The 5,400-square-foot tavern will seat about 200. McGhee estimated that Dog’s Breath will employ 12 to 15 people.
The tavern’s menu will include overstuffed sandwiches, appetizers and other items, and the kitchen will be under the direction of Bob Malicote, who held previous positions at the former Lincoln Park Grille in Kettering and The Golden Lamb in Lebanon.
McGhee said the “Dog’s Breath” name stemmed from the love for animals that McGhee shares with his partner Jennifer Simpson, who filed the application for the liquor license for the tavern. Together the two have nine dogs and shelter other animals, McGhee said. Dog’s Breath will host fund-raising events for animal-protection agencies and for cancer-research organizations, he said.
McGhee owned Norton’s on Wilmington Pike in Kettering for several years, then moved the bar to 580 Lincoln Park Blvd. adjacent to Fraze Pavilion, where Norton’s morphed into the Pavilion Grill. The restaurant closed in May 2012 after its landlord filed a foreclosure and eviction action against McGhee, and after his court challenge attempting to block the foreclosure failed.
The tavern owner said it feels “great” to be back in the business. “I’ve been doing it for 18 years, and being out of it for 10 months, it’s fun to be back in a position where my job is to make sure people have a good time,” McGhee said.
Gregg Gorsuch, economic development manager for the city of Kettering, said the city has not received detailed plans for the new tavern, but was contacted by McGhee about the venture last week.
“Fred McGhee is a long-time Kettering businessman, and we wish him nothing but success in his new endeavor,” Gorsuch said.
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