It couldn’t be a much better fit for David and Jill Pritchard to open the Scotch and Vine restaurant at the city-owned Riverbend Golf Complex.
“We were very excited to hear the opportunity was at the golf course because we are all avid golfers and Scotch goes with golf,” co-owner Jill Pritchard said.
The restaurant is aiming to open on May 1.
The Kent City Council on Tuesday night approved a five-year lease with one additional five-year option to renew for the Pritchards to take over the restaurant space that has sat empty since Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub and Restaurant closed in June.
The lease requires payment by Scotch and Vine to the city of 8 percent of gross monthly revenues, with a minimum of $5,000 per month and a maximum of $12,000. The first three months of the lease are free to help the restaurant get up and running, according to city officials.
Scotch and Vine opened in 2011 in downtown Des Moines and will add the Kent location.
“My husband and I used to live in Kent and so we would always golf at Riverbend,” Jill Pritchard said. “We love the course.”
Initially, the restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner. Golfers, however, will be able to grab breakfast items as well. The owners plan to have food carts available on the course so golfers can eat as they golf.
The restaurant features steaks, chops, pastas, chicken and specialties. The menu includes Kobe beef, buffalo and elk burgers. It also offers 250 Scotch labels, selections of bourbon, rye, Canadian and Irish whiskeys, more than 200 wines and eight craft beers. The restaurant employs 15 people in Des Moines and plans to add 30 or 40 more employees to run the Riverbend location.
“I’m confident we have a terrific partner as we move forward,” said City Parks Director Jeff Watling. “What we sought to do with this lease agreement is to create a win-win agreement that takes their needs and interests as a restaurant but fitting it in with our goals to manage a golf enterprise and fund to ensure we have a partner in food service to help us generate revenue.”
The lease agreement has several changes compared to the prior tenant, which led to a dispute about utility payments because the facility had no separate meters for the restaurant and 18-hole clubhouse next door.
“It is a percentage based rent and that includes utilities as well,” Watling said. “Some of the utilities do no have separate meters so rather than trying to identify percent of use we are going to do percent of sales.”
The city has made design changes to the space to help attract customers. The entrance has been moved to allow people to easily enter the restaurant rather than coming in off to the side of it. Walls also were removed to create banquet space.
“It will bring more banquet opportunities such as weddings,” Pritchard said. “There is a separate banquet room and we hope to utilize a tent on the course as well.”
Councilwoman Dana Ralph goes to the Des Moines location and can’t wait to go to Riverbend.
“Welcome, we are so excited to have you,” Ralph said to Pritchard at the council’s Operations Committee meeting prior to the full council approval of the lease. “I think the residents of Kent are going to appreciate it. It’s nice to be able to stay in Kent and have great options for food. We are looking forward to it very, very much.”
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