‘Willie’s’ to return with bigger kitchen, bigger stage for live music in Lexington
A new stage for live music performance in Lexington is about to open. With a new business partner and relocation to a larger space on Southland Drive, Willie’s Locally Known is now just days from throwing open the doors. Talking with Tom Martin about what’s coming is the “Willie” in Willie’s Locally Known: creator, owner, operator, Wilson Sebastian.
Q: How long were you at your original North Broadway location before you made the decision to move to Southland Drive?
A: It was 2012 when we opened there. And we were there for about 4 years.
Q: Somebody came to you and proposed a change? Tell us about that.
A: Before I opened Willie’s my good friend Lee Greer, initially at least, tried to talk me out of it.
Q: Lee Greer of…
A: Greer Companies.
Q: And people will be familiar with them because they own Coba Cocina.
A: Coba Cocina and the Cheddar’s restaurants. Initially, he tried to talk me out of it knowing about the business and me being naïve. That was probably pretty good advice at that time, but I think he was pretty surprised how well it was received and the success that we enjoyed. And so we would have discussions about, “Hey, can we make this bigger?” and, “Do we think this concept has legs?” Eventually, the property on Southland Drive became available.
Q: So, you have more space?
A: Yes. The new venue is about 4,500 square feet. We had about 65 seats and tables at the old location. In the new location, we have 165. And with the standing room, I think we’re going come in with a cap of about 200 to 250 for the shows.
Q: Which would you say is tougher? Running a restaurant, running a music venue, or running both together?
A: Neither one of them is very easy, that’s for sure. And there are different issues that you have with running a restaurant and a music venue. So, you have to do your best. We want a funky and cool vibe, but the two things that we do take very seriously are food and music. And so we want to be able to build on each.
Q: And what do your new partners bring to the equation?
A: They’ve been very successful in the restaurant business. They really have operational expertise. These restaurant businesses, the margins are razor thin and you’ve really got to be firing on all cylinders, all the time. We’re going with all of the old Willie’s menu items and we’ve got some really cool new ones that we’ve developed together. They understood what I was trying to do on North Broadway and they’ve given me license to do the things that I want to do. So it’s a great partnership.
Q: Let’s talk about the physical space. What problems that you encountered at the original Willie’s has this space made it possible to overcome?
A: Size was the main issue at the old place. There were also parking issues there.
Q: And you have a lot of parking at this one?
A: We do. On the music side, it was hard to attract some of the talent that we would like to have simply because we would have to have a ticket price so high it became prohibitive. But when it comes to the food and restaurant side and some of the things that you really need in a restaurant business to be successful — like the to-go orders, high-volume capacities, having a kitchen big enough to pull it off, that type of thing, we just never had that on North Broadway. The kitchen at the new place is almost as big as the whole restaurant was on North Broadway. So, we’ve got all the tools that we need to do a good job. When you’re opening a new restaurant everyone wants to rush and be there right when it opens. On the operation side of it, you’ve got a brand new staff and you’ve got to get everyone trained and then you’re absolutely slam-jammed right out of the gate. And you know the phrase: “You can’t put toothpaste back in the tube” — so that first impression is a worry. We want to focus on things that we know are home runs. We’re not going to put anything on the menu that we’re not sure is an absolute “10” on the scale. So, maybe that means taking our time in introducing different things that we’re working on as the weeks progress.
Q: Do you plan to have music every night, 7 days a week?
A: Yes. That’s the idea. Will there be nights when we don’t have it? Yes. You know, sometimes you just can’t get the right deal going for a particular night. It’s also going be a great place to watch basketball games and football games.
Q: What kinds of acts do you plan?
A: We’re pretty much picking up where we left off at the old location. I hate the term “Americana,” but I guess that’s what we’re most known for; that and bluegrass. We do blues, honky-tonk, country — music that fits with our rustic Kentucky vibe thing we got going on.
Q: All ages?
A: There may be one or two advertised as 21 or over, but I would say 99 percent of ‘em will be all ages. So, it will be an opportunity for the younger folks in town to get out and see some of the shows that otherwise can be tough for ‘em to get into.
Q: A lot of touring bands are out there crisscrossing the country in vans, going sometimes 6-7 hours between gigs. What is your concept of artist hospitality?
A: That has always been a primary focus of ours, mine especially. We treat every musician with the absolute respect and of course do everything that we can to make their time as comfortable and their show as smooth as possible. On North Broadway, it wouldn’t be unusual for bands to end up at my home 2 or 3 nights a week, sleeping all over the place. It made for craziness, trying to run a business and having that going on at the house, too. What we got out of it was really good performances. Musicians have always told me that Willie’s is one that they circle on their calendar and they look forward to getting there because they know they’re going to be treated great and they know the food’s good. And one of the most important things to musicians is how they sound. And it’s very important to us that we have a state-of-the-art sound system and a sound engineer that is going to help you load in, and knows what he’s doing, and can really get the room sounding like it needs to.
Q: And you’ve paid special attention to acoustics?
A: Yes. I was really worried about the acoustics in the room. It was very echo-y and it just wasn’t a good room for live music. I knew that it was going to take some treatment to get it right. We’ve put in barn wood from floor to ceiling in the whole place, which helps a ton. And we went a little bit further. We designed light fixtures that are 9 x 9 square foot chandeliers. We put sound insulation in those things and really have giant sound absorbers throughout the space. And when we did that, it was an immediate change. I’m really happy with how it turned out.
Q: What about marketing and promotion?
A: Once the newness dies down, we’ll be looking at doing some partnerships with WUKY, and of course social media is very important. We’re talking with the University of Kentucky about potential internships with their Integrated Strategic Communications department which I think could be a real valuable thing for the students and for us.
Q: As I understand it, the idea here is to create a beta, a test for the possibility of franchising around the area.
A: Franchising is a strong term. If we don’t hit a homerun on Southland Drive, we’re gonna be Willie’s Formally Known. So, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but we think the concept has legs and absolutely we’re 100 percent in it to grow it out into other markets and really try to make it into something really special. But, you know, first things first, for sure.
Tom Martin’s Q&A appears every two weeks in the Herald-Leader’s Business Monday section. This is an edited version of the interview. To listen to the interview, find the podcast on Kentucky.com. The interview also will air on WEKU-88.9 FM on Mondays at 7:35 a.m. during Morning Edition and at 5:45 p.m. during All Things Considered.
This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 3:28 PM with the headline "‘Willie’s’ to return with bigger kitchen, bigger stage for live music in Lexington."