Marshawn Lynch’s Emeryville eatery to be featured on series ‘Bar Rescue’
Marshawn Lynch, beast, California Golden Bear, Super Bowl winner, Oakland Raider, man of danger, gadfly, bon vivant and raconteur is currently the owner of a soul food restaurant in Emeryville.
It is called Rob Ben’s, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, but it didn’t start that way. From 1983 to 2017 it was Scends Restaurant (“The best fried chicken wings on the planet”), owned and operated by Cassie Nickelson. As she neared 80, she decided to sell. “My feet hurt. My back. I’m humped over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame,” she said, laughing.
Lynch’s name was thrown about, and it seemed a natural. As a youngster, he frequented Nickelson’s apartment, from which she operated a catering business. She said he was smitten with her burgers and fries.
Still, Lynch had to think it over.
“To be honest, I didn’t really want to have a bar or anything like that,” he told the Chronicle. “I was a regular before and (Cassie) would always tell me that after she got tired of it and wanted to move on, she would present it to me.”
Eventually the deal went through and Scends became Rob Ben’s, in honor of a friend of Lynch’s who was shot and killed in Oakland in 2007, the Chronicle reported.
Now comes the next part of the story. Rob Ben’s is going to be featured in a future episode on the Paramount Network’s series “Bar Rescue” to be aired in early 2020.
The premise, per Paramount: “Nightlife expert Jon Taffer helps struggling bar owners overcome health hazards, mediocre staffing and branding issues in order to become profitable establishments.”
Sounds like an adventure that fits in with Lynch’s stated desire to tick off items from his bucket list. Or has he has put it,” I’m just trying to do (expletive) I ain’t done before.”
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