by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
It’s an industry that he has little experience with, but a local attorney plans to use the same principles he used to build a successful law practice to create a new restaurant and live music venue Downtown.
“My motto has been ‘The type of service you expect and deserve,’” said Ron Sholes, whose firm has five offices, four in the Jacksonville area and one in Starke. “The same principles that made us successful as a law firm will be instilled in this business.”
Sholes admits that he has little experience with the food service industry, but has always enjoyed the restaurant throughout its different owners. He visited as Amsterdam Sky Cafe, Gas Knob Pub and Jacksonville Sports Bar occupied the building and was surprised to find out the business was on the market.
“The opportunity presented itself and I’ve always liked the place,” said Sholes. “The wood throughout and the lantern lights really give it a classy feel, but we can still have a casual atmosphere in the bar area for sports and music events.”
Sholes understands he isn’t the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the restaurant business, so he has recruited experienced people to help him make the business a success. Chef Dharma Magic helped open The Grape restaurant in the St. John’s Town Center and operated Hero’s sandwich stand in the food court of The Landing, so she is familiar with the sports bar-style food that is on the menu.
Bar manager Dennis Simon is familiar with both the bar and music industries having worked as a bar manager at Freebird Live in Jacksonville Beach. Simon also owns First Coast Flairtenders which offers both basic and performance, or flair, bartending training. He is also responsible for booking music acts for the inside and outside stages at City Hall Pub. Its first regularly scheduled act is a three-piece jazz band that will play during lunch every Friday.
Sholes plans to have six full-time and about 20 part-time employees depending on the level of traffic the restaurant experiences. It will be open from 11 a.m.-2 a.m. and Sholes is surveying customers to see if they would like the restaurant to be open for breakfast.
“We will be actively seeking out customer input to help make us better,” said Sholes. “We plan to do the little things to earn people’s business. We have three different types of fries. Some people like crinkle cut, others like steak fries. It’s an easy change to make and we want to make customers happy.”
The goal of the City Hall Pub is to provide an “excellent” lunch for Downtown customers. To do that, Sholes plans to use top quality meats and cheeses throughout the menu to offer fresh fast food. Cheddar cheese is used to make the Cheddar Bacon Freedom Fries instead of cheese sauce. Real crab meat is used to make the Creole Crab Cakes, not imitation crab meat. Homemade items are also on the menu including chili from a Sholes family recipe and a Three Cheese Bacon Spinach Dip.
The menu might also offer a challenge to those with hearty appetites. City Hall Pub uses 100 percent Angus beef burgers to construct its one-pound double cheeseburger.
“We’ve already had some ot those go out,” said Sholes, who opened the restaurant last Monday. “We might create a space on the wall to keep pictures of people who finish it.”
Creating that space on the wall is one of many ideas Sholes has for the restaurant and he understands that he needs good people to help make the restaurant and his primary business, the law firm, a success.
“I’m very fortunate to have excellent attorneys and staff to allow me to do this,” said Sholes, who took a week of vacation time to open the restaurant. “We have good people at the restaurant as well, and our goal there is to provide a service to meet the needs of the folks Downtown.”
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