Exploring Life & Business with Kevin Carolla of The Horseshoe Southend

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Carolla.

Hi Kevin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today. 
I started working in the hospitality industry in western New York while attending St. Bonaventure University. I graduated in December of 2003 and moved directly to Charlotte, NC. I worked in the banking industry for 7 years while continuing to work nights and weekends in clubs and restaurants. I became manager while working for Blackfinn in the epicenter in uptown Charlotte in 2010. I struggled with alcoholism from my teenage years until 2015, when I checked myself into substance abuse treatment in Greensboro, NC. In early 2016, I took a position as general manager of a beer garden and music venue, where I remained until Covid shut businesses down. Post Covid, I bartended at a couple dive bars while we began to get our plans together to start building the Horseshoe. I collaborated with childhood friend, James Korpela, as we put together our business plan. Since building materials had almost doubled in price after Covid, we lost our street-front space due to budget adjustments. I hired and trained our back of the house employees as well as writing and designing the restaurant menu. We opened our bar and restaurant in September of 2022. I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in over 6 years. The Horseshoe is still a work in progress. Most recently, I have added Tony Romero as my assistant general manager. He is implementing some new marketing and promotional strategies that should assist in increasing our foot traffic as well as brand recognition. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Losing our street front location has been a battle since we opened. We have been a destination spot because of this. This has made it very difficult to get our name out and become popular among people that attend bars and restaurants in our area of town. Additionally, the state of the economy and the rise of the cost of living have deterred consumers from spending as much as previous years in bars and restaurants. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Horseshoe Southend?
We are a sports bar in Southend with exceptional food and service. I am the general manager in charge of daily operations. We specialize in events as well as being “the place to be” to watch your favorite team play. The fact that we are privately owned gives us a competitive advantage over other bars and restaurants in the area. Because of this, we are able to make decisions in a case-to-case basis which allows us to manipulate a party of event to the guests liking. I am most proud of our employees’ commitment to consistency and providing a superior product to that of our competitors. The Horseshoe can accommodate almost any special event and will continue to strive toward providing a superior product and service. 

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I wrote and designed our menu from scratch! 

Contact Info:

• Website: thehorseshoeclt.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/thehorseshoeclt?igsh=cG4zY3ZobHNucmZI&ut-m_source=qr