PopStroke’s food-and-beverage facet is branded as BarTenders Eatery. | Photograph courtesy of PopStroke.
Shoppers could also be chopping again on restaurant visits, however they nonetheless love their mini golf.
So contends Greg Bartoli, founder and CEO of PopStroke, one in all numerous golf-themed experiential eating ideas that has formidable plans for development.
PopStroke is co-owned by Bartoli with golf champion Tiger Woods. The golf gear model TaylorMade is a minority investor. The Florida-based chain is getting ready to open its nineteenth location (Austin, Texas) and twentieth location (Nashville, Tennessee) within the subsequent two months.
Throughout the subsequent 24 months, Bartoli expects to open one other 15 items, then including 12 to fifteen every year, beginning in 2028. All PopStroke areas are company-owned.
This development is deliberate regardless of the financial headwinds that look like impacting most different restaurant ideas (besides, after all, Chili’s).
Bartoli paints PopStroke as essentially a eating idea, with a “brand-within-a-brand” food-and-beverage program constructed across the Bar Tenders Eatery.
Not surprisingly, there are hen tenders in numerous varieties, together with salads and wraps, in addition to burgers, tacos and sides, like parmesan truffle fries. The eatery contains an ice cream parlor with shakes—together with boozy shakes— and soiled sodas. Diners can come benefit from the restaurant with out paying the $25 to $35 for a golf day move.
Bartoli, a former funding banker with J.P. Morgan, mentioned PopStroke appeals to households in the course of the day, however at night time the ambiance shifts to a younger grownup crowd, with music, sports activities on TV, and different video games.
“It’s a really vigorous bar ambiance with younger professionals, Millennials, Gen Z and so forth. And I believe that’s what has allowed this model over the past 5 years to blow up as rapidly because it has,” mentioned Bartoli.
PopStroke items take up about 4 acres with a course designed for all expertise ranges. | Photograph courtesy of PopStroke.
Bartoli additionally owns about 30 eating places, largely in Florida, together with Dune Canine Eating places and The Burger Shack. He mentioned PopStroke was born in late 2019.
On the time, he owned one other golf idea referred to as Lighthouse Cove in Jupiter, Florida, with a scratch kitchen and ice cream parlor, which he began to develop.
PopStroke grew to become a spinoff of that concept, and, for the primary few years, there was only one location in Port Lucie, Florida.
However development actually picked up over the previous three years as demand for extra experiential and social eating got here again after the pandemic shutdown. The chain now has 9 items in Florida and 6 in Texas, in addition to areas in Nevada and Arizona, and, quickly, Tennessee.
Bartoli contends PopStroke is totally different from opponents within the golf-themed experiential eating area, most notably the more-than 100-unit Topgolf and its spinoff, the almost 20-unit Puttshack. There’s additionally 5 Iron Golf, which received an funding final yr from Danny Meyer’s Enlightened Hospitality Investments.
Topgolf is owned by Callaway Manufacturers, which has been planning a by-product of the idea for a while, although the resignation of the CEO lately has put these plans on maintain. Identical-store gross sales for Topgolf had been down 6% within the second quarter, although extra worth positioning has helped enhance visitors, the corporate mentioned in its earnings report.
(The founders of Topgolf and Puttshack, Steve and Dave Jolliffe, are actually engaged on one other tech-enhanced idea referred to as Poolhouse.)
Bartoli contends that these competing manufacturers are extra “mature” and have much less room for development. And the meals there’s considerably of an “afterthought.”
PopStroke, in the meantime, appeals to a broader viewers, he mentioned.
Right here, there is no such thing as a placing balls via the clown’s mouth or a shifting windmill, although there are bumpers to maintain balls on the course.
“It’s a extra refined placing expertise that’s designed by skilled golf architects,” mentioned Bartoli. “It’s extra of a 2025 spin on this very dynamic ambiance.”
Which means music and jumbotron TVs for watching sports activities. The placing programs are usually about 4 acres, however there are bars all through, or visitors can order on the app and drinks will be delivered wherever they’re on the course, utilizing digital beacons.
Bartoli declined to say what share of gross sales comes from the food-and-beverage facet, or share any particulars about gross sales for the chain.
However he mentioned comparable gross sales are rising, and Bartoli predicts PopStroke will see about 5 million guests over the subsequent 12 months.
The powerful financial local weather is primarily impacting lower-income customers, Bartoli mentioned, the place PopStroke appeals to a higher-income diner, extra consistent with a Capital Grille or Yard Home demographic that hasn’t been hit as onerous.
“I additionally assume that the macro surroundings is definitely getting higher, not worse,” he mentioned.
Within the experiential eating world, “there will likely be winners and losers,” mentioned Bartoli. Some manufacturers will disappear.
However, he added, “I simply assume the youthful technology likes to exit, eat and have an expertise whereas they’re there. So I believe this leisure sector goes to proceed to broaden dramatically over the subsequent 20 years.”
