In a year that’s been dominated by difficulty and frustrating headlines, it’s finally great to see some pages begin to turn as we approach a new calendar year. There are a lot of great headlines on the horizon, but this first one may be one of the biggest we’ve seen in downtown Savannah in a while.
Savannah’s favorite South African themed sandwich shop Zunzi’s is teaming up another local favorite Treylor Park/Hitch to bring us a first of its kind collaboration to the heart of Savannah’s Historic District. It will be appropriately named… Zunzibar. The beach-themed bar will serve frozen drinks, beach style beers and cocktails to go along with the already super popular fast casual eats Zunzi’s has served for well over a decade.
The new concept is the brainchild of Zunzi’s owner Chris Smith and restaurateurs Trey Wilder and Rick Kunzi, known for the Savannah restaurants Treylor Park and Hitch as well as the upcoming Double Wide Diner on Bay Street.
“I’ve always had the thought of creating a sister concept for Zunzi’s,” says Smith. “With Savannah being a drinking town with alcohol permitted in open containers, I thought there would be a great opportunity for a bar concept in the right location.
The location, frankly, couldn’t be any more perfect for this type of concept. Largely cosmetic demo is expected to begin shortly at 236 Drayton Street, formerly home to Green Fire Pizza at the intersection of Drayton and Perry Streets.
“Chris and I have known each other for years,” says Wilder. “Savannah is a pretty tight-knit community, and local businesses kind of stick together. We’d both been interested in the space at Drayton Street in the past, and whenever we got together, we would talk about it. We also said that when the right thing came along, we’d talk about working together. Well, the right thing came along, and it’s in that same spot that we always talked about!”
Zunzi’s will continue to do the food on one side of the building, while the Treylor Park team will handle the bar programs on the other side. All, however, under one roof.
Food will be ordered via app or kiosk over here, cocktails and the rest over there. Brilliant, if you ask me.
The Savannah Zunzibar will feature a beach and nautical theme meant to recall the island nation of Zanzibar, a favorite vacation spot for Zunzi’s founders Johnny and Gabriella DeBeer, and will include driftwood, surfboards and beach-themed artwork.
Assisting with the project are Christian Sottile, Sottile & Sottile, with historic preservation and design; Joel Berman, Berman Architecture & Design, LTD, with architecture and design; and John Lammons, Lammons Construction Company, Inc., with construction.
“We’ll be open for lunch, dinner, and late night with plans to expand hours in the morning,” Wilder says. “The long-term plan is to create a transitional space that is enjoyable for our guests all hours of the day.”
Similar long-term plans exist for Zunzi’s and their expansion/franchising in the future. The vision is to offer a ‘sister model’ to franchisees down the road with a beverage concept attached to any future Zunzi’s development.
A new deck is going to be built out in front of the building for seating. There will be seating inside as well. Max capacity is a moving target right now, but they are looking at something in the 120-140 indoor/outdoor seats when they are done.
For those of you feeling nostalgic about Zunzi’s current location on York Street, you’ve still got a few months left to enjoy that. There may be a tiny bit of overlap, but Zunzi’s original spot will close once Zunzibar is fully operational bringing an end to a near 15 year run. Their current landlord opted not to engage in a new lease requiring Zunzi’s to find a space as unique as it’s current Hole in the Wall.
I think we’d all agree that Zunzi’s outgrew that space a long time ago. It was just matter of finding the right fit to make everyone’s dining experience worthy of a SHIT YEAH!
I think they found it.
In an ideal world, you can look for Zunzibar to open late February/early March. We will certainly keep you posted.
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