My very first concept I can recall creating was called Cafe Bang Bang. It was a bar/pub with a pop art vibe. Mostly a burger bar with other options as well. Very similar to LTO 2.0 with bar games and heavy on the cocktail side. You would see influences of the Vortex in the menu and vibe I used to be a huge fan of the Vortex. I still am but I know Greenville would never accept a theme like that here but I’ll still drive 3 hours down to little 5 points to enjoy a blue shroom with tots. I’ve also settled a bit and don’t have the juice to hang out there for that long anymore. Greenville you are just too conservative. My partner and I came somewhat close to taking over an old iconic bar location downtown but didn’t care for the vibe the fella was trying to sublease us with so we never did it. Another possible location would’ve been right across the street from the Hyatt right above Blu Martini but we never pursued it.

I had another concept that would’ve been a sports bar theme on a roof top area downtown I had named “Lucy in the Sky”. The menu was a little similar to Cafe Bang Bang but with more entrees and small plates involved. Loved the idea of the roof top but in all honesty it was a pipe dream that never even made it on paper. I’d still be paying for the construction on that concept.

I created a revamp of Arizona Steakhouse when it was struggling. I wrote out a menu and called it Taco Social. This was well before you could find a taco joint on every street corner in Greenville. I had suggested the bar be moved towards the parking lot and create an indoor outdoor patio, upscale Mexican inspired dishes fused with the steakhouse hickory grill. Dark interior, dj spinning on the weekend with possible night club vibe after 10. It never took flight in fact in went right in the trash right after I tried to show it to my old boss and he discarded it.

Taco La Barra coincidentally had some of that flair to it when they did the remodel although it was more of a Rio Bravo ish flash that never took off. Tipsy ruled that side of town.

My next concept was actually published in the name of Southern Culture which was inspired by the rockabilly band Southern Culture on the Skids. The vibe was meant to replicate the name but it was tweaked quite a bit to fit the area. I consider Southern my debut album. A lot of love and inspiration went into that menu in fact I’ve yet to come up with anything even close energy to that in other concepts in my menu journaling.

Currently trying to channel that energy to Graze. It needs the same heart.

Dive N Boar was a fun concept but it never really found its identity and we didn’t give it time to. We were cocky and thought we could shit on a menu board and people would come. Was it a cocktail bar or a bbq joint? Then burgers were added and bbq reduced. Then we went full gastropub and watched the toilet flush it all away in 6 months. Dive N Boar = fun concept, shitty delivery. We could’ve done better. Also if the dominos had fallen the way they were intended to Dive would’ve been in the Habitap location. The concept had some mirrored similarities to Southern. It was not meant to be its neighbor. Again hindsight is 20/20.

Another one you never saw that was branded well before we even created it was “Local Toast”. It would’ve been an all day diner with brunch and meat and three as the star. A well established bar and Bloody Mary table set up all day. This concept had a lot of potential. I have no clue what happened to the menu or branding. It also was set up to be on Miller Road to take the place of the Dive since we opened it in Cherrydale.

LTO was originally called “Elbow Grease” due to the garage looking interior I wanted to go full dive burger bar. My partners were not of that style so we met in the middle and started off with LTO 1.0 with the giant fucking milkshakes that I despised, pop art kid props and tacky design. Bar did well. We tried to revamp to go more towards the dive bar but it had already been labeled differently it never took its true form. The third one shit the bed relatively quick too.

Don’t try to copy my vibe if I’m not a part of it..

Habitap and I’ve mentioned this before was probably my least favorite. I was tired and only wanted to create a beer/wine taproom with over the top pub sandwiches. Originally we discussed a higher scale tavern but it was too expensive to move the bar. I wanted an easy going interior, dark hangout with some TVs and nothing chef driven. It was meant to be a low budget easy concept. We went about $200k over budget. We added a pizza oven, high scale pub appearance with a lot of barn wood shit on the walls. With the money spent we could’ve easily done the tavern. I can’t recall the name of the tavern or if I even came up with one. Miller Public House? Fuck I don’t know. I did have a back up concept called EZ-Q. It was a fast casual bbq similar to Lewis BBQ but in all honesty it never even made it to a menu mock up. Also BBQ places are a dime a dozen around here. This isn’t a knock on the well established ones btw. I love the local bbq scene here

Hab was opened as fast casual. We changed it to full service after Covid for safety reasons and also because the concept wasn’t working that well. I take full responsibility for it. I was stuck on fast casual and we went too fancy for it to work. During Covid I had suggested changing it to more of an upscale market but we had the unfortunate geography of being behind Whole Foods. Take home charcuterie boards had been mentioned but no one but myself liked that idea. Good for me I suppose.

I’ve retired quite a few concepts on my drawing board as of late. I love creating them but you won’t catch me opening one of these anymore. Once I made up my mind that selling alcohol was no longer in my moral wheelhouse that eliminated 80% of my concepts I had created.

I’m at peace with that.

Especially now with liability destroying a lot of small businesses. I wish I had the energy to fight the good fight with them but my fighting spark fizzled with covid.

I’ve often thought of selling them off but again that puts me in the spotlight of making them happen and that usually takes about a year off of my life span. I do enjoy creating them in my head. Some over the top fictional concepts. I like the idea of helping create an idea and then walking away the day it opens.

I had a fun concept, one my wife hates I called The Pickled Cockroach. It would’ve been a seedy dive bar with cheap cocktails and amazing food. I wanted to push the paradox of shitty, tacky looking bar with a terrible name knocking the shit out of all the fancy upstarts that charge $15 for truffle fries. I love a good challenge

Slab Town – a hipster steakhouse but wallet friendly with community tables. All steaks would be ala cart

Tacobubba – a white trash taco joint. This was just for fun. The only place I see this working would’ve been Myrtle Beach.

The Soul Hole that would’ve been a soul food kitchen focusing on fried chicken and off the wall donuts. I could still be talked into this one..

The Concept Artist – where the theme changes daily or weekly. You invite new upstart chefs to come in randomly and write a menu to sell their concept. I’d provide the inventory give them a budget and then sell tickets to their dinner. I’d actually still do this one if I had the opportunity. Concepts get stale with me real fast. This would hold my attention.

There are more. At least a dozen or so mostly fictional that would never work but fun to create. I rarely go into logistics with them because they are purely for fiction.

I just enjoy writing out the vision. It’s like writing short story concepts. It’s the novels I stay away from. That means commitment.

No thank you

Grazeland was actually a concept name I had originally planned for a farm to table diner but it fits with what I’m doing and I don’t have any interest in a diner at the moment although if I ever opened an actual eatery it would be a meat and three.

With a twist obviously and I would name it Peggy Ann’s Diner after my mother. It would be filled with her old school southern Alabama vibe, love and charm.

That would be the only full service I’d do. No alcohol either.

But

I’m honed in on a deli at the moment. This’ll be concept birth number 7 I believe..

Fix Coffee

Southern Culture

Dive n Boar

LTO

Habitap

Chadcuterie

Grazeland.

Notice how I put a period after the last one..