Wise Guys at the Front Bar

Petoskey’s TAP30 morphs into two new spaces

By Karl Klockars | Aug. 1, 2026

Change is always scary. Rebranding a popular longtime beer-focused destination like Petoskey’s TAP30 Pour House in a craft-beverage-loving state like Michigan comes with its own set of concerns. Will locals respond to the new idea? Will tourists give it a shot? Will a menu that doesn’t focus on burgers and fries be able to connect with customers throughout the year?

For manager Todd Chinnock and Chef Ray Kumm, their recent pivot to a new concept comes on the heels of their rebrand of the neighboring space from POUR Kitchen to Leto’s Osteria, so they had a good idea of what was in front of them.

Today, what was once known as TAP30 has two different but complementary identities. There’s the Front Bar, where pours of affordable, palate-friendly beers find a home alongside affordable cocktails. And there’s Wise Guys Hoagies, where generously-stuffed sandwiches come with a side of mafioso swagger. (If you recognize the movie quote “go home and get your shinebox,” you’ll do well with this menu.)

Making the Switch

When you’ve run a restaurant for over a decade, the regulars can feel as close to a place as the actual proprietors, meaning a well-managed change starts with your biggest fans.

“There certainly is a sense of ownership that is inevitable amongst regular customers of a place that was there for 12 years,” Chinnock says. “Honestly, treating them with kindness and trying to expose them to what we’re doing, and get them excited about it—that can be an uphill battle at times. There’s nothing to do except do what we do, and do it well, and give people great hospitality.”

Changing the “what we do” part was well considered, with options being discussed over the span of weeks. A few ideas were tossed around “but none of them got too far,” Chef Ray says, mentioning the potential of a barbecue spot or even a ramen concept.

“Running that [ramen shop] would have been a lot of fun, but I just don’t think the market here is quite large enough to sustain it—when your busiest time is July and August, and you’re serving hot soup, it’s not the best combination,” he says, with corresponding laughter from Chinnock.

A few big factors went into making this change, starting with the current corrective slide that craft beer is on (down about 8 percent nationwide over the past two years, per data from the Brewers Association) and a corresponding overall drop in generational drinking appetites, according to Chinnock.

“TAP30 was here for 12 years, and the craft beer thing has kind of run its course, but also became pretty saturated in the market up here,” he says.

The second is economics. “We definitely wanted to go back to lighter and cheap beers,” Chinnock tells us, noting that “everybody’s drinking lighter stuff now, and people are drinking more affordable beers than a $9 double IPA.”

The Front Bar
That’s not an arbitrary price point, either—every draft, bottle, and canned beer on the Front Bar menu clocks in at $8 or under, as are seltzers and NA options. Multiple selections (mostly macro beers) are even available for $4-$5, but you can also crack a can of Keweenaw Red Jacket or Modelo for that price.

Simple and economical is one thing; affordable value is another, and a good mixed drink for $12 is right in that sweet spot as well.

“We also wanted to be a place where you can get a proper cocktail, with some pretty tenured, deeply experienced bartenders who are creative," Todd says, noting that their bartender in charge of the drink program recently joined them from the now-closed Ernesto’s Cigar Lounge and Bar.

A visit to the new Front Bar has a few surprises in store, especially if you’re a sports fan.

“We turned this into more of a sports bar and entertainment space,” Todd says, noting the 10 new TVs mounted around the space “and a new sound system that we can cast audio from all the games. We’re also adding a foosball table, some entertainment stuff to make it feel a bit more fun.”

Wise Guys

With an Italian restaurant operating next door (and even sharing a prep kitchen), it makes sense that the new menu would skew hard towards the East Coast hoagie side of things, largely populated by hefty 12-inch sandwiches named for fictional gangsters like the Carmine Lupertazzi, loaded with soppressata, mortadella, provolone, and that Sopranos favorite, “gabagool.”

One of the surprise favorites is the Janice Rossi, topped with some not-very-Italian sliced turkey, Plath’s bacon, and sharp cheddar (“I didn’t expect to sell so many turkey sandwiches,” Ray says, “but we are in the Midwest”), along with interesting sides like fried raviolis, a St. Louis specialty that’s hard to find this side of the Mississippi and north of the 45th parallel.

And when you order up one of these hearty hoagies, you’re getting some seriously well-sourced and house-prepared ingredients.

“The bread comes from South Jersey, the hoagie capital of the world. We make the chicken cutlets in house, the deli turkey in house, the roast beef in house, the mozzarella and raviolis are all prepared in house ... the value in what you’re getting greatly exceeds what you can get elsewhere, in our humble opinion,” Chef Ray says.

That connection to quality comes at the tradeoff of having a more limited menu, which is one that Ray is willing to make. “Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, we just wanted to make the absolute best sandwiches available up here by leaps and bounds,” he says. “I’m firmly of the belief that doing a couple things at an exceedingly high level beats the heck out of doing 25 different things in a mediocre fashion.”

As Tony Soprano famously said about looking back, “‘Remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation.” Given their focus on scratch cooking, quality ingredients and affordability, it’s likely you won’t suffer too strong a bout of nostalgia for the old TAP30 after a visit to the Wise Guys and the Front Bar.

Find Wise Guys and the Front Bar at 422 East Mitchell Street in Petoskey. wiseguyspetoskey.com