Mozingo Lake Recreation Park was served by William Coy’s Farm to Table Restaurant for six years before its closing in December 2024. However, as of April 2, a new eatery has taken its place.
Lake Tavern 75 is the new bar and grill connected to the clubhouse at Mozingo. The restaurant is focused on providing customers with high-quality food and service. Mike Howard, who co-owns the business with his wife Kim Howard, said their ties to the area were huge in opening this restaurant.
“I used to do the retirement plan for the city of Maryville; my wife grew up in Conception, (Missouri), and went to Jefferson, (Missouri),” Mike Howard said. “Then, I was playing in my wife’s uncle’s memorial (golf) tournament and noticed that the restaurant was not open, and I started asking why they didn’t have a tenant; and I’ve been in this business a long time, so I was like, ‘I'll do it.’”
After seeing a clear need in the golf course section of the park, Mike Howard made the commitment to replace William Coy’s.
Mike Howard is also no stranger to the food service industry; he and his father opened their first restaurant, Skippers at the Lake of the Ozarks, 15 years ago. He said the experience he gained, combined with his past life experiences, has accumulated to this moment.
“This is the third that I’ve individually owned, and we are at four with my dad,” Mike Howard said. “I also bartended with the Royals for 16 years, so I mean, it’s just traveling and seeing different things. It’s a corroboration of what I like and what I think attracts people, especially on a venue like this with the golf course, lake and hotel.”
Being located at Mozingo not only provides a proven clientele, but it also offers scenery unattainable anywhere else in Maryville.
While Lake Tavern 75 is still slowly rolling into its operations — only offering a limited menu of drinks, chicken wings and tenders, burgers and salads for now — Mike Howard said he hopes to have the complete menu out for customers by next week.
Restaurants that are in their first year of operation have been noted to close 17% of the time, while over 50% fail within the first five years.
Although these challenges and statistics seem harrowing for any business owner, Mike Howard said his experience and his team’s ability to grow is what will make them successful.
“The buildout, ripping into the floors, putting in the tap systems; that’s always challenging, and then, you know, getting people trained on doing things a little bit differently,” Mike Howard said. “However, we found great people and the community has been super supportive. It was hard, but we only think it's up from here.”
Howard said the new restaurant has faced similar challenges with staff training and renovations. The employees at Lake Tavern 75 said they have overcome those forks in the road and are ready for this journey.
With this confidence in his team and their training, Mike Howard said Lake Tavern 75 has big plans for the future, including event cooperation with Mozingo.
“We are going to start with getting the full menu out, and master it,” Mike Howard said. “Then, partnering with the community, partnering with the golf course on tournaments, the event center, on events and weddings, partnering with the hotel to try and bring people from Omaha , Des Moines, Kansas City, and other locations the to stay and play packages. Then, in year two we’d like to build a bar outside for golfers, so that they can just quickly turn and grab a drink and something to eat.”
This story is brought to KXCV-KRNW by The Northwest Missourian, the campus newspaper of Northwest Missouri State University.