Popular small plate eatery and bar Snack Boys will soon trade its Walker’s Point location for a larger space across town on Milwaukee’s East Side.
The restaurant, which opened in early 2018 at 814 S. 2nd St., plans to move by year’s end to the former Hotel Foster building at 2028 E. North Ave., said co-owner John Revord. That space sits adjacent to the former G-Daddy’s BBC building, which now houses Hacienda Beer Co.’s new taproom and brewpub.
Snack Boys, which is also owned by Mitch Ciohon and Shay Linkus, has become known for its fine-dining-inspired food, unique cocktails and fun, party-like atmosphere, but limited space at its Walker’s Point location has presented challenges.
“As much as we love and adore the neighborhood, that building just isn’t really suitable to our size, our crowd population, how we function, and it’s limiting the growth of our menu design,” Revord said.
With a kitchen four times the size of Snack Boys’ current one and a large basement-level food prep space, the new space is expected to make the greatest impact on the food side of the business, which has plateaued since opening, Revord said.
“We really feel we have not hit the mark where we want to be food-wise and with the growth in this building, we’re really going to ramp up our quality, size and just the different fun stuff we’re going to do with the menu.”
Snack Boys’ new space has a dining area that is almost twice the size of its current one, but seating won’t increase drastically (likely by about five tables). Instead, the additional square footage will be used to improve current operation and flow, and “let the business breathe.”
This will not be Revord’s first time operating a business in the East North Ave. space.
Revord was one of the original owners of Hotel Foster, which closed in 2016 after five years in business.
Both the former G-Daddy’s BBC and Hotel Foster buildings are now owned by Milwaukee developer Joshua Jeffers, who purchased the property in March 2018 for $1.5 million.
Snack Boys’ relocation plans started to take shape in early spring after Revord called Jeffers, asking to keep the Hotel Foster sign still attached to the building’s exterior. Jeffers’ reply was Revord could have the sign as long as he opened a restaurant in the space.
At the time, Revord was financially tied up in some other projects, including Boone & Crocket’s relocation and The Cooperage’s opening, but Jeffers offered to provide monetary support to open the new restaurant.
“We don’t usually work with developers, we do everything on our own,” Revord said. “We’ve just never gone that avenue until I had a sit-down with Josh. He totally opened my eyes to the potential of that avenue. He’s totally trusting in our concept and ability to creatively build out a space that means a lot to him.”
Snack Boys will remain open at its current location up until its new location opens, with no more than a one-week gap in operations. Revord said plans are in the works for a new concept that would open once Snack Boys moves out.
