The Copper Anchor restaurant in Vineyard Haven will close its doors at the end of the month, with a new restaurant taking over the lease.

Owner JB Blau announced the move this week, but declined to say who the new restaurant operator would be, while adding that it was a Vineyard proprietor who owns multiple restaurants on the Island.

Mr. Blau said he decided to close Copper Anchor to spend more time with his family.

“This wasn’t strictly a business decision, it was more of a family decision,” Mr. Blau said. Two of his children will soon be leaving for college and he hopes that closing one of his operations will give him more time with them.

Mr. Blau added that the announced ending of Beach Road Weekend, the August concert festival located in nearby Veteran’s Park, was also a factor.

“As somebody who was very involved in the festival, that was always our best weekend in August,” Mr. Blau said, “The revenue we got from our portion of the bar sales, that’s what helped us finance our winter operations.”

Copper Anchor openend in 2014 as the Copper Wok, located in the Mansion House Hotel, and is one of a group of restaurants Mr. Blau owns and operates, including Martha’s Vineyard Chowder Company, The Loft and Sharky’s Cantina in Oak Bluffs. In December 2022, he announced the closing of his Edgartown Sharky’s location.

Copper Anchor will close at the end of the month, but Mr. Blau pledged that no one will be out of a job. Current employees will continue working at his other locations, he said.

“Eighty to 90 per cent already work in multiple locations, so it’ll be an easy transition,” Mr. Blau said.

Mr. Blau said closing the Copper Anchor takes pressure off of hiring for the summer season.

“We’ll be hiring some hosts and food runners, but our heavy hiring will be done.”

With the closing of Copper Anchor, Mr. Blau will no longer have a footprint in Tisbury. While there, he advocated for changes to alcohol sales in the town. In 2017, he backed an initiative to allow the sale of hard liquor at restaurants. In 2022, Tisbury’s select board voted to allow customers to order alcohol without food.

“I’m on the back nine of my restaurant career,” Mr. Blau said, “I felt that we had done a lot of the heavy lifting, changing policy in town...but I am ready to pass the torch to someone with a little bit more energy than me right now.”