Like the opposite of those Chick-fil-A ads with the cows, Shaw restaurant The Bird is trading poultry for beef. The restaurant will cease operations later this month and reopen as Frenchy’s Naturel, a French bistro with a focus on steak. After a “going out of business” sale on January 21, in which all food and drink at the restaurant will be half off, Frenchy’s is planned to open on January 31.

According to David Winer, who owns EatWell DC, the restaurant group behind The Bird, the change comes after two years of turbulence since the restaurant opened—a period that’s included a series of executive chefs. Eric McKamey, formerly of Momofuku and Mintwood Place who joins to helm Frenchy’s, is chef number five for the property.

“This revolving door of chefs has caused our food to be at times great and at times less than great,” Miner says. “After two years, I recognized that we were in an uphill battle to win back guests in this market. We thought it would be better to wipe clean the slate rather than win back customers who had been disappointed by us.”

When The Bird opened in 2016, publicity centered around its menu of 13 types of fowl, including raw ostrich, whole roasted chicken, fois gras (humanely raised, the menu pointed out), grilled squab, and duck stuffed with sausage. There was even a chicken pudding for dessert. As time went on and chefs cycled in and out, Miner says, business waned. “We started out seeing faces you’re familiar with and then seeing less,” he says.

This, despite a series of popular political drink specials, which offered happy hour prices each time a senior White House official departed the Trump administration or when Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted an associate of the president. Miner estimates The Bird offered these discounts about 30 times over the past two years.

“The intention was nice and it drove thousands of dollars to our restaurant, but it was also a distraction,” he says. Sometimes it took our eye off dinner business.”

Another issue, he says, was the space itself. The 3,200-square-foot restaurant seats diners across two stories, and on a rooftop deck and patio on nice days. That inconsistency in size made things difficult, especially when weather would change on a dime.

“It’s a big restaurant and a tiny restaurant, which makes it tough to operate,” Miner says. “On a cold, wet day we have 75 seats [indoors]. On a spring day we have 150 seats. That’s challenging. Doubling your size, particularly in a small restaurant, is a staffing complication, like if it rains and you have to call off people.” Sometimes the opposite would happen: Days that started out with a small staff to work indoors would be overwhelmed with outdoor parties if the skies suddenly cleared.

He’s dealing with service issues like these at Frenchy’s by reorganizing the waitstaff structure: Rather than one waiter assigned to each table or seat, servers will be paired into teams. A front server will be on the floor in each zone of the restaurant to interact with guests and take orders; another will be in the kitchen getting food ready and working with the kitchen staff. The waitstaff will likely be slightly larger than at The Bird, he says. “Servers can handle double the tables because they’re doing half the work,” he says.

He’s anticipating the entire team from The Bird will stay on at Frenchy’s. Though the plan to swap out the brands has been in the works for months, he says they held off on announcing details to the entire staff until Tuesday, shortly before sending out a release to the public. “We announced situation when we had full blown concept to offer them and could ensure the shortest window that they would not be working,” he says.

After going dark for 10 days later this month to bring a “French, modern bistro” look to the interiors, Frenchy’s Naturel will open for dinner and brunch with a steak frites-heavy menu. Miner has had the idea for a French concept bouncing around for a while: He briefly considered opening bistros in Northwest D.C. in spots now occupied by Stoney’s and MilkBar.

Miner was inspired by casual French restaurants he’d visit in Miami Beach, where you could find “a good quality piece of meat, all the fries you can eat, and a good quality sauce. Just a basic full meal. It’s how I like to eat and how I think most people like to eat. Having simpler things is a pleasure.”

At Frenchy, diners can choose from a small menu of steaks—including a sirloin, an entrecôte, or a ribeye—or basic plates like a cheeseburger, a mushroom omelet, crusted salmon, and sauteed chicken. Each dish is served with a small salad and fries (which can be subbed for a vegetable). Appetizers include pate, steak tartare, and mussels.

One thing will stay the same: the brunch menu, which Miner says was consistently the most successful aspect of The Bird. Along with new additions like steak and eggs and croque madame, Frenchy’s will keep many of The Bird’s items, including chicken and waffles and fried chicken benedict. “We don’t want to mess with success,” Miner says.

Frenchy’s Naturel opens Jan. 31 at 1337 11th St. NW. Hours will be Monday-Thursday 4 p.m.-11 p.m., Friday 4 p.m.-11 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-11 p.m., and Sunday 9 a.m.-10 p.m.

This post has been updated with the correct spelling for David Winer’s name.