(Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune)
If you know …
Eager Zorbaz fans eventually find a job there. And the most ardent of all Zorbaz fans held their wedding reception there.
Ashley and Chris Walker are the only couple to ever close Zorbaz for a private event. (Their boss at Zorbaz was the best man.) Later, when Ashley was wearing a Zorbaz shirt on the couple’s honeymoon in New Zealand, a group of Minnesotans stopped her to rave about their local hangout in their hometown. “We’re on the other side of the world talking about Zorbaz,” Ashley said. “Because when you know, you know.”
Ashley discovered Zorbaz in college while visiting a friend’s cabin on Pelican Lake, and soon after, the Grand Rapids native landed a summer job as a bartender at the Pokegama joint.
When she and Chris were living in the Twin Cities in their early 20s, they ended up at Zorbaz every time they visited family. Drawn to the relaxed, playful “Zorbaz lifestyle” and the camaraderie among the staff, they decided they might as well be on the other side of the bar. “There aren’t many places where you enjoy spending so much time that you think, ‘Maybe I should work here,'” Chris said.
The two performed at the Spicer Zorbaz and worked their way up to become owners and operators in Grand Rapids. When their oldest child started elementary school a few years ago, the Walkers reluctantly decided to pass the tiki torch. (“We couldn’t get our kids to stick to the bar’s hours,” Ashley explained.) But the family’s relationship with Zorbaz is far from over.
“We already want our children to work at Zorbaz,” said Ashley. “This is truly a labor of love.”
