Beer bar chain’s CEO eyes Dayton for expansion, praises local brewery

The Casual Pint — a craft beer pub, tap room and retail seller of craft beers — opened its first southwest Ohio location Friday in Loveland, and its CEO says the chain is eyeing the Dayton area for expansion.

“We definitely want to get into Dayton,” Casual Pint CEO Nathan Robinette said in a phone interview Friday, the same day the Knoxville-based craft-beer themed bar opened a pub at 110 S. Second St. in Loveland. “We’re looking for the right franchise owner now, but that’s definitely a city we’d like to be in.”

He’s optimistic for an expansion in Dayton and elsewhere in central and southwest Ohio.

“We find that the bulk of our franchise owners come to us after being a customer of one of our existing stores,” the Crafted Pint CEO said.

Robinette praised the Dayton-area beer and brewery scene, and singled out one Dayton brewery for praise.

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“Warped Wing is fantastic,” Robinette said. “We have two of their beers on tap now in Loveland, including their Whiskey Rebellion. That’s a great beer.”

The first Casual Pint Market opened in Knoxville in 2011. In 2013, The Casual Pint began franchising, and its first six franchise locations opened in 2014, all in Tennessee. The Loveland location is the 10th overall for the company, and the first outside Tennessee.

In addition to a dozen breweries, the Dayton region is home to several beer-themed bars and pubs, including Chappys (two locations), Ollie’s Place, The Barrel House, Caddy’s Tap Room, Pies and Pints, and BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, among others. A Tampa, Florida-based craft beer chain, World of Beer, has signed a lease to open a location at The Greene Town Center in Beavercreek, in a building that is under construction along Indian Ripple Road at the retail center’s main entrance.

For more information, go to the Casual Pint web site at thecasualpint.com.

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