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High-end lounge opening soon in Suamico

By Heather Graves
Editor


SUAMICO – A new high-end lounge and pub with a sophisticated feel is getting ready to open its doors in Suamico.

General Manager Todd Schafer said the Crooked Joker Pub and Lounge are two places where customers enjoy food, drinks and the newest in gaming machines.

“The best way I can describe it is, it’s a little bit of an upscale-type bar and lounge where you can enjoy a drink and some games with your friends and family,” he said.

Schafer said each side of the establishment has its own feel.

“Our pub is a higher-end sports bar with darts, a pool table, great food and drinks, big screen TVs, along with five gaming machines,” he said. “Our lounge will offer higher-end wines, bourbons, top-quality finger foods and five of its own gaming machines.”

In keeping with the high-end theme, Schafer said Crooked Joker’s menu is not that of a typical bar.

“We have no fryers,” he said. “We have what’s called a convention oven (a new type of oven). So that’s something new to the area. So the food tastes a little different, I believe. Pizzas, we can do in about two-and-a-half minutes versus your seven or eight minutes. So the turnaround time is quicker.”

Schafer said the Crooked Joker is designed to be a place for a fun-filled date night with a spouse, a wine or bourbon night with friends or a safe place to start dating that new spceial someone.

“We really came up with this idea as something that’s completely unique and different,” he said. “There’s really nothing out here. You can go to a small little bar that has a bar half the size with plain old crummy games. We’ll have the newest of the new… It’s a great safe place to be, and something that’s a little different. The sound here will be a little bit lower, too, so you’re not screaming at each other. This isn’t a shot and a beer type place. It’s more of a ‘Let’s have a couple of drinks. Let’s have some nice food. Let’s forget about our troubles. Let’s enjoy our life.’”

Schafer said another aspect that sets the Crooked Joker apart from other establishments is its smart bar.

“We are the first ones (in the area) to have a smart bar,” he said. “So every drink can be made the same. There are no variations, and it makes it easier for our employees. Push a button, look, you can be a bartender.”

Schafer said the Joker will employ about 18-20 people, with about half the staff already hired, but has run into the same issue many other restaurants are having – staff shortages.

“Our wages are way above anybody else – $15-$20, plus tips,” he said. “Anywhere else around here, they’re making sometimes $2.50 an hour or $8.50, according to the ones I have interviewed so far. So we take care of our employees.”

Schafer said the Crooked Joker was designed with fun and relaxation in mind.

“We don’t get rowdy,” he said. “We offer something fun. Shoot a little pool, play some games and have a couple of beers. There’s nothing else out here like this.”

Schafer said the pub and lounge will introduce weekly or monthly specials and evolve as things unfold.

There are plans, if this location is the success ownership believes it will be, to expand and develop additional locations.

“There’ll be more of these, now whether there’ll be two together, whether it will be singles, we just don’t know,” Schafer said. “We don’t know what we don’t know yet. We learn as we go, right? So we want to keep the menu simple and easy. And then we’ll add on (as needed).”

Schafer said no big grand opening events are planned, rather the Crooked Joker Pub and Lounge is set to open around the first week in May with a soft opening.

He said hours will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the weekdays and 10 a.m. to midnight on the weekends.

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