Zayka Indian Cuisine owner buys Best of Luck Beer Hall

Best of Luck Beer Hall at 313B S. Jefferson Ave. in downtown Springfield has a new owner as of February.

Sanjay Kumar, owner of Zayka Indian Cuisine, immediately next door to Best of Luck at 313 S. Jefferson Ave., was the buyer.

The sale included the business, its name, branding and assets – “everything,” according to Jim Wilson, owner of JJJ Development LLC, which formerly owned the building where Zayka and Best of Luck are located.

“Sanjay is expanding out because Zayka has been very successful,” Wilson noted. He and Kumar declined to state the sale price for Best of Luck or 2025 annual revenues for Best of Luck and Zayka.

Wilson’s company sold the building at 307, 309, 311 and 313 South Jefferson Avenue that houses Zayka, Best of Luck and a nearby massage and chiropractic clinic, a hip joint Springfield LLC, to ESL Development LLC in a Feb. 10 deal, Wilson said. Greene County records logged the sale on Feb. 17. Missouri secretary of state records note Kumar is a member with ownership stake in ESL Development LLC.

Wilson said that while he is no longer part of the ownership group for the property or Best of Luck, he is working on a freelance basis to book events such as wedding receptions, fundraisers, school events and birthday or anniversary partiesfor the Best of Luck space, seeing that as a stronger revenue opportunity than general downtown bar business.

“Events is kind of our sweet spot,” Wilson said. He noted that in 2024, when he and hospitality entrepreneur Josh Widner owned Best of Luck under Good Spirits Euro Beer Bar LLC, they shifted toward booking more special event business.

“I … field all the calls, put together the party, try to always show up and, you know, glad‑hand people and make sure they're having a good time,” Wilson said. “That's the part of the job I love."

Kumar said he approached Wilson in 2025 about buying Best of Luck. He now runs the bar and restaurant under a five-year lease with building owner ESL Development LLC, while also operating Zayka next door. He said the acquisition was a way to expand his restaurant business, learn full-bar operations and serve bar-style food at Best of Luck, alongside Indian foods at Zayka.

“I love learning new things, actually,” Kumar said, noting he was also interested in a bigger scope for his business.

Kumar said Best of Luck has roughly four employees, including himself, while Zayka has around eight employees, including himself. Zayka and Best of Luck staffers are very self-sufficient, allowing him to manage both businesses, Kumar said.

“And I can cover their shift as well, too, whenever they need it, since I know [how to] work all this stuff,” Kumar added.

Wilson said even though he’s no longer an owner of Best of Luck, “it’s still my baby, in a lot of ways.”

Kumar and Wilson said Kumar is keeping Best of Luck, described as a “European athletic club-themed bar” when it opened, according to past coverage, much as it has been. Roughly 20 beers will be on tap, rotating, along with four cocktails and four varieties of wine also available on tap. Wilson said Best of Luck will adjust beverages seasonally, adding more sour beers in summer and more stouts and dark beers in winter, for example. Wilson said Best of Luck is also selling bottled nonalcoholic beverages and may add a full keg of nonalcoholic beer on tap.

“People aren’t drinking as much,” Wilson said. “So … we used to have nonalcoholic beer in case we needed it. Now we sell a lot of our nonalcoholic drinks.”

Various burgers, chicken sandwiches and bratwurst options remain on the menu, Kumar said, along with an appetizer lineup that includes favorites like Best of Luck’s crispy fried Brussels sprouts served with maple, sage and cracked black pepper, according to Best of Luck’s menu posted online.

Cornhole and bocce ball gameplay will still be available in an artificial turf section in the center, and guests can reserve an hour of gameplay for their group for $10.

Kumar said the city is extending him a permit to allow minors in the mostly 21-and-up space, if they are accompanied by a legal guardian.

Kumar said he likes Best of Luck’s downtown location despite it being “a little back there,” tucked behind Zayka, and he thinks stronger marketing and social media will overcome the visibility challenge because customers respond positively once they’re in the door and experience the space.

“The issue that Sanjay is trying to solve is, I think everybody that comes here loves it,” Wilson said. “We just need to get more people in here. You know, it's a challenging location, and so that's why I kind of moved to the events, because people love it for event space.”

Best of Luck is open from 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays 2 p.m.-1 a.m., according to its website.

Zayka opened in space formerly occupied by Mille’s Turn of the Century Cafe and Coyote’s Adobe on Nov. 2, 2016, according to past coverage, and at that time the restaurant owners were Davinder and Gurpreet Gill, and her father Mohinder Singh.

Kumar said that the following year, he – a longtime restaurant professional – moved to Springfield from South Carolina on the advice of his brother, Surinder Kumar, who at that time was a professional chef.

Roughly 11 months after it opened, Kumar said he purchased the Zayka restaurant business, which occupies roughly 3,500 square feet of the 9,300-square foot property, according to past coverage, for undisclosed terms.

In June 2018, JJJ Development LLC purchased the building from Lakebuds LLC, according to past coverage.

On. Feb. 8, 2019, Best of Luck Beer Hall opened under Wilson and former business partner Josh Widner’s ownership, according to past coverage.