after day, month after month, and last year in 2021, we saw the highest gross sales this restaurant has had in 23 years. We were overwhelmed by the support this community poured out, grateful for the many first-time guests we were able to serve, the countless events we had the privilege of catering, and the Christmas season that was incredibly abundant. We are entering 2022 with gratitude and are optimistically expectant of the growth and opportunity that this next year will bring. We have plans to expand and further develop Sullivan’s catering business and are dreaming big and planning for the future. We truly believe the best is yet to come, and we look forward to serving you in 2022!