Electric Hospitality — the team behind Muchacho, Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall, and the now-shuttered Golden Eagle — is making big moves. Atlanta Magazine first reported that the hospitality group currently has five big projects in the works.
Most notably, founder Michael Lennox is taking over a corner spot in a multipurpose building along the BeltLine Eastside Trail near Ladybird and transforming it into Seabird Oyster Bar. The seafood joint and cocktail bar will specialize in oysters, clams, crudo, and other seafood dishes, with a rustic flare (Lennox is keeping the building’s original wood beams, brick, and warehouse door in tact) and Parisian and New England influences.
“I’m a sucker for spaces that tell a story and have a really charming personality to them, and this building fits the bill in a major way,” says Lennox. “The idea is to do something that can be a complimentary piece to Ladybird.”
Seabird will have both indoor and patio seating, and is expected to open in spring 2022.
Also in spring 2022, Electric Hospitality will expand Reynoldstown coffee and taco shop Muchacho to Decatur. Lennox bought the two-story space behind Leon’s Full Service and plans to convert it into a 150-seat restaurant and patio with a menu more than twice the size of the one at Muchacho in Reynoldstown (although the original Muchacho is also getting a pretty major facelift). Expect lots of Mexican fare, cocktails, and coffee.
“The house was built in the early 1900s, so it has a lot of its own charm that we’re going to utilize in the new space,” says Lennox. He is also hoping to convert the backyard into a space for seating, a satellite bar, and even a stage for events and performances.
In addition to the two new ventures, Lennox is also expanding the original Muchacho into the old Golden Eagle space, and in the meantime is adding a Muchacho Burrito Bus so customers can still get their taco and coffee fix while the space is under construction. Lennox plans to reopen the original Muchacho in September and move the bus to a semi-permanent space elsewhere in the city.
Lennox is also planning on expanding Ladybird by 3,000 square feet to include a stage and a new airstream bar, both of which should be completed by December 2021.
Finally, Electric Hospitality is opening a catering branch based out of the commissary kitchen behind Highland Bakery in the Old Fourth Ward, to be called Electric Events. And as if that weren’t enough, Lennox is thinking of reconfiguring the Golden Eagle brand to create a line of home-bar products that he could sell online and in his restaurants.
Basically, you should be seeing a lot of Electric Hospitality in the near future. From tacos and coffee, to oysters and and cocktails, to live performances and event catering, Electric Hospitality is raising the bar (no pun intended) in the hospitality industry.
