Cheers! The wait is almost over for the new No Name Lounge in Downtown Panama City
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – No Name 2.0; that's how co-owner Jacob Lehtio described the new spot he and two other partners are putting together to bring No Name Lounge back home.
'So many of us lived here, grew up here, went to school here, moved away, and came back here. This has always been the time capsule, the time portal. There's always been a No Name. And we felt it was really important to be able to bring that back so that the locals so that the people who are from here would always still have that,' Jacob Lehtio said.
But the home will look a bit different this time.
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The new location will be in downtown Panama City.
Lehtio says he and his partners started thinking about opening another No Name Lounge last year but they weren't sure if it was the right move.
'Tried to find a lot of reasons why not to do it. And it just kept coming back, and it just kept making more sense, and it just kept feeling more right and more right and more right,' Lehtio added.
In addition to the new location, No Name will also have a new full-service seated restaurant operation.
'It was in the plans at the old new name to bring in a food truck court. It just never came to fruition. I think that you know, it was important to be able to give a place where people would go not just to go have a drink, but to be able to go and spend time with friends and groups of friends,' Lehtio continued.
But some things never change, like the service they plan to give customers.
'We had a cocktail waitress, and I think we were the only bar left in town that had cocktail service. And so the key to hospitality and this is a hospitality industry is a service never forget for the fact that our patrons can stay home cheaper than they can come out, but they come out for the camaraderie and to be waited on,' No Name General Manager Red McKelvin said.
Rumor has it, that the old No Name had set a new record.
'There were stories that back in its heyday, more Crown Royal was sold and served on that bar than any other establishment in the state of Florida, which is impressive. But knowing Bay County and Panama City, it's not out of the question,' McKelvin said.
But when asked if they were looking to hit that record again, they said they aren't in the competition.
'I don't think we're shooting for volume. We're going to lean more into quality over quantity and see how that takes us,' McKelvin said.
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At the end of the day, McKelvin says bringing in a new No Name is a marathon, not a sprint.
'The old new name certainly didn't happen overnight. It was a 45-year journey and I like to think that this will be very much the same journey over time,' McKelvin added.
While they haven't released an exact opening date yet, they are hoping to start serving Panama City in early April.
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