Photo by Tony Valainis
PIZZA PROBLEMS: The organizer of Monument Circle’s Indianapolis Pizza Festival is facing backlash this week, after the August 9 event reportedly disappointed many of its 4,038 ticket holders. WTHR reports that attendees paid $25-55 on the promise of unlimited pizza from 30 vendors, but a lack of organization and signage made the event challenging to navigate. “It was kind of like one mega line around the whole event, so you were kind of in line forever. And there was a map for 30 pizza places, but we found out not all 30 pizza places were even there,” attendee Anastasia Fowler says. Others say the situation was so chaotic, they left after hours and dined elsewhere.
Organizer and aspiring influencer Tommy Barrett tells the IBJ attendees were aware the event has a no refunds policy and claims he shouldn’t be blamed that “nearly 10 vendors dropped off the roster in days leading up to the event.” The prolific TikTok user also defended the event to the Star, saying, “When things don’t go perfect, people will complain, especially on social media.” If you’re interested in seeing some of those complaints, the 300-plus remarks on this Reddit thread are a great place to begin.
DECIDER: A new sports bar co-owned by nightlife veteran Rob Strong (Whistle Stop Inn, Stadium Tavern) will open this fall on Mass Ave, the IBJ reports. Called Tie-Breakers, the new business at 339 Massachusetts Ave. will “have every sport possible,” says co-owner Wayne Raber, a food and beverage newbie who also owns J&W Construction. The business, which will occupy the space vacated by Raw Bar by Slapfish in 2024, will serve “deep-fried ribs and alligator” among other offerings, Strong says.
MAGAZINE DREAMS: More details are emerging about an August shootout at cozy eastside bar and grill The New Yorker (302 N. Colorado Ave.). Fox59 reports that two men were injured late on August 1 after an argument between a couple turned violent. On Wednesday, WTHR reported that an unidentified male followed a woman into the bar’s office as they argued, the former with gun in hand. The venue’s security ejected him, but as he was leaving, he allegedly lunged at another bar patron, Daryl Washington, “who pulled a gun and started shooting,” the broadcast outlet reports. Several other men, both inside and outside the bar, also drew weapons and discharged them, striking Washington in the process.
According to police, Washington’s girlfriend works as a bartender at the business, and as the altercation ended, she allegedly attempted to disable the bar’s security system. Video from the system “showed Washington and his girlfriend hiding guns in the aftermath of the shooting,” police say. Washington, the only man struck in the hail of bullets, is also the only one facing charges, including aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon, criminal recklessness, unlawful carrying of a firearm, and obstruction of justice.
TICKING CLOCK: As we noted here in January, Indy-headquartered fast food chain Steak ’n Shake made a big political to-do when it announced it would start using beef tallow to make fries, even hosting problematic and misinformation-spreading political appointee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as one of its many political signals. Eight months into the effort, centrist Star opinion columnist James Briggs says he suspects the company’s alignment to the right could cost the locally beloved brand its future.
“My guess is that Steak ’n Shake’s cynical alignment with America’s anti-vaxx crusader will afford the chain two to three years of relative stability before it runs out of steam,” Briggs writes. “After that, Steak ’n Shake’s descent toward obsolescence will resume and store closings will accelerate.” Given the growing ubiquity of the company’s billboards promising riches to people who enter into franchise agreements (though accounts from people who took those promises at their word disagree), as well as the trends depicted in this report on the company’s financial health, things may be in a more desperate place than even Briggs realizes.
ALL HAIL: Duke’s Indy, the six-year-old honky tonk inside the former Ice House bar at 2352 S. West St., has announced via social media that it will shutter on November 22. “For reasons both personal, financial and logistic we’ve had to come to terms with the limitations of the space we occupy,” the business writes, citing “more competitors with much deeper pockets in the market, a building in desperate need of retrofitting in order to continue … and the tightening pressures of a challenging economy” as some of the reasons behind the closure.
The live music venue has faced an inordinate number of obstacles since it launched, even within the rough landscape that is the food and beverage industry. The pandemic struck exactly a year into operations, which snarled the live music side of operations; then in 2021, founder Dustin Boyer died at age 40. Boyer’s business partner Andy Fagg and a group of staffers stepped in to keep the place going after Boyer’s passing, and when the business hit a rough patch in late 2023, musician and welder Patrick Kennedy purchased the operation in hopes he could keep it afloat.
One thing the fried chicken destination did have going for it is customer interest, staffer Amanda Scott tells Saving Country Music. But while the spot has been more packed than ever, “costs have risen so significantly, like utilities … in some cases [double] from five years ago.” According to Kennedy, conglomerates are also slowly killing the small venue game. “The big, obvious behemoth in the room is that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have just kind of taken over,” he says. “Everyone else is just getting crushed.”
