What defines Punch Bowl Social?
I started developing Punch Bowl Social in 2010, which combines the social gaming element, the scratch kitchen piece of it, the craft beverage piece of it in a large format designed for an environment that we effectively modulate to make 24,000 square feet of space feel warmer and also effective for entertaining multiple groups simultaneously. We’re a design-forward group, so we look for adaptive-reuse opportunities, starting in the beginning with the first location [that opened in Denver in 2012].
What do you consider the most important element of your business?
The thing that we work very hard to get across to the customer is that the culinary [aspect] is a very serious element for us, and it’s one of the key differentiation points between everybody else in the category. We put our kitchens in the primary dining room by the front door, so when you walk into a Punch Bowl, you literally have to walk through that area that also has an open kitchen and a large dessert case in a traditional diner format.
How are you responding to what customers are looking for right now?
Our core customer of Millennials—and now bleeding into Gen Z—want authenticity. The retail and restaurant brands that are falling off or becoming irrelevant are the ones that can’t connect; they feel inauthentic. And there’s sort of a bright line between the old and the new, and a lot of modern brands understand that authenticity has to be part of your DNA. You can’t retrofit your DNA. There’s a lot of integrity and honesty in design. It speaks to us in colors and the way that we develop concepts and that benefits the authentic end result we get with our restaurants.
How do you get inspired by the location?
We want to capture the spirit of the area. We just opened up another location in Virginia, and you might wonder what’s the interesting story in Northern Virginia. To us, it was the 1906 Luna Circus, and specifically the Great Elephant Escape that occurred during the 1906 circus. In San Diego, for example, we took on this dilapidated 1920s boxing arena and brought that back to life. At the Stapleton location in Denver, we restored an air traffic control tower and converted the base building into a Punchbowl Social, choosing a midcentury modern flight air travel theme. Sometimes the building has a story that dictates the design and sometimes, like in Deep Ellum, Dallas, we’re looking at micro district and saying, ‘This is the spirit of this district, and we’re going to distill it into these four walls.’
You’ve opened 15 locations and employ more than 1,600 people. What’s next for the company?
We’ll open seven, potentially eight, locations this year. Wynwood in Miami is an exciting location for us. We’re also opening in the historic Deep Ellum entertainment district in Dallas. It’s had this long life cycle, and it’s entering a new phase. We like being part of the resurgence of the district. We took design cues from the area’s jazz roots and 1980s punk scene. We also launched something we call Putt Club in our Cleveland location where we’ve brought mini-golf inside a 2,000-square-foot space. It’s the biggest year in our history.
Photos of Punch Bowl Social Arlington
Rendering of forthcoming Punch Bowl Social in Miami
