Robert Montgomery

I'm a restaurateur in southwest Michigan.

I grew up and lived most of my life in the suburbs of Detroit, moving to the St. Joseph area in September of 2012 in order to open the restaurant with my wife and mother-in-law as business partners. We opened in December 2012 as an upscale sports bar called Players Bar & Grille.

The restaurant was doing very well but we decided to rebrand in 2014 in order to help grow the restaurant-side of the business. The bar portion of our business was doing quite well but we felt in order to grow a change in reputation was needed.

So, in November of 2014, after extensive remodeling to the building, we became 221 Main - Restaurant & Cocktail House. The results have been remarkable so far. We have not only managed to keep the bar sales that we had, but our food sales have increased dramatically. We now serve high quality steaks, seafood, salads and sandwiches in a comfortable, fun and clean atmosphere. The public seems to like it as we're busy most nights, even week nights during the off season in our little tourist town. It's exhausting and quite a whirlwind at times, but so exciting to see all our hard work pay off.

We've now expanded our bar offerings to include around 130 different whiskeys, bourbons, scotches and ryes from all around the world. We offer several tasting flights for those who would like to experience some of the many whiskies we have to offer. We have a Cocktail of the Month and have also started to barrel-age our own cocktails, something our customers truly seem to enjoy!

With our new name, expanded menu and cocktail offerings, I can't wait to see what this summer will bring to 221 Main!