By Kara O’Neil, Staff Writer, The Derrick
July 24, 2025
Shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, a crowd of at least 100 people gathered in front of 100 Seneca in Oil City for the long anticipated grand opening and ribbon cutting of The Exchange by Side Hustle. “We have 100 seats and there are more than 100 people here. We’re on our way… I’m seeing a lot of smiles on a lot of faces,” Jeff Karns, a co-founder of Side Hustle Brews and Spirits, said, noting it would take a while to serve the crowd. He added that the soft opening in the days leading up to the ribbon cutting went well as they tweaked the menu.
The crowd, numbering about 150 to 200 and including many local elected officials and leading citizens, filled the restaurant and distillery on the majestic first floor of the former Oil City National Bank building Wednesday afternoon.
“This is one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen in Oil City in a long time,” Deb Sobina, the executive vice president of the Oil Region Alliance, said. “It is breathtaking, so bright and beautiful … I was here at an event Friday night. It was fabulous. The food was delicious,” she said.
The restaurant’s menu includes a mixture of Cajun cuisine and barbecue, similar to what is served in their restaurant in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Karns said previously. Side Hustle opened the first brewery in Abu Dhabi in the Emirates, Craft by Side Hustle, in late 2023.
Side Hustle was the first craft beer brand in the Gulf region, Karns said previously. Side Hustle products, with their camel logo, have names tied to travel and the expat community in the Emirates, he added.
Chad McGehee, a co-founder of Side Hustle Brews and Spirits, said people in Oil City have been “nice and welcoming” and seem pretty enthusiastic about the restaurant opening.
Over the past three weeks while they have been getting ready to open The Exchange, McGehee said people kept coming by to see 100 Seneca and what they were up to.
Karns had previously explained that the name is a reference to the Oil City Oil Exchange that stood on the site of 100 Seneca in the late 1800s where the worldwide price of crude oil was set for several decades.
“I’m glad they kept what they could of the architecture,” said Dorthey Tawney, Venango County chief clerk. She said she had been in 100 Seneca shortly after the building was purchased by Venango County in 2017 and once during construction.
Jason Ruggiero, the former executive director of the Venango County Economic Development Authority who oversaw the first few years of the 100 Seneca project, described Wednesday as surreal. “It has come a long way … This is beyond what I would have dreamed of,” he said.
Current Venango County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Emily Lewis said she was very happy Wednesday. “We did what we said we would do, and that feels good,” she said.
During the, ribbon cutting, Oil City Mayor John Kluck presented Karns with a proclamation naming Wednesday as Side Hustle Brews day in honor of the grand opening and their investment in Oil City.
Oil City councilman Ron Gustafson called the opening a “nice milestone.”
“This is a change agent for Oil City,” County commissioner Albert Abramovic said, a sentiment that was echoed by fellow Commissioner Ken Bryan, who said Oil City has the opportunity to be at least as prosperous as Franklin.
Abramovic also recalled the county’s purchase of the building in 2017, saying that, at that time, he was told 100 Seneca either needed razed or rehabilitated. He credited Ruggiero and Lewis for the countless hours they put in to make the eight year project come to fruition.
Read the original article from The Derrick here.