DETROIT (WXYZ) — Pull up a seat because the bar is open.
Side Hustle Lounge in downtown Detroit is celebrating its very first week in business, the same week the city hosts the NFL Draft. The new lounge shares space and owners with Mootz Pizza, located directly next door.
“What is your excitement level heading into the NFL Draft right now?" I asked Director of Operations Walter Gregorio.
"It's been ramping up. Every day, it gets a little higher," Gregorio said. "Today is a 12 on a scale of 10.”
The bar is just a short walk from the draft stage and along with Mootz, the entire space is already rented out for a private event on the first night of the draft. Behind the bar is an additional dining area for Mootz.
"We're working out the kinks, trying to figure out how the larger dining room and second bar affect the kitchen, how much staff we need to take great care of the customers,” Gregorio said.
VIDEO: Celebrating the NFL Draft in Southwest Detroit
Side Hustle is just one of many new businesses downtown rushing to get open for the draft. Easy Peasy, a new bar at the corner of Woodward Aveneue and John R Street, was still hard at work prepping their space on Monday.
“When we knew this (NFL Draft) was happening, it was like we have to figure out a way to be open bottom line,” Easy Peasy co-owner Matt Mergener said. "I guess a better way to put it is like 'code red.' You drop everything and everything you're doing and just work until it's done.”
Mergener is opening the new bar with his wife and another couple who all live in the city of Detroit. They also own and operate another bar on the east side of the city called Two Birds.
Easy Peasy's official opening isn’t until May and they’re still finalizing permits this week. However, they'll still be open for the three days of the NFL Draft, even if it means no sleep, plastic cups, a limited drink menu and having the owners all working behind the bar.
“It's important mainly to show off the space to people we wouldn't get a chance to otherwise and also make a little bit of money and put it back into this space for the actual opening,” Mergener said.
Meanwhile at Side Hustle, it was down to the wire too. Last week, the shipment of all the furniture in the bar got delayed. So over the weekend, the owner flew a manager and his girlfriend to Houston to rent a U-Haul, go to the warehouse and drive the furniture to Detroit themselves.
"He drove straight through without stopping," Gregorio said. "Seventeen hours, just stopping for gas and food."
It’s the last-minute rush to get everything ready as owners work to show off not only their business but more importantly their city.
"To me, nothing better than having someone come down here and come up to me and say wow, this is way nicer than I imagined, this is not what I heard about Detroit,” Gregorio said.
"We all live in the city, we all live in neighborhoods in city proper and we all want to do things in the city, whether it's volunteer or running a business," Mergener said of he and his co-owners. "Getting a chance to show the city off to people from out of town is awesome and it's the best thing we could hope for, for this business and just everything we’ve been apart of in Detroit.”
