Scratch & Co. restaurant set to open at Plaza Towers

Last edited 9:09 a.m., June 8, 2026 [Editor's note: The electrician has been corrected.]

A 7,000-square-foot restaurant on the first floor of the 10-story Plaza Towers at the intersection of Sunshine Street and Glenstone Avenue is set to soft-open tonight and tomorrow, with a formal opening on June 8, said Scratch & Co. co-owner Steve Belden.

Belden said Trent Overhue is the other co-owner of Scratch & Co. Through their company AMP Recreation LLC, they oversee the new restaurant, along with The Daily Blend coffee shop and Sunshine Event Center with its rooftop bar and patio. Belden said investment costs to start up the restaurant were undisclosed but that the owners “certainly didn’t cut corners on it.”

“I’m very confident that our service is going to set us apart from our competitors,” Belden told Springfield Business Journal this morning. A former director of operations at Bricktown Brewery, 2040 E. Independence St., the upstate New York transplant said he’s been in Springfield roughly 17 years and observed that hospitality service in the city has declined over the past several years.

“We see a lot of the same complaints over and over again about just poor service throughout the Springfield markets,” Belden said. “And that’s really a passion of mine to make sure that every guest is taken care of, and we find a way to say yes at Scratch & Co., rather than argue with a guest at a table or say no to people.”

Belden said Scratch & Co. employs roughly 60 people as it launches. He praised the quality of the personnel in both management and staff roles as the restaurant gets its start, saying, “I’ve never had a team that has demonstrated the amount of energy that they are putting off right now.”

The team will serve Scratch & Co.’s indoor dining space and a first-floor patio, with plans to expand to the Plaza Towers rooftop in the next six weeks.

“We’re currently waiting on a new furniture, lighting and AV package up there, and then we’re going to do another grand opening of the rooftop,” Belden said.

Belden called the Scratch & Co. menu “an outstanding food package” and said it highlights classic dishes from American cuisine and cultures around the world, made from scratch with quality ingredients. He cited examples of a turkey Reuben sandwich with meat sourced from Ginsberg Deli LLC, which does business as Sy Ginsberg’s Meat & Deli in Detroit; a beef stroganoff dish served with tortellini and three types of mushrooms; and house-made spaghetti and meatballs.

“We are making everything in-house, with the exception of some hamburger buns and rolls,” Belden said. “Everything else is crafted on-site.”

Belden noted a local company, Charmingly Cheesecake, will provide about half of the dessert options on the menu.

Belden said menu prices are intended to be competitive with national franchise restaurants, and that roughly four times per year, Scratch & Co. will offer seasonal limited-time menu items that feature local produce or local favorites.

He added that the interior design of Scratch & Co. has an aesthetic that “is going to speak for itself,” creating an elevated fast-casual atmosphere that’s inviting for family and friend gatherings.

“We wanted a concept that was gorgeous inside, had great service, great food,” Belden said. “But our idea is to do a higher volume here. We want to keep the restaurant full. And that is really what our business model looks like.”

Scratch & Co. seats roughly 125 people on its first-floor level, with an additional 60 seats on a covered first-floor patio. The rooftop patio, when open, is expected to add 50 more seats, Belden said.

The restaurant is set to operate daily, with hours from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays, Belden said.

Multi-Craft Contractors Inc. served as mechanical and plumbing contractor for Scratch & Co., Belden said, while Kyle Thomas of Southern Missouri Electrical LLC was the electrician.

The restaurant also features murals by two local artists: Samantha Cox and Andrea Ehrhardt, Belden said.

“Those two ... really set this restaurant apart by tying in some more local,” Belden said.

Overhue bought the 10-story, 130,000-square-foot Plaza Towers and adjacent shopping center for roughly $13.4 million in an April 2025 foreclosure sale, according to past SBJ reporting.

After the purchase, Overhue said he intended to revive plans for the coffee shop, event center and restaurant, noting those plans had been envisioned under former ownership.