By Melody Baetens | The Detroit News | Published December 13, 2022

With construction rolling along and the hiring of staff nearly complete, Michigan beer bar HopCat is readying to open its new Royal Oak location as early as next month.

A mural of the cover of the White Stripes’ Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album “Elephant” released 20 years ago this spring. Photo Credit: Melody Baetens

The new location, the eighth in Michigan and 10th overall, is at 430 S. Main in downtown Royal Oak, a few blocks from its original location on Fifth Avenue, which was one of the top-performing restaurants within the brand. That three-level restaurant closed during the pandemic after three years of business and never reopened, citing landlord issues.

The new Royal Oak HopCat won’t have three levels, but it will be spacious, with seating for nearly 260 at the bar, high-top tables and booths, plus an additional 90 seats on the sidewalk patio during warm weather. Nice weather will make its way inside the restaurant via the many roll-up garage-style doors all along the south and east side of the building.

There will be 60 beer taps featuring craft beer from Michigan and beyond. It’s one of the larger HopCat locations, being only slightly smaller than the Midtown Detroit restaurant. All locations are owned by Michigan-based Project BarFly.

The new location is about 75% staffed, said Joe Raimi, HopCat area director. They’re still hiring for all positions, including back-of-house staff to run two large kitchens, the biggest a HopCat has ever had. One space is for making burgers, wings, loaded cosmik fries, tacos and other beer-friendly food for the dine-in guests. A smaller kitchen is dedicated just for “off premise” orders like catering, carryout and third-party delivery orders.

More kitchen space means better quality food for both types of customers as well as a better quality of life for the workers, said Raimi.

The inside of HopCat’s new Royal Oak location has a lot of nods to classic rock and popular music. Photo Credit: Melody Baetens

“We think it’s going to be a game-changer and it’s creating a bunch of jobs,” said Raimi of the extra kitchen, which repurposed some of the equipment used at the previous Royal Oak HopCat. Some of the beer lines are also being reused. “We’re trying to be as sustainable as possible.”

Also unique to this new Royal Oak location is a colorful wall of vinyl record covers and murals featuring the White Stripes, David Bowie and Taylor Swift. There’s also a large private dining room that can be split into two smaller spaces.

“We’re really excited to come back and be a part of it,” he said of the Royal Oak community, adding that when he walks around in his HopCat-branded polo shirt he hears people getting excited. “People really do embrace us.”