Chase Rice, who most know as a country music star with more than three billion streams to his name, but who I personally remember as a Survivor: Nicaragua contestant (season 21 if you’re curious!) is bringing his Welcome to the Farm concept to 906 N. High St., taking over the ground floor beneath Good Night John Boy.
It’ll be a partnership with Forward Hospitality Group, the Ohio-based outfit behind John Boy and a growing stable of themed nightlife spots.
Welcome to the Farm will feature a rotating lineup of country-leaning DJs, live music, a patio, a deep bourbon and whiskey program, signature cocktails, and I have to imagine it will be a new hot spot to watch the Buckeyes. (And maybe Survivor? I’m thinking Columbus could support a Reality Night.) The venue goes by WTF, which the group has always leaned into and helps preview the tone to expect.
Three other Welcome to the Farm locations have opened but the concept was (kind of) actually birthed in Columbus. Michael Schwartz talks about meeting his future business partner here:
“During COVID, I attended a show that Chase Rice played in the parking lot of an abandoned mall in Columbus, Ohio,” said Michael Schwartz, CEO of Forward Hospitality Group.
“Through a friend of a friend who knew Chase, I was invited backstage to meet him and we hit it off. A few weeks later at a show in Youngstown, we started talking about opening a country bar together.”
Rice has other connections to Columbus as well. His father grew up in Grove City and actually played football for Ohio State. And now Chase will have a bar on one of the most-trafficked stretches of High Street in the Short North, just south of campus.
Welcome to the Farm is slated to open in August, but no exact date just yet.
