SPARTANBURG -- An experienced restaurant consultant is bringing his talents home and opening a hybrid eatery and training restaurant facility.
Julius Tolbert, a longtime entrepreneur and Hub City native, is embarking on a new endeavor: Euphoria Kitchen and Cocktail Room. Located at 520 E. Main St., not far from downtown, it will serve as an upscale cocktail lounge and restaurant with a "Southern-inspired" menu offering small plates.
Tolbert is no stranger to the restaurant industry. He founded Cornbread Consulting Firm in 2005, which helps small and medium-sized restaurants find success, and he previously owned two restaurants: Cornbread to Caviar in Spartanburg and Cornbread Cafe near Lyman.
His newest venture is set to open in April, around when the Hub City Spartanburgers start play. The minor league baseball team's first home game at Fifth Third Park is April 15.
The restaurant leans into its upscale nature, it will be reservation-only and offer valet services and live music. Tolbert plans to add to the restaurant a rooftop lounge dubbed a "sky lounge." The cocktail room rooftop lounge should hold about 40 guests.
"We're all about experience, the ambiance, great food, hospitable staff, knowledgeable staff," Tolbert said. "Creating an experience that you'll want to come back over and over again, you'll invite other people."
Everything at the restaurant will be Southern-inspired, Tolbert said, but with a twist.
On the cocktail side of the restaurant, Tolbert said the offerings will be "Instagram picture-worthy." He also wants to incorporate local wines and locally sourced food.
"We take things that people are familiar with and put a spin on them," he said. "A lot of people like spinach dip but most people haven't tried smoked collard green dip."
Part restaurant, part hospitality training facility
Unlike most other restaurants, it'll be closed to the public on Mondays and Tuesdays to serve as a training facility for hospitality workers. When it is open, Tolbert said almost all of the staff will be certified trainers who work to train workers when the restaurant is closed to the public.
"These are not like your ... average employees," Tolbert said.
For the classes, students will come from a partnership with OneSpartanburg, which serves as Spartanburg County's chamber of commerce. OneSpartanburg has focused on helping small and minority-owned businesses with its Power Up Spartanburg effort.
With all of the local collaboration, Tolbert hopes that when the restaurant opens it will be "another gem for the city" that'll lead to support for other local businesses in the area and that "Spartanburg can be proud of."