Kappa Bar Merges With Meltdown Bars To Create The World’s Largest Esports-Focused Bar Chain

The Swedish esports bar and restaurant chain Kappa Bar recently closed its acquisition of the Meltdown Bars chain on March 15th, resulting in the two businesses merging to create Kappa Meltdown Group. As a result, Kappa Meltdown Group is now the largest esports-focused bar franchise in the world with 28 locations in seven different countries. The deal was reportedly an “eight-figure amount.”

According to a press release, the group will maintain its Kappa Bar branding in the Nordic part of the world with future locations adopting Meltdown Bars’ identity. Additionally, the newly-formed entity plans on opening 100 venues around the globe by 2027.

Robert Dragovic, the CEO of Kappa Bar, will become the group’s President, while the CEO of Meltdown Bars, Sophia Metz, will serve as the group’s CEO internationally. Rounding out the operation is the Swedish-based content and branding studio Pixel & Poly, which will be run by CEO and Partner Sia Talebi and partly owned by Kappa Meltdown Group.

“Meltdown’s journey has been amazing, and I’m incredibly proud of what we have created,” said Metz. “I knew I wanted new partners to take Meltdown further on the journey, and I especially appreciated Kappa Bar’s structure and long-term perspective.”

The Profit‘s Take:

Would you rather own this or a LAN center? I think most of the Meltdown locations have console gaming and/or social gaming capabilities. I like to imagine a classic Irish Pub just outfitted with gaming stuff. That would be cool. Given the option of going to a bar where nobody appreciates gaming versus going to a bar where people appreciate some games, I would probably go to the second bar with all other things being equal. I see a market for this. I think it would work well in North America. Almost all the LAN centers that I’m aware of make more money off of food and drinks than they do off of gaming. When you add alcohol to the mix, then these bars will probably be more profitable and cost less than LAN centers.

(All information was provided by Esports Insider)