Kava Social Club to bring 24-hour kava bar to Pinellas Park in January
/Kava Social Club will open its second location in Pinellas Park in January | St. Pete Rising
At Kava Social Club in Bradenton, the morning coffee crowd and the late-night regulars sometimes arrive just a couple of hours apart.
Students study during the day, remote workers settle in with their laptops, and bartenders stop by after closing out their shifts.
Owner Ryan Bodie says there can still be 15 to 20 people hanging out at 4 a.m. By six, customers are arriving on their way to work.
Now, the business is bringing those around-the-clock hours to Pinellas Park.
Kava Social Club plans to open its second location in January at 9600 66th Street North, formerly home to True Roots Kava Lounge & Smoke Shop.
The 2,100-square-foot space is undergoing a complete interior renovation, including a new tea kitchen.
Once open, it will serve kava, kratom, THC-infused beverages, kombucha, herbal teas, and coffee 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Kava is made from the root of a plant native to the South Pacific, where it has long been shared at social gatherings and ceremonies. People often drink it to relax and unwind, seeking a sense of calm that has helped make kava bars a popular alternative to going out for alcohol.
Kratom comes from the leaves of a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia and is commonly served as a brewed tea. People seek it for effects ranging from increased energy and alertness to relaxation, depending on the amount consumed and the product.
Both drinks can cause side effects, and kratom carries a risk of dependence.
The interior of Kava Social Club’s Bradenton location | Kava Social Club
Kava Social Club joins a growing collection of over 50 kava bars across Pinellas County, many offering games, entertainment, and late-night hours.
For Bodie and his fiancée and business partner, Sara Lewis, keeping the doors open all night is part of why they started the business.
Early in their relationship, the couple spent evenings at kava bars in St. Pete, often ending up at Mad Hatters because it stayed open late. Having somewhere to go at almost any hour meant enough to them that they began imagining a place of their own.
“It just meant a lot to us having a place that you can go anytime, and we have a big heart for the community,” Bodie said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.
The business began with a trailer that unfolded into a tiki-style setup. For roughly nine months, they brought it to festivals and business parking lots while developing their recipes and looking for a permanent home.
Other kava bars let them set up on their patios, where customers participated in blind taste tests. Lewis, a pharmaceutical engineer and microbiologist, helped guide the process.
“We tested every brewing temperature, all the wives’ tales about how to do things, to see if any of them were true,” Bodie said. “It took us about nine months of experimenting to come up with our base recipes.”
The couple opened their Bradenton location in early 2020, eventually adding employees and expanding to 24-hour service.
Kava Social Club owners Ryan Bodie and Sara Lewis | Kava Social Club
Their menu includes blends such as Tropical Wave, which combines kratom with holy basil, damiana, and loose-leaf yerba mate. The Dawn Patrol pairs Sumatra dark roast coffee with a customer’s choice of kava blend.
Cold brew, blended coffee drinks, and mushroom coffees round out the offerings, giving customers options beyond kava and kratom.
The Pinellas Park location will have an island-inspired interior influenced by the couple’s love of Fiji, including a large mural and a pool table.
“We want it to feel like you’re on an island, but with AC,” Bodie laughed.
At the Bradenton location, weekly chess gatherings grew into a sponsored team that travels to competitions.
A book club, karaoke, trivia, board games, and card games offer other ways to spend an evening.
Bodie wants the new location to develop that same sense of community, with a welcoming atmosphere and staff willing to spend time answering questions about the menu.
He also plans to offer classes on preparing kava and kratom at home, even if that means customers buy fewer drinks during the week.
“It’s expensive to go out and drink kava and kratom,” Bodie said. “I want people to be able to learn how to make it properly at home, and then they can spend money on the weekends when they come out.”
Pinellas Park is the next step in a larger expansion. Bodie and Lewis hope to eventually operate five to ten family-owned locations across the Tampa Bay area, with St. Pete high on their list.
For now, they’re focused on completing the renovation on 66th Street ahead of a planned January opening.
Follow Kava Social Club’s Pinellas Park Instagram account for updates.
