Hundreds of people are expected to line up long before the doors open to Ann Arbor's newest craft beer destination, HopCat.

Anticipation for the opening has been building since July when plans were announced for the bar and restaurant to come to downtown Ann Arbor. The restaurant - located at 311 Maynard St. - will open at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

If you've ever been to any of the other HopCat locations, owner and founder Mark Sellers says you're for a treat.

"My idea for HopCat is for it to be the 'anti-chain' chain," Sellers said. "So we're going to do a bunch of them and they're all going to have the same food, but the look of each restaurant will be different.

"I don't want people to know what to expect when they walk in."

Compared to the other three Michigan locations - Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing - the food and beer menu will be relatively the same, however, the decor and look of the restaurant is completely different.

"It's always been kind of a progressive, hippie town with a lot of progressive movements," Sellers said. "With this location we decided to do something different."

A mural painted on one of the walls was created by a friend of Sellers to create a psychedelic look to the bar area. Tabletops are decorated with covers from music magazine "Rolling Stone" and the tiling in the bathrooms is mind bending.

Roughly 40 seats surround the wood bar with high top and booth seating available as well. A smaller seating section near the back of the restaurant can be used for larger groups.

Several large screen televisions are placed in the restaurant and bar, but HopCat's marketing and communications director Chris Knape said HopCat is not a sports bar. However, popular sporting events will be on the screens but music will typically played through the speakers throughout the restaurant.

Sellers said the decision to come to Ann Arbor was an easy one as the company continues its plans to expand throughout the Midwest.

"It was just a natural fit. Ann Arbor is a great town not only because of the university but also because there are a lot of working professionals," Sellers said.

With 100 taps at the bar, Sellers said the mission was to create a beer list for the opening that was second to none.

"It's not as much about quantity per brewery as much as it's about quality," Sellers said. "We have some stuff that's very rare and hard to find on tap."

While the bar will feature plenty of Michigan-based beers and rarities, Knape added they've been able to secure some international beers as well.

"We've found some interesting stuff from England and Belgium that's really hard to find on tap here," Knape said.

At least 30 of the 100 taps will always feature Michigan beers but, because of the diversity in the area, Knape said it's important to offer more international beers as well. (See the beer list.)

"It's sort of a recognition that Ann Arbor is an international city. It's a town where people come from a lot of different places," Knape said. "That's one of things we've sort of challenged our program here with doing, is trying to recognize that and make this beer program unique."

On top of expanding the beer list to reach the tastes of more customers, the food menu is also experiencing some changes. While the restaurant is known for its "crack fries," burgers and other sandwiches, Sellers recognized those options may not appeal to everyone in Ann Arbor and crafted some new items for the menu.

"We're launching some vegetarian items that we designed just for this menu," Knape said. "This is the first place, but they'll eventually make it to the other locations."

Sellers said the staff is nearly full, but he's still looking for some experience kitchen help, along with servers and bartenders. The company has been accepting applications since December at its hiring center on South University.

Although the weather isn't expected to cooperate with the launch, Sellers said the offer of free crack fries for a year to the first 200 people through the door will help build a big line for the opening.

"I'm real excited, this is going to be a lot of fun," Sellers said.

Matt Durr is a business reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at mattdurr@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.