Before you raise a glass to friendships, sometimes you have to have some difficult conversations.
Earlier this summer, Southern Charm’s Craig Conover and Summer House star Kyle Cooke had to sit down and address the drama surrounding their competing spritz brands.
“Unfortunately for you, we did film it,” Craig, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly when teasing his upcoming restaurant and bar concept called By the Way in Charleston, South Carolina. “That has to carry the tag of you have to wait and watch that.”
Kyle, 42, launched his alcohol brand Loverboy in 2018 with his wife, Amanda Batula, and friend Carl Radke by his side. In April, Craig announced he was an investor in Spritz Society.
The business decision left an impact on Kyle, who later confessed on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that it “rubbed me the wrong way” when his friend told him he was working with a competitor.
For both Bravo stars, however, it appears they have been able to move forward with their friendship and respective businesses.
“I love Kyle and we have a really fun history and relationship and he’s one of my favorite people on the network,” Craig shared. “I’m glad I was able to go out there and you’ll get to see how that all went.”
In addition to appearing on Summer House, which also stars his girlfriend, Paige DeSorbo, Craig is gearing up for a brand-new season of Southern Charm.
Before the season 10 trailer is released, the Hope for the Warriors board member was able to give Us a tease of what to expect.
“People won’t be disappointed. It’s a great, great season of Southern Charm,” Craig shared. “It’s really neat because somehow, we’ve been able to capture different chapters of all of our lives, and you’ll get to see new chapters of certain people on the show work through things that you’ve never seen before. I think it’s gonna be interesting and special and entertaining.”
He continued, “It’s a small city so it’s really hard to avoid confrontation or drama. Maybe in a big city, you’d be able to just avoid the people. But in Charleston, you’re gonna run into each other, and you’ll see a lot of conflict and hopefully resolution. We’ll see.”
Viewers may also have the opportunity to get a peek inside Craig’s latest business venture. For the past several months, the Sewing Down South founder has been working on a new restaurant and bar concept called By the Way.
Slated to open this fall in Charleston, the unique space aims to be a favorite destination for locals and tourists alike.
“So Charleston, as a lot of people know, is a really fun social town,” Craig explained. “But a lot of times, no matter what age you are, it still feels like you’re in college when you’re there. We were just kind of missing a calmer vibe that was still fun.”
With help from Uptown Hospitality Group and the group that designed The Spaniard in the West Village of New York City, Craig is confident visitors will like what they see once doors open up later this year.
“You go in there before dinner, and a lot of people we think will end up missing their dinner reservations,” Craig teased. “They’ll be like, ‘Let’s just stay here.’ We’ve got a menu to go with it too.”
