Mission Bay businesses hope for deep Warriors playoff run
SAN FRANCISCO -- It's not just Warriors fans that are rooting for the team to make a deep playoff run; businesses in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood are hoping to cash in on the team's success.
"As a fan, I'd love to see it. More than that, that just means more games," said John Caine, CEO and general manager of ATWater Tavern, located a few blocks from Chase Center.
"We can still feel the burn of COVID," said Caine, "so we need it and are really appreciative of it."
Playoff basketball means a boost to Caine's bottom line and to the members of his team too.
"We can still feel the burn of COVID, so we need it and are really appreciative of it," Caine said.
"We can pay down some debts. It definitely helps. Most importantly where it helps is the staff. The kitchen staff can get extra hours, the front of the house staff we're adding staff for event days where otherwise we'd have more of a skeleton crew."
At Mission Bay Wine & Cheese, general manager Eric Miller isn't ready to pour one out for the Warriors' season just yet.
"Those game days are really a big moneymaker for us, for sure," said Miller.
That especially applies to his other location -- at Thrive City at Chase Center.
"It's just so much busier on those days," Miller said. "The draw of Chase Center and all of the other businesses there has been really great."
Miller adds that he is planning ahead, however, for when the Warriors games eventually stop this season.
"One of the things that we've been trying to do is create events ourselves that are outside of the need for the Warriors foot traffic," said Miller. "We love those games, and we want it to keep going so we can keep that momentum as best as we can. That being said, we're doing wine flights and wine events to kind of draw our own traffic outside of that."
It hasn't been an easy few years in the restaurant industry, and Caine appreciates all the business he gets.
"We've been very lucky since COVID ended," said Caine. "Corporate dollars have been booking events in our private event space quite a bit."
With Warriors basketball and Giants baseball overlapping right now, Caine hopes to make the most of it.
"A Warriors run would be awesome. It would mean more traffic and more butts in seats, as we say."
