Tom’s Watch Bar Elevates the Entertainment Experience

Tom’s Watch Bar replaces the usual decor of putts, cornholes and entertainment restaurants with an immersive digital experience. Each location features an oversized stadium screen and 360-degree viewing room filled with multiple televisions. The brand has gone to great lengths to solidify this positioning, even changing its original name to Tom’s Urban in 2019.

From the beginning, co-founder Tom Ryan recognized that the brand would face an unusual set of challenges in attracting guests. While golf and other gaming-selling brands could easily promise a unique experience, Tom’s had to bring a new dimension to sporting events — one that would lure customers away from their own big-screen TVs.

“This emerging new sports enthusiast clientele is really looking for an experience and the ability to plan that experience,” Ryan said at the ICR conference.

Tom’s Watch Bar caters to this particular consumer by creating an extensive menu of classic 24/7 elevated sports grills, doubling down on game-watching options and opening locations near sports fields and stadiums. The brand has outposts within blocks of sports facilities, including the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and Coors Field in Denver, as well as Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.

In addition to courting sports fanatics, Tom’s has multiple partnerships to reach the teams they’re cheering on and watching; it’s now the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rockies and Colorado Avalanche as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Lynx The official gameday headquarters of the Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Wild.

“These partnerships that we’ve created really allow us to market directly to their fan base, and it’s this kind of targeted marketing and extension of the fan experience to the team’s brand that makes us a really good partner for them,” Ryan said . “As we travel across the country now, they’re looking for us.”

Tom’s Tracks now has eight locations, spread across the country, with outposts on both coasts. At press time, it has six units in the pipeline, four of which will be in new markets, including Houston; Orlando, Florida; Pittsburgh; and Sacramento, California. Two other DC-area stores are also scheduled to debut in 2023. Ryan told the ICR that once all of these locations are up and running, system-wide sales should exceed $100 million.

The key is getting people in the door first. From there, Tom’s Watch Bar is pretty self-explanatory.

“There’s such a huge demand for premium viewing,” Ryan said. “We usually just pitch events to get people to come. Once they’re there, when they get hit with this series of scripts, it takes your breath away.”