What happens when three longtime friends decide Fayetteville needs more than just another bar?
In this episode of NWA Founders, we sit down with Lewis Chase, the visionary co-founder behind some of Northwest Arkansas’s most popular food and drink destinations: Feed & Folly, City Park, and The Guisinger. A Fayetteville native with deep family roots in the city, Lewis didn't start in food, he started in real estate. But after a trip to Colorado and a realization that Fayetteville needed better hospitality experiences, he rallied longtime friends and restaurant pros Matt and Mikey Sutton to bring their talents home. Together, they’ve created spaces that balance fun and function, craft and comfort, each one designed with intention, community, and storytelling at its core.

This episode dives into how they built it all from scratch: scraping by with small business loans, hustling through COVID, and staying rooted in the culture and character of Northwest Arkansas.

Summary

Before launching Feed & Folly, Lewis was working in residential real estate, but he didn’t love it. A bachelor trip to Durango opened his eyes to what was possible when food, culture, and community collide. Inspired by what his friends were building out west, he convinced them to return to Fayetteville, and together they turned a dream into a destination.

With no prior experience opening a restaurant, Lewis quickly became the “fluff and vision” guy, leaning on his ability to see potential in old buildings and his partners’ strengths in operations. They learned fast, scrapping through permitting, lawsuits, and even a pandemic. Their success is a masterclass in figuring it out, staying scrappy, and betting on people over polish.

From offering health insurance to helping staff buy cars, Lewis and his team are redefining what it means to be an employer in the hospitality world. Each space they’ve created has its own personality, but all share a core value: take care of your people and the business will follow. It’s a people-first philosophy that’s powered them from one concept to three, and likely many more to come.

Highlights

00:00 – Growing up in Fayetteville

15:00 – The Colorado trip that inspired Feed & Folly

30:00 – Opening Feed & Folly during COVID

45:00 – Building City Park and The Guisinger

1:05:00 – Investing in staff and culture

1:20:00 – Looking ahead

Nick's 3 Key Takeaways

1. Creativity thrives in chaos - Whether it was legal setbacks or launching during COVID, Lewis and his team embraced the messy parts and made them part of the story.
2. Take care of your people - Offering stability, benefits, and room to grow isn’t just good ethics. It’s also good business.
3. Design matters, but culture lasts - Every space they create feels intentional, but the real differentiator is how people feel when they walk in and when they leave.

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NWA Founders is a voice for Founders, Owners, and Builders driving growth in Northwest Arkansas, and is hosted by Cameron Clark and Nick Beyer.