John Owen
restaurant & nightclub owner, 38
/ Why he’s interesting / Owen is the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings to make good times happen in Cleveland. As the owner of Warehouse District standbys the Blind Pig and Dive Bar, as well as West Side hotspots Market and Rocky River Wine Bar, Owen seems to have the Midas touch.
/ On how to be successful / “I serve the same Miller Lite as the bar down the street. You have to differentiate yourself. I’m confident that we don’t have the coolest or trendiest bars or restaurants in the city, but I think if you are genuine to the people, it’s all relationship building.”
/ Hail, Mary / Market’s bloody mary cart is filled with five kinds of smokies, four kinds of horseradish, 16 different stuffed olives among other fun items. “I am passionate about my bloody mary cart, so every Sunday I go into work, I load the cart, make sure all the olives are fresh. I talk to everyone who comes up to the bloody mary cart personally every Sunday that I’m in town.”
/ His inspiration / Owen got the idea for the bloody mary cart from Chicago’s Rockit Bar & Grill. “I thought I could do it better than theirs. They have more than 20 items, I have 36 items. Cleveland’s got to do something better than Chicago.”
/ Drinking games / The Blind Pig has a version of The Price Is Right’s Plinko board, called Drinko Plinko, with different shots at the bottom of the board. “When you can’t decide what shot you’re doing, it decides for you.”
/ Head hunter / Owen has more than 500 bobbleheads. “I used to have season tickets to the Cavs just to go to the bobblehead games. A couple years ago, they started doing LeBron James bobbleheads that were special. They would pick 23 people and bring them down to center court, and they would take their bobbleheads and dip it in gold. I didn’t get one. After the game I had to convince [a friend of a friend who worked for the Cavs] to give me one of the 23.”
