Bryan Harkey is opening Plunder Rum & Tapas, a new sister bar of Cease & Desist Book Club, both of which operate in the historic Legion Building, at 108 N. Washington in downtown Spokane.

The new bar space offers a date-night-focused atmosphere with shareable plates and South American-inspired cocktails. A grand opening is scheduled for March 18.

Harkey's new concept allows him to expand beyond the whiskey, gin, and vodka-focused cocktail program that defines Cease & Desist while highlighting rum and other Latin American spirits.

“I think people have a kind of a misconception about rum cocktails,” Harkey says. “A lot of people think of rum in sweet, juicy, hangover type of drinks.”

Plunder’s cocktail program emphasizes fresh ingredients and techniques meant to showcase the complexity of rum and other spirits through uncommon flavor profiles. For instance, one of Harkey's recently discovered drink combos is coffee and pineapple, which he says pairs surprisingly well together.

“We really wanted to feature drinks that have fresh juices, homemade syrups, and let these different types of rum stand out,” Harkey says.

The bar also features a curated tequila selection, with an emphasis on additive-free spirits.

“Everything that's on the wall is stuff that I picked out specifically because it's high quality,” Harkey asserts. “It's all 100% agave.”

Plunder carries an estimated 60 varieties of rum, 75 tequilas, and a dozen cachaças, a type of Brazilian liquor made distilled from sugarcane. The establishment's cocktail menu will be updated on a rotating basis, about every six weeks. Classic tropical drinks will be a menu staple. Additionally, the bar will have cocktails on draft at a lower price point to be featured during happy hour, alongside a variety of mocktails. 

Plunder's food menu centers on small, shareable plates designed to encourage diners to try several dishes at once. Food and drink prices range between $10 and $15. Reservations are also accepted at Plunder.

"Small plates are a little bit more fun, especially when you're sharing,” Harkey says. “Then you get to eat three or four things, as opposed to 'Here's your big plate of food.'"

Plunder is open seven days a week. Soon, the bar will begin hosting cocktail-making classes, the first of which is scheduled March 22 in collaboration with the Spokane Rum Club. These classes are designed to help customers better understand the types of drinks served at Cease & Desist and Plunder while creating an opportunity for customers to learn to make and try something new.

“When you can kind of explain to people what they're drinking, then it helps people trying new things,” Harkey says. “Not just having a vodka soda for the 10th time.”

At Plunder, the bar’s layout was designed to accommodate larger groups, a design choice Harkey says he learned from operating Scofflawdrinks LLC, which does business as Cease & Desist.

“I love our booths there, but they're not conducive to larger parties,” he says of the Cease & Desist venue. 

The space itself is roughly the same size as Cease & Desist, but also includes a kitchen. Currently, decorative additions are being installed at Plunder. Harkey says he's looking for artists who are interested in displaying and selling their work on the venue's walls.

Opening Plunder has proved significantly more complicated than launching his first bar, says Harkey.

“Cease & Desist was 25% the stress that this has been,” Harkey contends. “It's easier to do a place from the ground up.”

Opening a sister venue at the Legion Building was prompted by the building's owners who encouraged Harkey to open another business in the space and worked with him on the initial build-out, he says.

“I told them from the beginning I'm scraping by in Cease & Desist,” Harkey says. “I definitely don't have money to open another bar.”

Financing his second business proved more challenging than when he opened Cease & Desist several years ago, Harkey says, explaining that lenders now are more cautious about providing Small Business Administration loans to restaurants and bars since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They're not handing out a lot of SBA loans after COVID to restaurants,” Harkey contends. “It's been much more difficult.”

Plunder — a trade name for Debajodrinks LLC — currently has seven employees, including Harkey, who bartends several shifts each week.

Harkey's goal is for the two bars — along with nearby Lord Stanley’s — to create a variety of different experiences within the same building. Patrons who visit either Cease & Desist or Plunder will have the opportunity to show their receipt at the other bar to receive 20% off.

“My main goal is for both of these places to feed off each other,” Harkey says. “Have an old-fashioned and then come try a new rum drink, or tequila, or mezcal drink.”

Both Cease & Desist and Plunder are designed with a welcoming atmosphere in an effort to help visitors feel more comfortable spending time downtown and draw them out of their houses on the weekdays.

“We want to make it a place where people are comfortable going to,” says Harkey. “Whether it's men, women, LGBTQ, it should be a safe space for everybody because that’s just how it should be.”