Crispy’s opened Friday in Springfield, bringing a restaurant, bar and eventually more services to a stretch of Main Street that is spawning more development.
The more than 150-seat restaurant at 1735 N. Main St. opened after several days of a soft opening in which friends and customers tried out the menu.
Owner John Crispens estimates he has invested more than $500,000, not counting “sweat equity,” into remodeling the former Akra Bros. department store, which opened March 23, 1933.
He is joined in the business by general manager Chris Svoboda, his nephew, and seasoned chef Eddy Escriba from Burrito Gallery and Uptown Kitchen & Bar, which is just down the street.
Crispy’s employs more than 25 people.
Crispens has been working on the project for 3½ years. The remodeling transformed the building, which previously housed a pawn shop, into a venue that was finished with flooring, lights, tables, chairs, the bar and everything else needed to run the establishment.
“Every aspect I picked out personally by hand,” he said.
The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. daily and closes at midnight Sunday through Wednesday and at 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Happy hour is 3-8 p.m. daily.
Patrons can add a few more ounces and “Crispy-size” their drinks.
The menu focuses on pizza, paninis, sandwiches and salads.
Crispens has been in the restaurant business for at least 25 years and was bar manager for about a decade at the former Mark’s Jacksonville Downtown club and lounge. He said some of those customers are patronizing Crispy’s.
Before that, he managed at TGI Fridays and Applebee’s Grill & Bar in Jacksonville.
He also is an arts patron. Paintings for sale by Jacksonville artist Mactruque line the first-floor walls. Crispens said the first sale came quickly.
Crispens found an Akra Bros. merchandise-display cabinet and turned it into a seating counter after removing “40 years of paint.”
He has more plans.
After he thinks all is right with lunch and dinner, he will add a dry cleaning drop-off/pickup service, which has been part of his plans from early on.
Then comes Saturday and Sunday brunch, followed by weekday breakfast.
Crispens wants to start a delivery service within about a mile radius and also provide a neighborhood golf-cart “chauffeur” service to pick up customers and take them home.
Crispens said in zoning documents that Crispy’s “has helped spur the establishment of new business along the Main Street business corridor in Springfield.”
Among new Main Street businesses are two breweries, a coffee shop, a skate shop and plans for a bakery.
He said in the zoning documents that Crispy’s will provide “a social, cultural, and dining environment desperately needed in Springfield.”
It’s been a project long in the making.
In De
cember 2015, Crispens said he wanted to contribute to the level of development along that part of Main Street, which is north of Downtown.
He considered himself lucky to have found the almost 6,000-square-foot building, which he bought in 2014.
Crispens said the more than 80-year-old building featured architectural elements including terrazzo marble floors and two original skylights.
He restored those and the grand staircase to the second level.
The first floor features dining tables and a full-service bar with two TVs.
A partial second floor is used for general seating and private events. There are two TVs.
Crispens said Akra Bros. operated at the address for 40 years, after which the structure was used briefly as a music store and then a pawn shop. He bought it from Gold & Coin Inc.
Crispens also restored the front of the building to its original look, with display windows on each side and a covered alcove with display windows.
A daughter of one of the Akra brothers brought him photos, which he restored and enlarged for display.
He is courting the next generation as well.
During the Thursday soft opening, a man brought in his young son, who wanted a photo with Crispens.
Why? The father said future employment. “He really wants to work here someday.”
@MathisKb
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