Split Social Kitchen plans move to expanded space

A 6-year-old restaurant has designs on more than quadrupling its footprint with a move by early 2027 within the same shopping center it currently occupies.

Kristen Douglas-Brunelle, owner of Split Social Kitchen, said infill work began last week on roughly 5,500 square feet of space at 3021 E. Sunshine St. that will be the future home of her eatery, which launched in July 2020, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. The restaurant currently fills 1,200 square feet at 3027 E. Sunshine St. in the Habersham Center. 

“We are looking at a January [2027] opening if all construction goes according to plan.” Douglas-Brunelle said, adding seating capacity should be around 100. “If it happens earlier, that would be great.”

Douglas-Brunelle calls the work in the restaurant’s future space “a complete gut and remodel,” noting it will include all new gas lines, a 20-person private dining room and the addition of a six to eight table outdoor patio area. “We’re going down to the studs and the beams pretty much.”

She said the renovated space formerly was occupied by Loehr Chiropractic and Acupuncture LLC, now Loehr Health Center, which relocated in early 2020 to Farmers Park, according to past SBJ reporting. 

“We’ll be keeping the space that we’re currently in for catering and its kitchen,” Douglas-Brunelle said. “So, we’ll maintain both locations, but the restaurant will be located just three doors down.”

Douglas-Brunelle said relocation and renovation costs should be approximately $420,000. She recently signed a five-year lease for an undisclosed rate with Trendcapital LLC for the new location. She added Split Social Kitchen still has four years left on the existing lease in its current home.

Trendcapital, which is owned by Raymond Vu, took over around a year ago from previous property owner Sunset Holdings & Investments Inc., Douglas-Brunelle said.

“They just put a new roof on the entire building,” she said of Trendcapital. “All of the units here are getting new air conditioning.”

Douglas-Brunelle said she began shopping for a larger home for the 17-employee restaurant around a year ago, and Vu suggested expanding into vacant space in Habersham Center rather than moving away.

“We have a good partnership with them here, so I love that we’re getting to stay,” she said, adding she expects to increase staff size to 30-35 people after the move. “I didn’t want to leave the neighborhood.”

In addition to the restaurant, which includes entrees such as slow-roasted beef ragout, parmesan herb-battered chicken and porcini mushroom ravioli, Douglas-Brunelle also around a year ago began offering Split Fit Meal Prep, a chef-prepared weekly macro-friendly meal service that includes high protein foods and gluten-free options. She has intentions of it becoming a separate business, which was a motivator to maintain the current leased space the restaurant occupies.

“We started it as a little side thing under the restaurant, and it’s really taken off,” she said, adding it currently has 230 clients with delivery to Springfield, Nixa, Ozark and Republic. “I own both of them, but we’re splitting it off because it’s taking on its own life. So it’s been really great.”

Noting Split Social Kitchen currently only has a 35-person capacity, Douglas-Brunelle said it’s both an exciting and nerve-wracking time for expansion plans for her restaurant.

“We’ve been planning on doing this for a year, but just when it happened, it happened really fast,” she said. “I just pulled the trigger because I didn’t want to miss the opportunity and it felt right.”