Inside HubHaus with Nick Garrett | Hardin Local

Key Takeaways

• HubHaus began with three friends. Nick Garrett and his cousin Chris homebrewed in the garage for years, always bringing a keg to events, until a third partner pushed them to go pro.
• It was built on purpose as a family gathering spot, not a bar: arcade and video games up front, a big outdoor space out back, and non-alcoholic options so everyone fits in.
• Chris is "the brains behind the beer"; Mark Malone helped turn the partners' vision into the finished space.
• Open just over a year, the owners are hands-on, catching packed nights on the floor wiping tables and washing dishes alongside their team.
• Weekly draws: Tuesday trivia (Joe's Game Night) and Thursday Singo (with Teddy). Sponsor tie-ins this week: mention Hardin Local for a complimentary draft with food, plus a one-day Shrek the Musical menu on July 1 benefiting the Youth Theater of Hardin County.

Summary

For this week's episode we did something we rarely do. We packed up the usual multi-screen setup and went LIVE from one location: HubHaus, the restaurant, brewery, and arcade on Main Street in downtown Elizabethtown, and this episode's sponsor. In the middle of a packed room, Rachel Brantingham sat down on the couch with co-owner Nick Garrett to hear the story behind the space.

It is a good one. HubHaus started with three friends, a garage full of homebrew, and one partner who would not let the idea die. What they built is not a bar. It is a place designed from day one for families to be together under one roof, which is exactly what downtown Elizabethtown had been missing.

That family-first thinking is the whole point, and it is why a place like this matters to Hardin County. It gives local families, and the travel teams pouring in for the sports park, somewhere to land, cool off, and stay together after a long day.

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We like to start every guest conversation in the same place, and this time Rachel set the menu and the taps aside for a second and asked the real question: why does HubHaus exist? What did downtown Elizabethtown not have that made you say, we have to build this?

The answer went all the way back to a garage.

"It was just three friends come together," Nick said. "One pushing, I want a brewery. Chris, my cousin, and I were brewing in the garage for years. Any event, we'd always bring a little keg of beer. And, of course, all your friends always have to say, oh, that's good, whether you know it really is or not."

One of the three took that further than the rest. "Had somebody pushing real hard. One of the three was like, we need a brewery. Your all's beer is awesome. We've got to have that. We want a place that families can come. It's not a bar. It's a family gathering spot."

Chris was the natural yes. "He's our brains behind the beer," Nick said. "He's the one that had the passion for the beer. And I kind of just tagged along with it." Nick was the harder sell. He worked on the road and was not home much, so he sat on the idea for a while, careful not to even bring it up. "I wouldn't even tell Chris about it because I knew Chris would want to jump on board immediately. And I was a little more hesitant."

Then came the moment. "We were brewing one day in the garage, and I was like, Chris, what's your thoughts on a brewery? He's like, let's do it. So it was just immediately jump on board."

From there the three were on the same page about what the place had to be. "We wanted a family friendly environment, hence the games. We got the great outdoor space," Nick said. As parents who take their kids everywhere, they wanted somewhere that worked for the whole family. "The kids got games. We've got video games back here. Parents can enjoy a beer. I mean, we got non-alcoholic options too. So we kind of got a little bit of all of us in here. It's all of our hearts. This place is everything we wanted to be and more."

Rachel felt it the moment she walked in early to finish up some work. The place is spotless, and the care behind every corner shows. As she pointed out, her own two kids are polar opposites, a gamer and an athlete, and HubHaus somehow has a spot for both, one up front, one out back. That was by design. "It's friends and family. This is a great place together. We do awesome family events with Trivia and Singo. So it's not just parents' night out. It's the whole family can come and enjoy."

Nick made a point to credit the person who helped shape the look of it all. "One behind-the-scenes person, Mark Malone, he helped us so much. This is not, like, the aesthetics of this place. Gotta have hats off to him. I've come from construction. Chris is military. That was not anything that was our niche. But Mark really helped us bring this place together, put our vision onto the building."

Of course, three guys deciding to open a business meant three families had to sign off, and Nick did not sugarcoat that conversation. "Oh, there was definitely some hesitancy there. They were like, you're doing what? This is your fun in the weekend at the garage? You want to do that as a business?" His own wife saw an upside. "My wife, I worked on the roads. I was going nine to ten months of the year. So she was all about it. It was going to bring me home."

That part came with a twist he laughs about now. This is the first business either he or Chris has owned, and running it means they practically live there. "I thought I would see you more with you being home, but that's not the case, because starting a business, this is Chris and I's first business, so we live here a lot of times. We want everybody to have a great experience, and we want to be very hands on."

Hands-on is not a slogan for these guys. When Rachel asked about a night that felt like they had made it, Nick told on himself. Early on, he and Chris tried to sneak off work a little early to get a brew going. "Anything that could have went wrong, went wrong. We were patching stuff together, but it turned into four or five in the morning. We're still here. I went up and sat on the couch and was like, oh my gosh, is it worth it. But end of the day, see the smiling faces coming through. It was definitely worth it." Then Chris ran out the door to make it to his day job.

Rachel has seen that grind up close. She recalled coming in one night not long after they opened, glancing around a room that was absolutely packed out, and spotting the owners themselves wiping tables and doing dishes. "I could see a little bit of stress on your faces, but also excitement," Rachel said. When one of them tried to grab her tray, Rachel waved him off, but the message landed: these owners are in the trenches with their team. Nick owns it. "None of us have ever owned a restaurant, so I want to get in and learn all facets of the business. I want to be able to do anything that I expect out of everybody. It's like, hey, we're not above jumping in and helping anybody." They have been open just over a year, and he says a great team has carried them through the learning curve.

Ask Nick what surprises guests most, and he does not hesitate. "Here lately, the biggest compliment we've had is that outdoor space. I just don't think there's another place like that in E-Town." That space did not come easy. "We poured all our money into this building, so it took us a year to actually get the outdoor space that we want. Now, on these nice days, it's full of teams. Everybody's out there. There's not a seat available." Rachel, who has played cornhole out back under the rope lighting, agreed there is nothing else quite like it in downtown Elizabethtown.

The "teams" part is not an accident either. When Rachel asked who Nick pictured walking through the door, the answer was families, and specifically the crowds traveling in for the sports park. "Both my girls play soccer, so we travel with big teams all the time, and it's so hard to get in a place with a whole team. All the kids want to stay together, but we tried to have a place where all those teams could come, cool off after a game, but still be together. Parents are enjoying themselves. They're out of town. Kids are out back having a great time or playing games." As he put it, they hit that family market that comes with all the tourism from the sports park. "Hit the nail on the head with that one."

So what should a first-timer come down for this week? Nick pointed to the regulars that keep the room full. "Tuesday, today, is trivia. If you haven't played Joe's Game Night, it is a blast. He is so interactive and fun. If you can't come down here and laugh with him, you just can't laugh. It is hilarious." Thursdays bring Singo. "A lot of different places in town do it, but it's always a blast here with Teddy. He runs it. It's always a good time."

Two more things worth knowing. Mention Hardin Local this week and, in HubHaus's exact words, a draft beer of choice is included, complimentary, with the purchase of food or appetizers. And on July 1, HubHaus is running a one-day-only Shrek the Musical menu, featuring Shrek's Favorite Onions (crispy house-made onion rings), Donkey's Favorite (crispy fried chicken and waffles with seasoned fries), and a house-made Shrek root beer, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Youth Theater of Hardin County.

As Rachel said before wrapping up, we are lucky as a community to have this place downtown. It started as three friends and a keg in a garage. It became somewhere the whole county can gather.