Strategic Hospitality: Nashville Foodies Favorite Innovators
Get to know Benjamin and Max Goldberg, the brothers behind Strategic Hospitality, and some of Nashville's favorite foodie spots.
From Paradise Park Trailer Resort, a kitschy honky-tonk, to the Patterson House, a swanky speakeasy cocktail lounge, Strategic Hospitality has several only-in-Nashville concepts that provide next-level entertainment and eats.
Take, for instance, Pinewood Social, a bar and restaurant with bowling lanes and dipping pools. Or, The Band Box, which is in the right field of First Horizon Park. So while the Nashville Sounds play baseball, fans can play giant Jenga and putt-putt golf while sipping frozen drinks like the Field of Dreamsicle. Another Strategic Hospitality concept is the Downtown Sporting Club that has restaurants, bars, ax throwing and hotel rooms.
We checked in with Benjamin and Max Goldberg, the brothers behind some of Nashville’s greatest hits.
Why did you choose Nashville to start and grow your business?
Benjamin: Nashville is such an entrepreneurial city, plus it’s one of the most supportive and accepting places I’ve ever been. Max and I both grew up here, but I noticed there was something really special happening when I moved back to Nashville after college. Nashville had this incredible energy that I’d never seen before. At that point, I knew I needed help. I begged Max to move back home from New York to start the business with me, and here we are.
What’s a theme that ties your concepts together?
Max: We’ve always opened restaurants that represent a certain point in our lives. We want to open places that are like where we’d want to hang out if we weren’t so busy all the time. We live by the Maya Angelou quote that people may not remember what you said or what you did, but how you made them feel.
At The Band Box, mini-golf course holes are designed by local artists. Can you share some more unique ways you partner with other Nashville businesses?
Benjamin: Nashville has always had this sense of “the rising tide lifts all ships.” With so much talent in this city, there are always really incredible partnerships happening. One of my favorites is our relationship with Crema Coffee at Pinewood Social. When we opened Pinewood, we knew we wanted great coffee to be a big part of the beverage program. Crema is such an amazing coffee shop, and they do what they do so well.
Max: I really love our Guest Chef Pop Ups at The Band Box. They began five years ago with our friend, Andy Little from Josephine, and have morphed into a program where some of the most talented chefs in the city leave the four walls of their kitchen to create something to serve at the ballpark — maybe more playful, more out-of-the-box than what they can do on a daily basis.
“With so much talent in this city, there are always really incredible partnerships happening.”
Benjamin Goldberg
What are a few items that are so loved they’ll never come off your menus?
Max: Tater tots, nachos (Bastion and The Band Box), Pinewood’s fried chicken, doughnuts at The Patterson House, the single-wide burger at Paradise Park.
For those new to Nashville, which drink should be a rite of passage?
Max: Paradise Park’s $6 pitcher and our whiskey and cola icee at The Band Box.
Nashville Area Economic Development
This digital edition of the Nashville Area Economic Development is sponsored by Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
