Kola House, Pepsi’s new restaurant and bar that doubles as an experiential event space, finally opened its doors to the public in the trendy Meatpacking District of New York City, amidst a lot of buzz after hosting a series private parties during New York Fashion Week. Before landing in Manhattan, Pepsi took the Kola House experience around the globe with a series of pop-ups at high-profile brand events including the Super Bowl and most recently Milan Fashion Week.
JLG, Pepsi’s exclusive North American brand licensing agency, tapped hot New York City restaurateurs Lisle Richards and Eric Marx of The Metric as Pepsi’s partners for the project. The duo’s other successful ventures include The Wayfarer restaurant in midtown Manhattan and the posh Gilded Lily night club, located right below Kola House on West 15th Street.
The new 5,000-square-foot space features a design inspired by global pop culture icon, Lenny Kravitz and combines a specialty cocktail menu curated by noted “alchemist” Alex Ott with a culinary menu of American shareables with global influences, crafted by noted Executive Chef Jon Feshan.
Kola House will host a full calendar of cultural events featuring art, fashion and emerging musical talent. The first in a series of large-scale art installations introduced by Kola House’s resident art curator, Swizz Beatz, is from Japanese contemporary artist Tomokazu Matsuyama. The opening party highlighted the installation and featured a surprise performance by LCD Soundsystem. Other recent musical performances have included Jason Derulo, Blood Orange and Virgin Staples.
Pepsi’s new brand extension has been featured by License! Global, Fortune and Brandchannel.