Marah Morrison, The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio

May 7—As the new owner of The Players Club in Willoughby, Zachary Bond has plans to hit the business’s reset button and give it a new identity.

Located inside of the Lost Nation Sports Park, 38630 Jet Center Place, Bond not only has plans to rebrand and rename The Players Club to The Club Lounge, but bring a new menu to the table.

“When you go to a sporting event to the club lounge, you get the sporting event plus food and beverages as an amenity,” Bond said. “That’s what we want to do. We want to perform at a level that we can provide the best service for people who are already there and also be a free-standing restaurant where the product is unique, the atmosphere’s good and the staff is friendly, and energetic.”

Bond, alongside his wife Marinda, opened The Spot on Lakeshore in October 2021. Since opening at 7272 Lakeshore Blvd., in Mentor, Mike Srsen, owner of the Sports Park, has been observing the business’s success from right around the corner, Bond said.

Not only does Bond think his staff at The Spot is a big asset to the business, but the unique experience, atmosphere and product.

“You can’t replicate it,” he said. “If you want the creme brulee French toast, you gotta come there. It’s difficult to do that, but it’s a lot more gratifying when it does work.”

Looking for someone to take over the restaurant side of things, Srsen approached Bond.

“My wife and I started May 1 just kind of as is,” Bond said, noting that since the changing of hands, they’ve been assessing and observing how the staff operates, as well as what works and what doesn’t.

To do some minor renovations, Bond plans to close The Players Club from May 15 to June 4.

“With restaurants, it’s fast-paced, so sometimes you need a breather, a hard reset and refocus your attention,” he said. “We love the bones here. We’re going to try focusing on our product, staff, what we represent, finding people who enjoy doing it and putting out good energy. It seems as though when you do that, people are drawn to it.”

Once reopening as The Club Lounge, the business will be open seven days a week in the evenings from 4 to 10:30 p.m.

“On weekends, the bar will be a little bit later or if there’s a crowd, we’ll keep it open,” Bond said. “I would say by October, we’ll be ready to bring lunch back.”

Although The Club Lounge won’t start off as 100% scratch as Bond wants to ensure people are receiving the proper service in the beginning, toying around with things in the kitchen is not completely ruled out.

“We’re going to stick with some scratch food, burgers, pizza, wings and just do a really good job at it,” Bond said. “As time goes by, we’ll start toying around with things, make sure the quality is there, the consistency is there and move forward with that.”

There are roughly 20 employees on staff at The Players Club, including part-time and full-time employees.

“When David Bartulovic ran it, we saw the potential of it where the place is packed, both bars, and the private events are going,” Bond said. “We would be honored to take it to where he took it and a little bit farther too, so we’re going to need a lot more staff to handle something like that.”

The small, front bar when patrons first walk in from the Sports Park is an area that Bond hopes will be an atmosphere for families.

“Families can come in, have a meal, feel comfortable, there’s video games for the kids and a fun place where you can still watch a game on TV,” Bond said.

The larger bar in the back will be for adults to gather and also intended to be used for live entertainment on a weekly basis.

“The dart leagues are back there and the patio bar is back there,” Bond said. “We want to extend the patio bar into the seated area. I’d like that to be somewhere where people can watch sporting events.”

The banquet room upstairs, attached to indoor golf, seats more than 100 people and features a projector screen for possible corporate events, as well as private parties.

“My wife is going to be handling front-of-the-house operations and special events planning,” Bond said. “She’s fantastic at it and she already does it for The Spot. We’ve got a lot of options as far as private dining and I see that lifting off.”

As a chef, it’s hard for Bond to loosen the reins on the kitchen, he said, but he is excited to work alongside his wife in this new venture.

“It’s funny because when I was at Willoughby Brewing Co., we did a lot of things like this, so it’s good to get back to that kind of food,” he said. “New opportunities create new opportunities.”

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Source: yahoo!news, The News-Herald
https://news.yahoo.com/players-club-lost-nation-sports-034900839.html