Visitors to East Lansing's
Beggar's Banquet may have noticed something was different since last August.
"We gave the place a face-lift," says Dana Kenney, general manager. "We repainted, knocked down a wall and updated the bar."
The crux of the renovation was knocking down the wall that divided up the main room by the bar. "We opened it up," says Kenney.
She compares entering the pre-renovation Beggar's to walking into a cave. Kenney says removing the wall allowed more space for patrons to mingle and made Beggar's "a better place to watch a game.
Kenney took over as general manager around the time of the renovation, a process that took less than two weeks. Since taking over, Kenney has brought in a new staff of over 30 people.
Reaction to the face-lift has been positive, even if it takes a minute or two for the change to sink in. "The funny thing is that people will walk in and say 'What's different?'"
"It does make [serving] easier," Kenney says of removed wall. "We're more efficient."
Beggar's recently added a brand new shuffleboard table and has more of a focus on craft beers, with 20 rotating beers on tap.
Source: Dana Kenney
Writer:
Daniel J. Hogan
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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