ROYAL OAK (WWJ) -- HopCat hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon outside their newest location in Royal Oak, officially set to open to the public on Saturday -- when the first 100 customers will get HopCat swag and free Cosmik fries for a year.
After making the difficult decision to close their original Royal Oak location during the first year of the pandemic, HopCat management was overjoyed to mark the start of a new chapter with the city.
Royal Oak Mayor Michael Fournier was equally excited, telling WWJ's Ryan Marshall, "When HopCat first came to Royal Oak, it was a really big deal, and today it might even be a bigger deal. It reinforces HopCat's vision and its commitment to a city like Royal Oak."
Marshall also spoke to Vice President of Operations Craig Stage.
"There's a lot of emotions when you think about everything," said Stage, who shared how grateful he was to be able to reopen in Royal Oak and bring back a number of the staff they were forced to lay off in 2020.
"Our number one priority as a company, our number one value is people first," Stage said.
"We really feel that if we treat people the way that they want to be treated and we take care of people and we make sure that it's not just a job for them and we create relationships... and provide people with opportunities, that regardless of any pandemic situation, people will come back and work for us."
The new 11-thousand square foot restaurant can be found on the corner of Main St. and 5th St. in downtown Royal Oak. Once the weather warms up, guests will also be able to enjoy an outdoor patio.
During the ceremony, HopCat officially named the Detroit Zoo as its charity partner and announced special invite-only fundraising dinners to raise money and awareness for the Detroit Zoological Society.
The HopCat team will match up to $5,000 in donations and alcohol sales from these events, with the money earmarked for the ongoing care of the tigers and lions at the Detroit Zoo.
In addition to the leadership team from HopCat's parent company, Project BarFly, a number of local community and business leaders were also in attendance, including Royal Oak's Economic Development Manager Todd Fenton and Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shelly Kemp.
Related
