Would You Get a Drink in the Kendra Scott Cocktail Bar?

The eponymous cult jewelry brand is betting on a new kind of brick-and-mortar experience: a Western stable-themed bar in Nashville.

BY ALI DONALDSON, STAFF REPORTER @ALICDONALDSON

Illustration: Inc.; Photos: Courtesy Beau’s Bar; Getty Images

Jimmy Buffett had Margaritaville. Ralph Lauren has Polo Bar. Now, Kendra Scott, founder of the eponymous cult jewelry brand, has constructed her own place to grab a stool and order an old fashioned.

The entrepreneur and designer has expanded her retail empire into hospitality and opened Beau’s Bar, a Western-themed cocktail bar in the trendy Nashville neighborhood of 12 South. Like Buffett and Lauren’s self-styled spots, Scott’s addition to the cottage industry of founder bars is a reflection of her and her company. The bar is named after her horse, who has his picture framed on the wall. With a wood paneled ceiling and brick floor bordering the mahogany bar, the saloon-style space is designed to invoke the feeling of stepping into the stables at the back of a barn. 

Still, it’s not just a drinking spot. Beau’s Bar is part of the new Nashville flagship location for Yellow Rose, Kendra Scott’s offshoot lifestyle brand, which includes apparel, boots, and clothing, as well as jewelry. With different areas to personalize jewelry and cowboy hats before grabbing a round of espresso martinis or spritzes, the space feels tailor made for Nashville’s constant influx of bachelorette parties, but the company is thinking far beyond just the Teams Bride that saturate Music City. 

Even though Beau’s Bar just started taking drink orders earlier this month, the company is already scouting for more locations, says Kendra Scott chief marketing officer Michelle Peterson. The Austin-based brand wants to open more bars in its home state of Texas and in ski towns across Montana and Colorado. Soon, there could be Beau’s Bars in Vail, Aspen, and Manhattan, and like Buffett before her, some lucky customers could spot Scott in one of them sitting at the bar, sipping a margarita. 

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Creating a fully-realized consumer experience like this is more about long-term investment of world building, rather than immediate payoff of sales, says Peterson. The transactions will come later. “Consumers are more selective,” she says. “You can’t market in the old way anymore…To connect with consumers, it’s about really building a meaningful relationship.” 

So will that connection come after a few ranch waters? The company is betting yes, and that view is based on more than just vibes. It comes down to data. The vast majority of Kendra Scott customers, some 70 percent, told the company they wanted even more experiences, says Peterson. 

Other founders, CEOs, and chief marketing officers are hearing this too. Last fall, Inc. asked more than a dozen executives across different industries how they would spend an extra $1 million that got added to their marketing budget right now, and they all offered a different flavor of the same answer: invest in customer experiences and in-person events.

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