Bowling Down

Punch Bowl Social closes Fort Worth location after only 3 months

Bummer for bowling fans in Fort Worth.

Punch Bowl Social

In sad news for Fort Worth residents who like fun places, the Fort Worth location of Punch Bowl Social has closed.

The Denver-based chain opened the restaurant and games spot in the West 7th area at 1100 Foch St. in August. It was the second location to open in DFW, following one in Deep Ellum that opened in May. The Deep Ellum location remains open.

Founder Robert Thompson opened the first Punch Bowl Social in Denver in 2012, blazing a trail of "social"-themed restaurants that come with a side of fun.

Punch Bowl's concept combines food and beverage with games and social activities including ping-pong, darts, board games, classic video games, bowling, and private karaoke rooms. Other locations can be found in Austin, Portland, Minneapolis, Detroit, and Cleveland.

Fort Worth was the chain's first to open with a smaller size than the usual, occupying 12,500 square feet, as compared to the Dallas location which has 24,000 square feet.

In a statement, Punch Bowl Social COO Peter Gaudreau called the Fort Worth closure a difficult decision.

"After service on November 5th we made the difficult decision to close our Fort Worth location," Gaudreau said. "We opened in the West 7th area with the best intentions and deeply appreciate the support that the neighbors and community showed us. Unfortunately, we didn’t believe we could be as successful as we wanted in that particular location."

Gaudreau says they're not ruling Fort Worth out entirely, saying, "We very much believe in Fort Worth and know we can be as successful there as we are in Dallas and other markets. It is our hope to relocate to another part of the city in the near future."

In July, Punch Bowl Social entered into a partnership with Cracker Barrel, in which Cracker Barrel would invest up to $140 million in capital for future development.

On November 5, the same day the Fort Worth location closed, investor Sardar Biglari, whose hedge fund has invested in Cracker Barrel, requested records from Cracker Barrel related to its investment in Punch Bowl Social.

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Chef News

Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Center welcomes bright new chef

FortWorthtx.gov

Will Rogers Memorial Center

There's a new chef in town: Waylon Cornelius, named executive chef of catering and concessions for Craft Culinary Concepts, the food and beverage provider at Will Rogers Memorial Center.

Will Rogers Memorial Center is the 120-acre entertainment complex anchoring Fort Worth’s Cultural District, owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth. Cornelius will oversee menus for trade shows and other events at the center which bring in more than 2 million visitors a year.

Craft Culinary Concepts is headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, and manages food and beverage programs for entertainment, sports and cultural facilities.

Chef Waylon Corneliusfortworthtx.gov

According to a release, Cornelius joined the team this summer and is already shifting the expectations of guests from a typical “BBQ and beans” menu to a bill of fare satisfying every kind of palate.

“We always have fajitas ready to go, but we also make a beautiful Beef Wellington or baked salmon with a pink salt crust,” Cornelius says in a statement.

For consumer trade shows, Craft and its partners Caribou and Taco Heads offer more choices for the thousands of guests who attend events at WRMC annually.

“Some of our equestrian guests are away from home and here for several days, and they need more than popcorn and hot dogs,” Cornelius says. “Our concessions offer biscuits and gravy, burritos made in-house, strawberry salad, fruit and yogurt cups.”

A native of Mansfield, Cornelius grew up helping in a farm-to-table kitchen. He was raised on a farm with his mother, grandmother, and grandfather -- a Vietnam veteran who enjoyed vegetable gardens and raising hogs and chickens. He studied computer science after high school and holds an associate's degree in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis from Tarrant County College.

He's a 2003 graduate of AIMS Academy of Culinary Arts in Dallas where he was mentored by a number of great chefs. While training as assistant executive sous chef at the AAA four-diamond Grand Hyatt DFW, he worked with Executive Chef Sutti Sripolpa, chef Eric Dreyer (who went on to be Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef), and Chef Jean-Claude Plihon, under whom he honed his French cooking skills.

As executive sous chef at the opening of Perry’s Steakhouse and Grille in Southlake, Cornelius gained expertise with volume. While at HG Sply Co., he learned about gluten-free items and other food allergies.

HG Sply is also where he crossed paths with Chef James R. Schell III, Craft’s general manager at WRMC, who recruited Cornelius to the complex.

"James said he needed someone who can hit moving targets, push the culinary team to be more avant-garde and use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, so here I am," Cornelius says. "Culinary is a small world."

“I want people to say, ‘When we were in Fort Worth, you won’t believe what we got at Will Rogers!’” Schell says. “Even the celebrities who perform [in the auditorium] are surprised. When Chicago played here recently and we served dinner backstage, they said they felt treated like the Rolling Stones.”

chefs