Looking around Charleston over the last half-decade, you may have thought: Uptown Hospitality Group (UHG) is everywhere. With six concepts developed in six years, it’s a fair assessment. Bolstered by sharp business tactics and New York nightlife roots, the team operates with a Field of Dreams-like confidence: “If you build it, they will come.”
So far, they’ve been right.
Transplants with a vision
Senior partners Keith Benjamin and Kara Hammond arrived in Charleston by way of New York City, where both were part of the nightlife group Eat, Drink & Be Merry Hospitality, founded in 1991 by industry vets Mitch Banchik and Michael Asch.
Benjamin first visited Charleston in 2012. “I fell in love and felt there was tremendous opportunity here,” he said. By 2016, he was ready to chart his own course, and when the group began discussing new markets, he pitched Charleston to the partners. “Within days, we were on a plane,” looking for potential spaces, he said.
The team stumbled upon the former Huger’s, a 10,000-square foot behemoth on Upper King Street. “At the time, it was collapsing at the seams,” Benjamin said, “but it was the perfect location, with a late-night license grandfathered in.” The vision for Uptown Social came into focus: a three-story destination with a rooftop, the likes of which Charleston had never seen.
Knowing they were on the verge of something big, the team tread gently. “By the time we opened in April of 2018, Kara and I had made it our job to get to know everyone we possibly could,” Benjamin said. “We’d let them know that we respected everything that came before us, and were only looking to contribute to the amazing F&B community that was already established here.”
Uptown Social was just the beginning. Today, UHG (now associated with but adjacent to Eat, Drink & Be Merry) is a ubiquitous presence, with properties at the heart of the city’s nightlife experience. The group also owns Share House, a surf-inspired bar and restaurant, and Bodega, a daytime brunch spot, both located on Ann Street in the old train depot, and is debuting three new concepts this year.
UHG attributes much of its success to a tenacious marketing strategy. “We always knew social media would be instrumental in telling our story,” Hammond said. “We’re very calculated about what we do — it’s a result of us really knowing and spending so much time at our spots.”
As the operation grows, so does this “boots on the ground” effort.
“At the beginning, we were doing it all ourselves,” Benjamin said. “Now, we have social media meetings with 10 to 12 people.” The team now employs in-house designers, too, who steer everything from marketing to merch. “It’s allowed us to become a lifestyle brand, rather than just places to eat, drink and dance,” Benjamin said.
Coming soon
This year will be another groundbreaking year for UHG, beginning with a takeover of the former Warehouse space, James Groetzinger and Joey Rinaldi’s old Spring Street haunt. “This was a space we very much respected,” Benjamin said of the bar, which was one of the first places the partners visited in Charleston.
Following a tip from a local Realtor, Benjamin ran it up the chain at UHG. “It was a unanimous green light from everybody,” he said. By the spring of 2023, a natural concept had emerged. “We heard from tons of people around our age — mid-30s — who said, ‘Warehouse was our spot.’ It had this cool neighborhood vibe, and they wanted that back,” Benjamin said. Tapping inspiration from the bar’s “glory days,” the team set out to create a chic hang-out for a more grown-up set. “If you’ve graduated from Uptown Social and Share House, this is for you.”
Named “By the Way,” the new bar will open this summer, featuring cocktails, elevated tavern fare, lounge-style music acts and the occasional DJ spot. The team hopes it will be a symbiotic fit for the neighborhood, where folks can wander out of Vern’s or Chubby Fish and into By the Way for a nightcap.
In addition to a Mount Pleasant location for Bodega, UHG has also acquired the former Baker & Brewer for its first wedding venue. The property, unlisted when negotiations began, was a diamond in the rough, Hammond said, with vast indoor and outdoor space and a parking lot.
“Charleston’s wedding market continues to top every list,” Hammond said. “It would behoove us to be part of that. And between all our properties, we could offer the whole package — rehearsal dinners, welcome drinks, after parties.”
In fact, it seems there’s no facet of hospitality UHG doesn’t want a piece of. Benjamin and Hammond agree. “It’s tough for us not to want to bite the entire apple, but we’re learning to take small bites,” Benjamin said. “We continue to operate the same way we started: with humility and pride and the obligation to provide the community with something we didn’t feel existed.”
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