Griffin & Gargoyle

Welcome adventurer! You’ve found the Griffin & Gargoyle, an immersive fantasy restaurant and amusement experience opening in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in spring of 2024.

Fifty years after Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, first served as the birthplace of the Dungeons & Dragons® roleplaying game in 1974, Lake Geneva will once again step into the spotlight for fantasy enthusiasts with the opening of the Griffin & Gargoyle immersive fantasy experience.

Pass through the magic portal and join us in a world of magic and imagination.

The Griffin & Gargoyle Tavern

The Griffin & Gargoyle Tavern is a sanctuary for adventurers. A safe haven celebrating the virtues of the adventuring life. In this immersive fantasy restaurant, wooden tables and extensive otherworldly décor beckon adventurers to sit a while and watch a magical world flourish around them. A unique and extensive menu will invite indulgence, while a cast of fantasy characters and tavernkeepers draw you, the customer, into a role-playing experience unlike anything they’ve experienced before.

Curated Curiosities

Curated Curiosities is the wizard’s antiquity shop attached to the main floor of the Griffin & Gargoyle Tavern. Inside this retail space you can explore an ever-changing variety of items for the adventurer in need. From clothing to set yourself up as an adventurer of distinguished taste, hand made artifacts, and one of a kind accessories, our customers are sure to find the perfect gift. Curated curiosities will be partnering with Etsy artisans to showcase heirloom quality relics created by the finest craftspeople across the planes.

The Gnome Alchemist

Up a narrow staircase lies the hidden gem The Gnome Alchemist. As you make your way past countless inventions, machines, and gizmos, you find yourself in the conservatory. A rainbow of colored concoctions, some bubbling and smoking are set in front of a laughing party of adventurers. As you make your way to the bar, the alchemist himself greets you and offers you a wide array of unique molecular gastronomy-inspired concoctions featuring everything from dry-ice infused beverages to unique ingredients, sure to provide you a drinking experience like no other. You never know what will happen as you enjoy this unique space and magical interactions between our colorful cast of characters and our patrons. Sit back and lose yourself in the enchanting environment.

Our vision is to provide a unique space wherein our customers’ have the freedom to step out of themselves and share in creative, interactive, and collaborative experiences. As we seek to immerse our guests in a true celebration of the genre of Fantasy and table top role-playing, we hope to provide an extraordinary adventure that our guests won’t ever forget.

Why This?

In recent years thanks to franchises like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Stranger Things, the genre of fantasy has evolved from a niche interest to full fledged economic market. In light of this, we have seen companies like Disney and Universal Studios build immersive environments that prove there is a strong desire for immersive location based experiences celebrating creative worlds. Dungeons & Dragons itself is gaining significant traction with Hasbro expanding its product line and release schedule for supplemental materials in 2021 and beyond.

In Griffin & Gargoyle we are presenting a new model for small scale entry into this lucrative market. Serving as one part cultural tourism and one part fandom celebration, The Griffin & Gargoyle can use this platform to build a greater appreciation for group storytelling, build empathy through the freedom of role-play, and unlock the imagination as our customers participate in this inclusive and fantastical environment. As a management team, we are driven by our combined passions for fantasy and storytelling and therefore feel compelled to create an accessible experience to welcome guests into the magic of role-play, fine food, and communal adventure.

Why Now?

The Covid 19 pandemic has proved to be a disconcerting time to plan a location based amusement center, but in actuality, the lockdown landscape has been an ideal time to map out the vision for an entity of this scope. With an anticipated opening of March 2024, The data supports our expectation that the travel and tourism industries will be regaining momentum and American consumers will be hungry for opportunities to travel for new experiences right as we are preparing to open our doors.

Pre-covid, the United States saw location based experiences like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios showcase double digit year over year growth in attendance and revenues. Original fans of fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons® who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s now account for the demographic with the highest disposable income spending by category. According to statistics found in a recent Eventbrite report, these Superfans, or the demographic group that have become the primary income sources for Comic-Cons and Geek conventions around the country, accounted for more than $4 billion in economic activity in 2019. The Dungeons & Dragons® roleplaying game celebrates the 50th anniversary of its release just as we are opening to the public, giving us cross-promotional marketing opportunities and a number of potential events throughout 2024.

Why Here?

Lake Geneva is the birthplace of the Dungeons & Dragons® roleplaying game and remains an integral piece of history to the entire genre of fantasy and tabletop roleplaying. Lake Geneva was the birthplace of GenCon, a convention which celebrates tabletop roleplaying, but now takes place in Indianapolis, drawing 70,000 attendees from 50 different countries to their convention in 2019. The annual celebration of the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons®, Gary Gygax, is GaryCon and takes place annually in March at the Grand Geneva Resort, just half a mile from our location. In addition to the location’s history, Walworth County is also ideally situated between Madison, Wi, Milwaukee, Wi, and Chicago, Il. bringing in tourists from all three markets. For the past decade, Walworth County has seen year over year increases in tourism spending as Lake Geneva has become a favorite getaway destination for tourists from these metropolitan areas. Tourism revenue in Walworth County for 2019 exceeded $765 million and is expected to grow beyond that for the 2023 fiscal year.

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