Palm & Paddle Grille aims for mid-June launch

A sense of the Caribbean in both decor and menu options will comprise components of Palm & Paddle Grille, a south-side Springfield restaurant expected to debut in mid-June.

The 5,000-square-foot eatery, which occupies two floors and features a balcony and outdoor dining, will serve as the anchor tenant at The Creek, a mixed-use development on South Campbell Avenue. Walker Hospitality Group LLC owns both The Creek and Palm & Paddle Grille, which is at 2515 S. Campbell Ave., Ste. 400. It’s next door to the La Quinta Inn South, also owned by the hospitality company.

Palm & Paddle Grille marks his company’s first foray into the restaurant side of the hospitality industry, said Greg Walker, who co-owns the venture with his wife, Kristin. The couple declined to disclose startup costs for the restaurant or The Creek, for which Branco Enterprises Inc. served as general contractor and Hood-Rich Inc. was architect.

“We hired a consultant back when we first started building the strip center. We actually thought someone else would take the space originally,” Kristin Walker said of the restaurant portion of The Creek, which also has a trio of 1,500-square-foot commercial tenant spaces constructed. “But we didn’t want it to sit empty, either.”

When no potential tenants stepped forward to lease the restaurant space, the Walkers decide to fill it themselves with the Caribbean and beach concept, one of 10 they were presented by David Foster, owner of Foster & Associates, a Springfield-based food-service and restaurant consulting firm.

“The beach concept was one of them, and it just spoke to us, just because of our fondness for traveling to the Caribbean ourselves,” she said.

While prices are still to be determined, the menu for Palm & Paddle Grille will be Caribbean-inspired American fare, she said.

“We call it Midwestern friendly, not traditional Caribbean, but it has some of the flavor profiles from Caribbean ingredients,” she said, adding it will have options such as jerk chicken, nachos, tacos and island bowls, which will include ahi tuna, chicken or other proteins mixed with rice, beans and vegetables.

Greg Walker said Palm & Paddle Grille likely won’t be the first business to open at The Creek. He said Dirty Dough, a Utah-based gourmet cookie company, should be ready to launch a Springfield franchise store at 2515 S. Campbell Ave., Ste. 100, by late May. Isaac Aldridge is franchisee of the local store, which will occupy the commercial space that includes a drive-thru, Walker said. The company specializes in cookies loaded with toppings and filled with stuffings. 

“We’ve got a couple people looking at our other couple spots,” Walker said. “We just haven’t nailed anybody down yet. We’re thinking more retail on those last two spots due to parking constraints and things like that.”

The Creek project was first announced in March 2023, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.