Business Spotlight: A Cartoons Revival

A construction veteran is writing the next chapter for Cartoons Oyster Bar, and his toolbox has come in handy the last year.

Since taking over Cartoons in November – following the eviction of its owners – Adam Kaltenbach has invested $100,000 to remodel the 26-year-old restaurant, bar and live music venue at 1614 S. Glenstone Ave.

Kaltenbach’s handiwork is displayed in the new flooring, bar top and partial facade in the front part of the building, but the real return is coming from work where bands draw crowds in the Big Room and an outdoor patio. He raised the main stage to 44 inches and installed a garage door in the outer wall that opens to a patio with a wooden overhang and a second stage.

The contractor-turned-restaurateur started Black Bass Construction in 2005, when he relocated to Springfield from northeast Iowa. He had managed multimillion-dollar swine operations for 10 years in Iowa.

“This was the first bar I ever stopped at when I moved to Springfield,” says Kaltenbach. “We came in here on our rain days for construction and for lunch and happy hour.”

Kaltenbach is Cartoons’ third owner since founders Gary and Rae Lynn Summers sold to investor owners Steve Crawford and Bill Brayman in 2003. Kaltenbach fell into ownership while completing a residential remodeling job for Jim Cohen, whose Sunrise Property Investments LLC owns the Cartoons’ property. Cohen was preparing to evict Cartoons’ operators Val and Inna Gladkov of American Clubs Management Inc., and he asked Kaltenbach to take over.

“There’s been a huge [effort] proving to people there are new owners,” he says, noting Vietti Marketing Group is handling a multimedia advertising campaign. “Trying to get people back in the door has been a little rough at first.”

Sound of music
While he still operates the residential and commercial remodeling company full time, Kaltenbach is in Cartoons daily to place drink and food orders and manage staff.

Pointing to expanded efforts in live music and food quality, Kaltenbach says sales have nearly doubled since November to $70,000 a month. “We still need to be at $100,000 a month for the short-term goal,” he says, adding the annual goal of $1.2 million is within reach.

With half of revenues generated during nights when bands are playing, Kaltenbach contracts with music promoter Monte Lorts of Springfield-based MLS Enterprises. Traditionally reserved for Friday and Saturday nights, Cartoons in August added Thursday night concerts.

“Thursday has become the new Friday,” says Lorts, a 17-year booking agent who worked the Greater Ozarks Blues Festival for 12 years.

Earning a flat monthly fee to book acts at Cartoons, Lorts says two to four bands take the stage in the Big Room and the patio each weekend. He has 15 bands booked in September and 20 each in October and November – a mix between national and regional touring acts, such as Turnpike Troubadours and Midnight River Choir, and local cover bands Members Only and Brookline Station.

“Members Only is the No. 1 band in this area for attendance,” Lorts says, noting modern cover band Fun House is up and coming.

Kaltenbach is no stranger to music venues, having owned Tier 3 on East Republic Road before it closed and Galloway Station moved in this summer.

Six months into his ownership, Cartoons made its mark on the live music scene in an unpredicted fashion. During a May concert by the John D. Hale Band, a musician was smoking inside the venue – a violation of city law – and after multiple requests to stop by management were ineffective, words were exchanged and an altercation occurred on stage. Police officers were called to the scene.

“Not in my house,” Kaltenbach says of the incident, which he notes only slowed business in the short term. “After that, we were swamped with emails from bands wanting to play.”

Fresh face
To start the year, Kaltenbach brought on an executive chef to spice up and localize the menu. Oysters are still a key component – the restaurant weekly goes through about 40 dozen, flown in from the Gulf of Mexico twice a week – but chef James Stegall II has added popular daily specials that have doubled food sales. Stegall, a former chef at Farmers Gastropub, is emphasizing locally grown foods, and he estimates 15 percent of its produce is bought from local vendors and farmers’ markets.

“It’s not farm to the table like Farmers is. The price points are so much different between the two restaurants,” Stegall says, noting Cartoons’ dishes run between $6 and $18. “But as far as carbon footprint, I’m trying to buy everything at least within the United States – nothing imported.”

Seafood is ordered through Big Pop’s, a Springfield company that makes regular trips for fresh catch in Louisiana.

He says the daily specials, including the German Wednesdays he started at Farmers Gastropub, are the best sellers. The German fare includes sauerbraten and schnitzel, served with handmade pasta called spaetzle.

Kaltenbach says the burgers are made with 80 percent Hereford beef and 20 percent bacon, and the Adam Bomb, “three meals in one,” is a half-pound burger topped with shredded barbecue pork.

Kaltenbach says the changes are bringing regulars back.

“The biggest surprise is the amount of people who haven’t been here in years and appreciate what they used to have at Cartoons. I keep hearing, ‘This reminds me of what Cartoons used to be; this is how it should be,’” he says.[[In-content Ad]]