Varsity Club, located at 278 W. Lane Ave., celebrated its 65th anniversary Saturday. Here, Varsity Club employee Jenna Brabson serves a freshly baked pizza to a customer. Credit: Kamryn Karr | Lantern Reporter
Even during Ohio State football’s offseason, local gems face off against corporate giants.
Lane Avenue is a hot spot for important game days; this is likely due to its sports bars, which provide fans with a designated place to cheer on their favorite athletes. Neighborhood restaurants, however, tend to find themselves in stiff competition with more affluent chain eateries.
The O On Lane, owned by Ed Gaughan, as well as Varsity Club Restaurant and Bar, owned by Tony Mollica, are two such neighborhood restaurants. Gaughan and Mollica said they prioritize building meaningful relationships with customers — a common practice among locally owned businesses.
“Relations tend to be better because they’re stronger,” Gaughan said. “In the long run, you create history, you create what you see here going on right now, but it’s definitely a longer haul to get from A to B than it is for a big company.”
Gaughan said The O On Lane, a sports bar located at 352 W. Lane Ave., was founded in 1994 but moved into its current storefront in 2018. After its change of residence, the restaurant only held outdoor events but opened its doors to the public in spring 2022 following its interior construction and the COVID-19 shutdown.
Now, Gaughan said The O On Lane offers patrons indoor and outdoor seating areas. During home football games, customers can view the action from a variety of outside screens, including a double-sided TV in front of the parking lot, a 9-by-16-foot TV on the side of the building and a mobile TV that can be moved around the restaurant as needed.
“The ability to experience the game day thing is definitely enhanced by the infrastructure,” Gaughan said.
Though business slows down for the football offseason, Gaughan said the bar’s interior houses numerous TVs that display various additional sports like basketball, baseball, hockey, wrestling and more. Gaughan said the restaurant also pays homage to Ohio State by displaying athletes’ signatures and “Carmen Ohio” lyrics on the walls.
“We started making connections with all the athletes that we can, regardless of sport, current or past,” Gaughan said.
As for the food, Gaughan said the establishment’s most popular menu items are its woodfire pizza and chicken wings. Serving distinct and authentic dishes is one of the bar’s main goals, he said.
“Originally, we were designing the menu around woodfire pizza to the point where we could get the ovens imported from Italy,” Gaughan said. “It was kind of put in place, built in place here. And the recipe, I went to a Neapolitan school out in California to kind of learn the different techniques used and then we modified [it] over time.”
Varsity Club, situated at 278 W. Lane Ave., is another well-loved Columbus restaurant. In fact, the dining spot celebrated its 65th anniversary Saturday, Mollica said.
“We’re the oldest bar on campus — 1959,” Mollica said. “A guy named Don Swales started it in 1959, and then he sold it to my dad in 1973 and we’ve had it ever since.”
Mollica said the bar offers customers a vintage aesthetic — having not modernized its original interior decor from 1959 — as well as an outdoor patio complete with TVs and a separate bar. Similar to The O On Lane, Mollica said these spaces are used to screen a variety of sports besides football.
“The other night, men’s basketball was only on Peacock, so I showed it,” Mollica said. “I didn’t have a lot of people show up for it, but as the word gets out, then people will come.”
Mollica said Varsity Club’s main dishes are its Italian sub and pizza. He said the sub, otherwise known as the “VC Hot Sub,” has been a staple on the menu for multiple generations.
“That’s our bestseller, everybody knows about it, that’s what they come for,” Mollica said.
Despite both establishments’ apparent successes, both owners said they still face the challenge of contending with nearby corporate-owned chain restaurants and sports bars.
“The big chains, whether it’s [Buffalo Wild Wings] or Roosters, they’re constantly advertised on the radio with expensive, corporate money,” Gaughan said. “Ours is more grassroots, we’re developing a social network for reaching out to people.”
Mollica said he understands the economic benefits of corporate chains but firmly believes that locally owned businesses have the advantage of being one of a kind.
“We’re kind of an icon, I think you could say, at Ohio State,” Mollica said. “Rather than running [Buffalo Wild Wings], where you’re just a number, really. So, we’re unique in that way.”
Mason Ruff, a service manager at the Buffalo Wild Wings on the corner of Lane Avenue and High Street, said he also realizes how chain restaurants can profit from having more established reputations and consistent advertising efforts.
“Chain restaurants, I would say, definitely do a bit better and probably take business from smaller restaurants around here,” Ruff said.
Due to the eatery’s favorable location and aforementioned assets, Ruff said Buffalo Wild Wings is a sought-after spot for many students on game days.
“There’s definitely a lot more volume,” Ruff said. “We’re doing probably at least three times [better] making sales as we’d normally do on whatever given day, even with basketball games.”
On the other hand, Gaughan and Mollica said they typically serve a different demographic than that of Buffalo Wild Wings and other chain spots along High Street. Notably, they said residing on Lane Avenue means receiving less of a student population and more faculty, staff and alumni, all of whom they appreciate.
“It’s a different beast as compared to being up on High Street,” Gaughan said. “It’s like a whole different genre of people.”
Still, Gaughan and Mollica said they strongly encourage students to check out The O On Lane and Varsity Club Restaurant and Bar, no matter the day of the week.
“I have a lot of people that come in for Senior Crawl and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we never came in here,’” Mollica said. “We’re here, been here forever.”
