Blue Rooster is shutting its doors on April 30

The Blue Rooster is preparing for its final cluck.

The downtown Sarasota eatery and blues bar will be closing its doors for good on April 30, and owner Bill Cornelius said Monday that he has sold the building to a new operator.

Cornelius, 70 years old, said that he and his wife, Ellen, are ready to retire.

“I’m just tired of operating it,” Cornelius says of closing down. “I’m going to be 71 in June. My wife and I have been running it. We just want to take some time to relax and travel.”

Cornelius said that the new owners will not close on the location until next summer.

The Blue Rooster — which became a Rosemary District staple over the course of a decade — will have its final gospel brunch on Easter Sunday, and Cornelius said it was a labor of love operating it the past nine years.

“It was great. I always loved music,” says Cornelius. “I always thought it would be fun to run a blues bar, but my wife wouldn’t let me run it by myself. My neighbor down the street, Devin Rutkowski, always wanted to open up a restaurant with southern food. We got together and started The Blue Rooster in 2013, and then I bought him out after about a year or so.”

The bar, open Wednesday through Sunday, was fully operated by Bill and Ellen Cornelius since Rutkowski exited the picture. Bill delighted in booking the musical acts, and Ellen handled the books.

Cornelius said The Blue Rooster was a passion project made good.

“We had a good time,” he said. “My goal when I opened it was to break even. And we did. Every year, except during COVID, when we lost about $600,000. It’s been fun. We never made a lot of money, but we had a lot of good times and provided a lot of good jobs.”

Cornelius declined comment on the building’s sale price; he said the new owners are still doing due diligence and that they are not expected to take possession until July 2023.

The Blue Rooster became known for hosting local artists but also quality blues band from outside the Gulf Coast area. Cornelius said that many of the bands were bands he had personally seen in other venues, and he delighted in bringing them to Sarasota.

“The music was easy,” he says. “I booked some really good out-of-town bands, even though the local people didn’t turn out to see them. It was like having a private concert for me. I hoped after a while people would know we always have good music at The Blue Rooster, even if they didn’t know the bands, but it didn’t turn out that way. Every time I would get a really good band from out of town, and people didn’t know them, the turnout would be very poor. A lot of people just like to come and dance and have fun with local bands.”