By Shera Dalin
Frenetic restaurateur Mike Johnson hopes to hear a resounding “¡Olé!” to his small-plates fare when he opens another BARcelona location late this month … in Indianapolis. He and partner Frank Schmitz have been working for about a year to get up and running in an old bank building near the Circle Centre Mall.
Indy isn’t necessarily the first place a budding local restaurant mogul would think to open a new location of the Clayton tapas bar, but Johnson sees an opportunity to bring a new taste to another midsize city with little competition and lots of money-making potential. “I hope people will really love it,” he says.
The dinner menu will mirror that of BARcelona Clayton, but lunch will offer heartier fare, such as sandwiches and pastas. Johnson says he made the change because, for the price, lunch crowds wanted a heavier meal than a standard tapas menu offers. “They are big eaters in Indianapolis—they like their meat and ’taters,” he says, “but I think people will get it.”
The familiar Spanish gold-and-umber décor will carry over to the new location; so will the varied wine and German beer selection, but offering alcohol was a pricey endeavor. Indianapolis issues no new liquor licenses, so restaurateurs must pay between $30,000 and $40,000 to a broker to take over an existing license from a closed bar. Undeterred, Johnson says he actually likes the situation: It helps curtail competition.
After Indy, Johnson and Schmitz have plans for seven or eight BARcelonas in other cities. They have been looking at sites in Louisville, Ky.; Little Rock, Ark.; Nashville, Tenn.; Cincinnati; and Milwaukee. All of the new locations will be company-owned, not franchised.
In the meantime, though, Johnson hopes to hear “¡Sí!” when the first phase of his Spanish conquest hits Indy:
“I hope it will be really busy and make a lot of money.”
