HopCat East Lansing grand opening

HopCat is located on Grove St. in East Lansing and Ionia Ave. SW in Grand Rapids. Owner Mark Sellers is expanding the brand into 12 to 15 new cities around the Midwest in the next 5 years, starting in 2014 with Detroit.

(MLive file photo)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Detroit, meet HopCat.

Restaurateur Mark Sellers said the Motor City will be site of the third HopCat, a popular craft beer bar brand he's planning to expand into 12 to 15 cities around the Midwest in the next five years.

"It will be our largest one yet," said Sellers, who opened a HopCat in East Lansing last July. The original location opened in downtown Grand Rapids in 2008.

The 11,000-square-foot Detroit HopCat will have 130 tap handles, making it the largest draft selection in Michigan when it opens in August. The address is yet to be announced, but Sellers said the bar would include a live music venue.

Update, 2/6: Midtown address announced for HopCat Detroit

Sellers is currently raising money and seeking investors to take the chain beyond Michigan. He’s raised about $2 million so far and is looking for silent partners.

The bar and brewery has generated numerous craft beer industry accolades in its six-year history. This week, the Grand Rapids HopCat was named the No. 1 brewpub in the U.S. by RateBeer.com for the second time.

The brand equity is part of the push for expansion, he said. The two HopCats combined are already hitting about $9 million in annual sales.

“All these landlords are coming to us,” he said. “They’ve all heard of HopCat.”

Sellers, who is also board chairman of Titanic traveling exhibit company Premier Exhibitions, said he's seeking investors because "we've got more ideas than money to execute" the brand expansion at the moment.

In addition to Detroit, he’s set up HopCat LLCs in Ann Arbor, Chicago and Indianapolis. Sellers lived in Chicago for a decade while working as an equities strategist for Morningstar Inc.

Barfly Ventures, the holding company under which Sellers operates the two existing HopCat locations plus Stella’s Lounge, McFadden’s pub and Grand Rapids Brewing Co. all in Grand Rapids, is currently hitting about $19 million in annual sales, he said.

In January, Sellers hired away two senior executives from The Yard House, a national craft beer-focused chain owned by Darden Restaurants, to help with the expansion.

Although craft beer will remain the focus, each new HopCat will be unique in terms of design and feel, he said. “It’s not going to be cookie-cutter like you think of a chain as being.”

“The reason I’m doing it is because I have so much fun with it,” he said. “I have a lot of fun designing the interior of each place.”

Garret Ellison covers business, government and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram