Kirby Ice House

What Kirby Ice House does

Kirby Ice House is a Houston-based, privately held bar chain operating large-format "ice house" style venues across the Houston metropolitan area. Founded in 2016 and owned by Russ Morgan, the company runs four operating locations (Upper Kirby flagship, Memorial, The Woodlands, and Heights) with a fifth (Clear Lake) scheduled to open in September 2026. Each venue features expansive indoor and outdoor footprints — up to 35,000 sq ft outdoors at Upper Kirby and 28,000 sq ft combined at The Woodlands — with 51+ beers on tap emphasizing Texas and local drafts, cocktails, wine, spirits, and rotating food trucks supplemented by weekly steak nights. Target customers are adults 21+ seeking social entertainment, sports viewing, and group events; the venues accept event bookings for groups of 25 or more and operate extended hours (2pm-2am weekdays, 11am-2am weekends).

Name

Kirby Ice House

Legal name

Kirby Ice House

Website

https://kirbyicehouse.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kirby Ice House is a privately held Houston-based bar chain operating four large-format venues across the Houston metro, with a fifth location opening in September 2026 and Dallas-Fort Worth expansion beginning in 2027. It serves adults 21+ with 51+ beers on tap, expansive outdoor spaces, food trucks, sports viewing, and private event bookings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Bar and Hospitality Services

NAICS

Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) (722410)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Craft Beer Bars & Taprooms (THAFAEAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Bars & Pubs (Non-Music) (MPAGAIAC)

Keywords

• Bar chain operations
• Craft beer venues
• Private event hosting
• Outdoor bar spaces
• Food truck service

Headquarters

HQ city

Houston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Food and Beverage Sales: Revenue is generated through on-site food and beverage sales at each location. Each bar offers over 51 beers on tap with emphasis on Texas and local drafts, cocktails, wine, and spirits. Food is provided through rotating food trucks and steak night offerings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Kirby Ice House operates a chain of Houston-area bar venues featuring 51+ beers on tap (emphasizing Texas and local drafts), cocktails, wine, and spirits, paired with rotating food trucks and weekly food/drink specials. Each location combines a large indoor bar with expansive outdoor patios and HDTV sports viewing, and offers private and corporate event booking for groups of 25 or more across flagship Upper Kirby, Memorial, The Woodlands, and Heights sites.

Product overview

Kirby Ice House is a Houston-based ice house bar chain operating five locations across the Houston metropolitan area and expanding into additional Texas markets. The company offers a unified bar and entertainment experience centered around its core brand, featuring multiple venue locations (Upper Kirby as flagship, Memorial, The Woodlands, and Heights) with extensive outdoor spaces, on-tap beer selections exceeding 51 varieties, food truck services, event booking capabilities, and daily specials. The product portfolio consists of individual bar locations as the primary offerings, supplemented by tap menu services, food truck calendar scheduling, event booking, and weekly promotional specials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kirby Ice House Bar Locations (Upper Kirby, Memorial, The Woodlands, Heights) Chain of 21+ Houston-area bar venues offering 51+ beers on tap (emphasis on Texas and local drafts), cocktails, wine, and spirits, plus rotating food trucks, daily and weekly drink/food specials, HDTV sports viewing, dog-friendly patios, and expansive indoor plus outdoor seating for walk-in social drinking and casual group outings.
• Private and Corporate Event Booking Bookable event venue service available across all Kirby Ice House locations, offering more than one acre of combined indoor and outdoor space, full bar service, HDTVs, food truck coordination, and ample parking for private parties, corporate functions, and group outings of 25 or more guests, scheduled via online booking forms or direct phone contact with each location.

Quantifiable outcome

• Texas' longest bar in Texas - 141 sq ft bar at Woodlands location
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Hopdoddy Burger Bar: Texas-grown upscale casual concept with full bar programs; comparable as a Texas-rooted multi-unit concept that competes for the same regional discretionary-spend occasions.
• Pluckers Wing Bar: Texas-based sports bar chain with large-format locations, draft beer focus, and sports viewing — a regional peer competing for the same Texas sports-viewing crowd.

Others

• Total Wine & More: Large-scale beverage retailer with deep craft beer assortment; thematically related as an enabler of the Texas craft-beer ecosystem that supports Kirby Ice House's tap-list positioning.

Direct peers

• Twin Peaks Restaurant: National chain of large-format sports-themed bars with expansive patios, extensive draft beer programs, and HDTV viewing — closely aligned with Kirby Ice House's combination of big outdoor space, 60+ taps, and sports viewing.
• Yard House: Craft-beer-focused bar and restaurant chain known for 100+ taps and large-format venues; a direct comparable on the draft beer scale and big-box bar economics that define Kirby Ice House.
• The Rustic: Texas-based outdoor bar and restaurant concept emphasizing live music, local drafts, and large backyards — directly comparable as a Texas-rooted, outdoor-first craft beer venue competing for similar occasion-driven customers.
• Truck Yard: Texas beer-garden concept combining rotating food trucks, large outdoor seating, and craft beer — directly analogous to Kirby Ice House's food truck + outdoor patio + draft beer positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Buffalo Wild Wings: National sports bar chain with broad bar-and-food menu and heavy TV viewing; overlaps on customer occasion (sports, group outings) but is broader and not craft-beer differentiated like Kirby Ice House.
• BJ's Restaurant Brewhouse: Large-format brewpub chain with in-house beer program and broad food menu; comparable on big-box casual dining with draft beer focus, though with proprietary brewing rather than curated local tap lists.
• Dave & Buster's: National entertainment-and-bar chain combining bar service with group entertainment; comparable on the event/group-booking and adult-entertainment positioning that Kirby Ice House emphasizes for 25+ group events.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/kirbyicehouse
• Instagraminstagram.com/kirbyicehouse.htx
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kirby-ice-house

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kirby Ice House