Five questions with Marla Poytinger of Bars & Recreation

Marla Poytinger is the founder and driving force behind Bars & Recreation, a Milwaukee hospitality and entertainment company known for creating immersive social experiences that bring people together. With a passion for innovative concepts and community-focused spaces, Poytinger has helped redefine what it means to gather, play, and connect.

Her latest location is the Slingshot Bar - A Bars & Recreation Experience, a unique entertainment venue in West Allis that combines a full bar with an indoor slingshot target range. The company has several other activity-based entertainment venues in the Milwaukee area, such as axe throwing, mini golf, and karaoke. Her leadership has transformed Bars & Recreation into a destination where exceptional service, creative programming, and memorable experiences are at the center of every visit.

Q: How did you get into hospitality?

Poytinger: “It’s a great question because I have a lot of background in the arts and in dance in particular, but almost no formal experience in the service industry. When I moved to Milwaukee, I was running a nonprofit, an arts organization. And my future husband was working at Miller Coors in the brewery. We were living in the Third Ward. And we were like, what can we do that is entrepreneurial and fun and very Milwaukee and combines my love of art with your love of beer?

“And that was the genesis for Splash Studio, our first location in the Third Ward. It was just going to be a hobby because we had no idea what we were doing. And it was all of a sudden a huge hit. People were coming in, they were painting, they were drinking, and they loved it. It was this amazing outlet for adults to be creative and paint and have fun and, you know, do this thing that adults don't normally get to do, which is just play. It just kind of hit us like a ton of bricks that this is a thing that the industry needs.

Q: Your philosophy is ‘blow your mind.’ Why is that philosophy so key to your success?

Poytinger: So ‘blow your mind’ experience means that there's never a typical night out. It means that every time you come to a Bars & Recreation venue, you're going to be energized and surprised and have just a little bit of an unusual experience. Maybe you're going to go to our Slingshot bar, which doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. It’s not about the beer that you get necessarily or the food that you eat. It's the whole environment that you're being transported to this new, engaging experience. You're interacting one-on-one with other people, not in front of a screen. You just feel like, ‘wow, I've never done anything like this before.’ That's what we're trying to achieve with every customer that comes to us. We hope that their mind is just blown by the customer service and the environment and everything that they get to experience when they come to Bars & Recreation.”

​Q: What's so neat about it is that every Bars & Recreation location that you go to is so different. There are different things to do. So everything from axe throwing to karaoke, game shows to slingshots. So many different and unique things. Why is that important to you?

Poytinger: “It's really hard. We have to reinvent the wheel every time we open a new location. But it means that when someone comes to one of our venues, they get that surprise, they get that blow-your-mind experience, but they also know they have that comfort and that genuine feeling that it's going to be wonderful. They're going to be taken care of because they've been to, maybe they've been to Axe MKE, and they felt that amazing customer service. They can go try something brand new and fun like Slingshot Bar, but they know that it's going to be great. It's going to be top-notch. It's going to be good food, it's going to be good drinks, it's going to be a great experience with a host. And they don't have to worry that I'm going to try something new”

Q: I know that so much of your business is about collaborations with other small businesses. How has that become such an important part of your core business?

Poytinger: “When we go into any new neighborhood, it's really critical to us that we are adding value to the neighborhood. We're not coming in to compete. We're not coming in to take customers away from the other bars and restaurants. We're coming in to grow the pie. And we have to make sure that the neighborhood that we're coming into wants us to do that and sees that we're doing that and wants the value added. That is through collaboration; that is through making sure that we can do opportunities like this and we can say, ‘If we work together, we can make this community stronger.’

“I think the true Milwaukeean, the true entrepreneurs that want to make Milwaukee better, totally get that and support that. When the customers see that, they love it. They post about it, they share the news, they come in, and they buy the product. And that makes the local economy stronger; that makes the businesses stronger. It's so important that we all see that as a way to improve and make Milwaukee better. So that is, as you said, it's a core fabric of who we are at Bars & Recreation. It's always been a part of what we do. And I am always looking for other local entrepreneurs that believe in that because that's how we all get stronger and better.

Q: So Marla, I know that you, like all of us, love our fabulous city of Milwaukee. What are some of the things that you think make Milwaukee so special?

Poytinger: “That’s such a good question. I moved here in about 2010, and when I first heard I was moving to Milwaukee, I was kind of like, ‘What am I going to do in Milwaukee?’ But I was so impressed with the culture, the food and the waterfront. There’s just so many great things about Milwaukee that I think people from the outside don’t know about.

“But it’s just a best-kept secret. Everyone is so friendly and nice. That’s what I hear again and again. It’s a great place to raise a family. It’s a great place to open a business. People want to go out and have fun. They want to support local. I feel like Milwaukee residents are really proud of what we’ve built here. They really like the local community and local businesses. I think that’s one of the things that’s made us successful is that we kept our business hyper local.”