Watching Tom’s Watch Bar
Last fall, Tom Ryan, longtime food industry vet and founder of the Smashburger chain, opened his new play in the heart of downtown’s malaise, at Sixth and Hennepin. It’s called Tom’s Watch Bar, a modern rethinking of the sports bar. Ryan chose the location because he knows us.
“I knew downtown had lost its luster,” he recalls. “But I liked the proximity to Target Center and Target Field, which de-risks it some. City Center was a motivated landlord, but there was some trepidation. [But] we want to be part of the resurgence, because when I’m all done, I’m gonna live here.” Ryan, 66, came to Minnesota when he joined Pillsbury in 1986, met his wife here, and after building a career all over the U.S., lives here part of the year. (He invented the McGriddle and stuffed-crust pizza, btw.)
Ryan’s new concept got its start as Tom’s Urban, with a 2012 prototype in Denver, followed by Vegas (at New York, New York), then LA in the old ESPN Zone near Staples Center. “We found the more screens we put in, the stickier the concept got,” he says, bucking common wisdom that home flat-screens had done in the sports bar.
Ryan and partners sold Smashburger to Philippines-based fast food conglomerate Jolibee in 2018 and began to focus more on Tom’s. In 2019, it morphed into Tom’s Watch Bar, and plans were announced for one to fill the 7,000-square-foot space of the departed Rosa Mexicano restaurant downtown.
And then came Covid. “We spent the pandemic finding sites; there were a lot of one-of-a-kind sites [looking for tenants], a lot of talent looking for work,” he recalls. “We studied the market. The sports audience had changed—it was less male, more bar-oriented, more upscale.” Fantasy sports and betting aficionados arrived with friends to bet on games from their phones.
Ryan describes Tom’s vibe as “an active environment with a lot of energy, it capitalizes on the emotional energy of sports.” Currently there are 13 across the U.S., with plans for 60 by 2026. “Our customer is 25–40, with high disposable income, and [is] discerning about food. It’s the right demographic space to be in.”
“On Super Bowl Sunday, a notoriously weak day for restaurants, Tom’s was at capacity by 2 p.m.”
Ryan considers Tom’s a sports-based entertainment venue, not a food business. He’s developed partnerships with the Wolves and the Wild, and Tom’s hosts watch parties on some road game nights. On Super Bowl Sunday, a notoriously weak day for restaurants, Tom’s was at capacity by 2 p.m. He says the Hennepin location is outperforming plan and is actually busier on nights when downtown sports venues are dark, noting “the business is metered by the sports calendar.” Most intriguing is that Tom’s is often busy on nights when downtown has nothing going on.
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“Go figure,” Ryan says. Compelling businesses create their own demand.
