Soo Blaster will be undergoing sweeping changes in the coming weeks as part of a rebranding effort by owner and Sault Ste. Marie businessman Das Kumar.
The entertainment venue - which has brought new management on board - will drop the ‘Soo’ from Soo Blaster, and will be rebranded simply as ‘BlaSter.’
Kumar says that he’s also selling off the 34 games currently at Soo Blaster, with plans to bring in more than 50 modern games that he says comes with a $500,000 price tag.
There’s also plans to acquire a new, $100,000 sound system in order to attract concert-goers to his venue, which has a capacity of more than 900 people.
BlaSter will also roll out a new menu featuring a number of international dishes.
Kumar acknowledged that part of the reason behind the menu change had to do with past issues with food quality and customer service at his establishment.
“People want something new, like what people can get from out of town - like Mediterrenean, South Asian, South Indian food,” Kumar told SooToday. “We have East Indian food, but we don’t have South Indian food here.”
“Everything [is] limited here, right? We are [a] small community, so what we’re going to do [is] try to get some international dishes to give them some variety of choices.”
Kumar, who originally opened Soo Blaster in the summer of 2017, says that he’s settled down in Sault Ste. Marie and has built a life for his family, and now wants to drum up business while making a contribution to the downtown area.
“I want to bring the downtown alive,” Kumar said. “You see how many stores [have] been closed already, and I wanted to make downtown [have] that downtown feeling.”
Kumar says that he’ll be looking to fill approximately 20 full-time and part-time positions in the coming weeks, ranging from servers to bartenders to supervisors.
BlaSter is expected to notify the public via social media about its grand reopening, slated to take place later this spring.