Matthew Bettinger
co-owner, SideBar & Hank’s Downtown Dive
I enjoy people. I like to hang out. It’s an opportunity to throw a party every day, and to me that sounds like a good time.
Origin Story: Like a lot of people, I got into hospitality because I needed a job and didn’t have anything else going on. A buddy of mine was working at a restaurant and said, “We need some servers.” … It was a good fit from the get go.
Inspiration: Being able to be part of a community is the part that I enjoy the most. … Seeing people leave really, really happy is great.
A Proud Moment: The moment that we realized SideBar was really going to take, and we decided to start exploring something else… It was about a year after SideBar was open. It wasn’t necessarily an aha moment, but it was over a couple of weeks.
With Hank’s, we wanted to offer a full service restaurant, and that’s something I really wanted to get back into. I’ve been doing spirits and bars for a decade plus, which is wonderful, but there’s also something to be said for providing the full experience, a place where people can bring their family and sit down and eat.
- Meet Erin O’Loughlin
- Meet Andy Munn
- Meet Marsha McLean
- Meet Hillary Parnell
- Meet Matthew Poling
- Meet Tim McLoughlin
- Meet Calin Riley
- Meet Victoria Ford
- Meet Brianna Williams
- Meet Erin Bircher
- Bring the Magic
- Meet Evan Bost
- Meet the 2021 Movers & Shakers
- A Peek at the Peak City
- Meet Amy Davenport
- Meet Stephen Rhodes
- Meet Nicole Case
- Meet Camille Kauer
- Meet Alicia Jurado
- Meet Virginia H. Johnson
- Meet Sylvia Inks
- Meet Dr. April Gessner Deddens
- Meet Jasmine Brown
- Meet Mycal Brickhouse
- Meet Matthew Bettinger
- Meet Shane Barry
- ‘It just had everything’
- Small Business Spotlight: Blue Diamond Gemstone Panning
- Riding to Victory
- Nonprofit Spotlight: Spirit League of North Carolina
- Restaurant Profile: Keen on Korean
- Liquid Assets: Wen-da-Hell Hefeweizen from Bearded Bee Brewing
- Liquid Assets: Frozen Lavender Lemonade from Andia’s Homemade Ice Cream
- Garden Adventurer: ‘Millenium’ Allium is More Than a Spellcheck
