Matty’s Starkvegas Cafe will be opening in downtown Starkville, where the state theatre once was, in a few weeks.
Nestled in the heart of downtown Starkville, a new scene for nightlife, food and fun will be opening soon. The café will specialize in fast, casual dining. The goal of this style of service will be to benefit those with a half hour lunch break. Matt Willbanks, the owner of the new café, feels this aspect of service is crucial to business in a college town.
“Our cafe will have fast, casual food, where you’ll have ordering at the door. Right when people walk in, we want to be able to greet you,” Willbanks said. “We want to be able to get folks in and out, if they have a time limit.”
As a recent graduate of Mississippi State University and restaurant worker for years, Willbanks certainly knows about time constraints and quality service. As part of the service Willbanks hopes the cafe will provide, the building retains its old timey charm and memories of recent past.
“I’ve been a student in Starkville since 2001,” Willbanks said. “I used to come into this building and watch bands. As far as the woodwork through here, it’s just got such a story. There’s so much history in this building. It’s been here since the 1930s.”
Originally, there were two movie theatres in Starkville, however, both burned down. The building for the cafe is composed of the bricks and wood from the original foundation of both theaters. Everything that could be salvaged, was used to provide Downtown Starkville with the character and charm seen today. While renovations are ongoing, Willbanks plans to keep the integrity of the old theater. The family owned and run cafe will feature bands, nightlife and trivia, all inside the newly renovated mezzanine.
Willbanks has made the renovations as eco-friendly as possible, replacing all the lights with LEDs and doing applications online, instead of on paper. The applications appear at www.stark.vegas and hiring is for all positions. Among the current staff is an award winning burger chef and manager Amber Johnson.
“We just want to make sure our customers come in here, have a great time, eat great food,” Johnson, a current student at MSU, said. “It’s something they can enjoy and have fun in.”
The cafe will serve everything from pizza, salads and burgers to milkshakes and fresh squeezed lemonade. Also on the menu will be dishes from the staff. All members of the staff at the cafe will be able to submit recipes that can be sold to customers. The specialties will be dishes like Philly cheesesteak, Vicksburg tomato sandwich, hot tamales and dishes with comeback sauce.
The cafe will provide catering to large groups and would like to eventually have delivery options.
“We’ve embraced the ‘shop local, eat local’ mentality. Anybody can go to a chain anywhere in the country, but it’s different, when it’s in your area, your town,” Johnson said. “You get to support local businesses, and keep the money in your area. We’re really excited to help build up this downtown area. We’ve gotten to see it grow, even over the past year. It’s a really cool area that we get to help build up.”
