Mark Handwerger is the kind of business owner that created business to meet the needs of something he couldn’t find in the marketplace.
In the 1980s, initially, with business partners and friends, he followed the same strategy that works for him today: “We built places we wanted to hang out in, in every phase of our lives, from pool halls to game bars to a champagne lounge.”
The Board Room Game Bar & Brewery was born in 2017 after Board Room DC’s success since 2012. Handwerger says that he was ‘lucky’ as the space offered was that of both a brewery closing, and a bar space bigger enough for the Arlington version. He describes it as, “it just kind of fell into our laps.”
Even with the brewery space as part of The Board Room Game Bar & Brewery, there was still additional space just waiting for Handwerger to design a new kind of space that he ‘just wanted to hang out in.’ With his wife Kristen, it was clear – an elegant champagne bar that spoke to their passion for bubbles, special events and elegant small plates – Ms. Peacock’s Champagne Lounge was born.