The hippest bar on wheels just hit St. Croix – meet Melee – Mobile Bar and Micro Kitchen and the power couple behind the vision!
Zak and Mary in their horse trailer Melee
Many people say it’s the community and the loving people of our island that make it so special and it is so true! Zak and Mary are the poster children for St. Croix. They both are always welcoming with warm hugs and bright smiles – they make you feel like they have known you forever! Zak, born here, and Mary who grew up here since Freshman year of high school, have worked in the restaurant industry on St. Croix for a combined 26 years. Mary said “We’ve learned a lot over the years and have a lot of gratitude for our restaurant mentors, the Kendrick’s and the Pugliese’s”.
Zak and Mary always wanted their own business in the hospitality industry – they wanted to do something fun and different. Years ago they started working events a few times a year, such as the the popular St Croix Food and Wine Experience. Two years ago Mary started working for Nichole Reed with Events by Nichole.
Combining their experience in the restaurant and event industry with their personalities and passion for the hospitality industry, they decided to design their business around events that will allow them to change what they do to meet the setting each time! Eventually they hope to be set up somewhere on a semi regular basis, but for now they are focusing on events and parties.
With their dream in mind they went to the drawing board. “We wanted to house our business in something fun and eye catching. We thought about a school bus for a while, then Zak had the idea of a horse trailer! After not being able to find one on island, we found one stateside that caught our eye. After getting quotes from stateside companies on buildouts we decided to convert the horse trailer ourselves! It was a lot of work. We took an old rusty horse trailer down to its frame and re built it with wood sides, a mahogany counter, three sinks, a double burner range and a bar fridge!”
Zak loves to garden, so they plan on using as much of their own produce as possible, along with supporting the local farmers (and local distillers/ brewers) . They “look forward to creating custom menus for customers and events with fresh delicious food and drinks”.
Their next addition to the trailer will be external tap handles for beer and/or cocktails on tap. And of course a frozen drink machine – hello frosé and frozen spicy sour orange margaritas!
They are so excited to bring a new concept to the scene to St. Croix and look forward to bringing extra life and fun to events!
Book Melee for your next event!You can see them on Facebook HERE
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