Few hospitality institutions can compare to the trans-class, cross-cultural, all-American appeal of the sports bar. It sits squarely in nearly everyone’s comfort zone and can be a soothing balm to business travelers trapped all day in meetings and seminars. Gaylord Hotels has broadened the sports bar’s attraction by refining it into what they call a “soft” sports bar concept.

Gaylord’s hotels and convention centers have earned a reputation as award-winning, service-oriented, meetings-focused locations that can meet the requirements of any size group. Nashville-based Gaylord’s four properties—near Orlando, Dallas, Washington D.C., and in Nashville—pride themselves on celebrating local flavor and geographic heritage. Gaylord offers a variety of food and beverage options, from casual to fine dining and relaxing lounges to energetic nightclubs. So it is somewhat surprising that one of the largest—and still growing—successes of the Gaylord brand is its popular sports bar concept.

This success relies on simple tweaks to the run-of-the-mill sports bar formula to create an out-of-the-ordinary experience that welcomes men and women while fulfilling the expectations of both. Two of the concepts, Texan Station Sports Bar & Grill and National Pastime Sports Bar & Grill, are up and running at Gaylord’s newest properties, the Gaylord Texan and Gaylord National, respectively. Texan Station led off in 2004 to much acclaim from Dallas/Fort Worth sports fans. National Pastime opened its doors in April 2008 and has become a fixture on the D.C. sports scene. Giorgi DiLemis, VP of F&B for Gaylord Hotels, oversees the operations of both and was deeply involved in the conceptualization of the restaurants.

DiLemis shrugs off the notion of sports bars (as well as Italian restaurants) as “can’t miss” choices. He allows that those types of restaurants may do good business nearly anywhere, but the extraordinary success of the soft sports bars was more a result of an overarching plan to anchor the restaurants in the individual locale and meet the needs of hotel clientele.

FOCUS GROUPS
“We planned these [sports bars] so they would be successful without our hotel guests if we set one down on any street corner,” says DiLemis. “When we began, we said, ‘What is the DNA, the concept-specific blueprint, that will make us the best?’” He points out the importance of maintaining a clear focus on the goal and adhering to the concept, saying, “Too many hotel restaurants try to do a little of everything, and they fail.”

The first test a sports bar must pass is the television test. Texan Station and National Pastime use the shock-and-awe strategy for that criterion. Texan Station boasts a mesmerizing 30-by-52-foot screen that dwarfs everything in the room. National Pastime has a 16-by-30-foot screen that can be divided to display two, three, or eight games simultaneously.

Dozens of other widescreens are positioned throughout, so there isn’t a bad seat in the house. National Pastime also has a real-time ticker board to keep viewers posted of scores and developments in national sports. Like many sports venues, both have luxury boxes, VIP—or “MVP”—areas with video and audio capabilities for groups to watch sporting events or hold private functions.

Both restaurants take the sports connection one step further. National Pastime is the official sports bar of the Washington Nationals major league baseball team and hosts live radio broadcasts of games on Saturdays during the season that attract families and fanatics alike. During all 16 weeks of the 2007 football season, Texan Station hosted Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo every Tuesday night for “Inside the Huddle,” a live radio show discussing previous and upcoming games.

Sports personalities make their way back to the sports bars for their birthdays and other celebrations and to host charity events. Both locations report guests coming from all over their metropolitan markets to watch games and, with any luck, to run into one of their sports heroes.

WOMEN WANTED
Thus far, the soft sports concept might seem like any other high-powered sports bar—synergies with local teams and media, celebrity guests, hightech displays, authentic memorabilia, even golf simulators with the occasional visit from a “club pro.” DiLemis, however, demands measures to raise them above the ordinary.

“One of the most important factors is that we design for single women,” says DiLemis. As a group, women diners—and especially solo women—demand a “warm, clean, comfortable, and safe atmosphere. He meets those standards by taking such actions as asking chefs to create menus and drinks that let women know they are not out of place. The result is an inviting state-of-the-art sports restaurant that raises the bar on food and drink and extends social boundaries to make nearly anyone feel comfortable.

An obvious element of restaurant comfort is comfort food. Ty Thoren, executive resort chef at the Gaylord Texan, has added feminine touches to his blustering menu of Texas red meat barbecue. Alongside platters of beef brisket and hickory-smoked ribs are wraps, fajita salads, a chop-chop (cobb) salad, and sandwiches served on croissants. In his search for innovative sports bar fare, Thoren keeps an open mind. “If an item is not moving, I challenge my chefs to come up with something more creative that will sell.” Despite the intentional inclusion of more genteel dishes for the ladies, Thoren says female guests are as likely to tuck into a slab of ribs as anything else on the menu.

BEVERAGE DIFFERENCE
The beverage menu provided an opportunity to differentiate from the “pitchers of beer” stereotype of sports bars. DiLemis wanted a bottle and by-the-glass program to help guests enhance their dining experience. He is now expanding the wine offerings and plans to include more international selections. Beers are, of course, still an integral part of the sports bar concept, and DiLemis is expanding those selections to include more local brews, craft beers, and imports.

The lush flavors, vivid colors, and sensuous cocktail glassware provided another opportunity to offer seductive drinks in which women were likely to indulge. “Fancy” drinks, often scowled at in he-man sports bars, were selling well to conventioneers ready to unwind. The Texan’s newest menu of cocktails will include a TX Sunrise, featuring Belvedere Orange vodka, peach schnapps, pineapple juice, and a wild berry garnish resting in a pool of grenadine; a Fine Orange Mojito with Bacardi O and Pama Liqueur; and a Smooth Martini of Stoli Vanil, Kahlua, Frangelico, and Baileys.

LOCATION SURPRISE
“The restaurants went through several menu changes, morphing into more focused selections,” DiLemis says of the beverage program. “There is a certain amount of guesswork when there isn’t historical data to analyze.”

DiLemis was able to cull some knowledge from data at Gaylord’s successful older sports bars, Rusty’s Sports Bar & Grill at Gaylord Opryland and H2O Sports Bar & Grille at the Gaylord Palms near Orlando. But preliminary sales data at the new venues produced surprises.

“The unique thing we discovered is that—according to location—a customer makes decisions that align with his/her experience of the region. For example, the same customer might drink beer in Texas and a Mojito or a rum drink in Florida and whiskey or a Mint Julep in Nashville. Part of the effect is not just subliminal but dictated by the regional-specific interior designs of our atriums and restaurant concepts.”

DiLemis used sales information from Texan Station to create food and beverage menus for National Pastime. Thoren was sent to supervise the start-up for 10 weeks and brought along proven favorites, while tailoring the menu to feature Capital-area cuisine. National Pastime General Manager Vincent Walton and Chef Louis Martano have witnessed continued success with the adapted menu, cranking out Kobe hot dogs, 5,000 Kobe burgers per month, and 200 pounds of buffalo wings per day, while also serving crabcakes, salads, and wraps.

Walton says a full day of service can see 1,200 covers coming through the 632-capacity, 235-seat, 15,000-square-foot space. (The larger Texan Station serves 1,000 pounds of “the biggest wings in Texas” to 6,300 covers over three weekend days and 7,000 pounds of Kobe beef per month.)

Another innovation is the addition of beer carts to the service. Up to three beer carts at a time can work the floor, increasing incremental sales and getting bottles out quickly—like vendors in the stands at sporting events. Walton agrees that the appeal of the establishment “goes beyond the sports and food,” especially for women, citing the comfortable décor and friendly service as largely the reasons for the 60 percent male, 40 percent female ratio of his restaurant that mirrors the hotel’s demographics.

The numbers look like winners to DiLemis, too. “We are very proud of the profit margin for these two,” he says. “They have become a no-fail environment.” DiLemis continues to hone the concept and propagate it, with Rusty’s in 30-year-old Gaylord Opryland as the likely next target for an update to the full “soft” sports bar treatment. By remaining focused on their concept and aiming for guests’ comfort zone, Gaylord Hotels and DiLemis are sure to land their next pitch in the strike zone as well.

Denny Lewis has spent a big chunk of his adult life behind bars. He has bartended in numerous establishments—both suspect and respectable— in Boston and New York City. Currently, he is a freelance writer from Arlington, Massachusetts.