Years after founding their Texas scratch kitchen Craft Grill just south of Creekside Park, co-owners Chris and Connie O’Donnell and Joe and Patti Copus brought a new, Southern-style concept to the area with the launch of Craft Grill Breakfast Club in January 2020.

Chris said he wanted to take advantage of a vacancy at the Kuykendahl Road plaza that has been home to the original Craft Grill since 2017, in addition to bringing a new slate of breakfast options to area diners.

“We wanted to be a true breakfast place,” Chris said. “As the menu grew, we just built around it because we had to do everything.”

Beginning with traditional breakfast items such as eggs, toast and hash browns, the restaurant’s owners built a new menu featuring a selection of specialized dishes alongside several varieties of waffles, Benedicts and omelets. Connie, who developed the Breakfast Club’s menu, said she also aimed to add a unique kick to many of the items in keeping with Craft Grill’s Southern inspirations.

“We kept all the recipes south of the Mason-Dixon line,” she said. “I wanted to have dishes on the menu so if you come here from Tennessee or Mississippi or Louisiana, you’ll recognize things on the menu that are your favorites.”

In addition to aiming for bold-tasting offerings, the O’Donnells said they also worked to ensure accessibility at the breakfast eatery.

“Whether it’s your grandmother or your 16-year-old daughter in this place, they’re going to feel comfortable,” Chris said. Connie also noted the restaurant’s ability to customize any homemade menu item to guests’ requests, which she said also brings a sense of comfort for anyone visiting the kitchen.

“When people come in ... we can tell them what’s in it because we have recipe books. ... It makes them feel good about the food they’re eating,” Connie said.

In addition to the restaurant’s various food offerings, the four owners also designed the space to host local events. Following the kitchen’s daily operating hours, the Breakfast Club can be used as a gathering space for dozens of visitors in afternoons and evenings, a service that is currently limited due to COVID-19 restrictions, but the team said they hope to expand it as greater capacity is permitted in the future. Full-service catering is available both at the Breakfast Club and off-site as well. While the Breakfast Club opened just two months before initial business closures related to the pandemic, the O’Donnells said adaptations and local community support kept them busy through the start of this year while anticipating more regular customers later in 2021.

“I love our guests and our staff and the neighbors who come in and supported us. Even when we were closed down, people would come in and say, ‘What can I buy to keep you guys in business?’” Connie said. “It was an extremely humbling experience.”