The Little Horse Tavern, Restaurant and Bar, opening this fall.
Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises Partner with Cobbs Creek Foundation to Provide World-class Food and Hospitality to Revitalized Golf Campus. A collaboration between Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises will serve as Food & Beverage provider for the Cobbs Creek Golf Course. The main restaurant and bar, The Little Horse Tavern, opens this fall.
June 25, 2025 – The Cobbs Creek Foundation is proud to announce Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises as food and beverage providers for the revitalized Cobbs Creek Campus, together offering a full-service restaurant and bar, service to 68 driving range bays, catered private and community events, refreshment carts on the golf courses, and more.
Fitler Club, a Philadelphia social club with a mission of fostering community connection and impact, and Strother Enterprises, a minority-owned, veteran-owned, family-owned, and operated food service business with more than 35 years of leadership in hospitality, are teaming up with the Cobbs Creek Foundation, the nonprofit transforming the Cobbs Creek Golf Course into a one-of-a-kind golf, recreation and education campus.
This fall, Fitler and Strother Enterprises will open The Little Horse Tavern, named after pioneering PGA golfer Charlie Sifford. “Little Horse” was Charlie Sifford’s nickname on the PGA Tour. The Little Horse Tavern menu will feature golf course classics with a twist, such as wood-fired pizzas, the “Cobbs” Salad and other shareable items. The restaurant will be located in the Lincoln Financial Center at Cobbs Creek, the central hub building on campus that will house a double-decker golf practice and entertainment facility, indoor/outdoor lounge, event space, heritage center and retail shop.
“We believe the combined talents of Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises will offer an experience and venue that people in the community will be excited about and will want to come back to time and again,” said Jeff Shanahan, President of the Cobbs Creek Foundation. “Like the Cobbs Creek Foundation, Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises are catalysts for positive change in this community. Both partners share our commitment to creating a destination that is welcoming for all guests, providing golfers and nongolfers a world-class experience in an open, inclusive environment.”
Additional food and beverage offerings from Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises will include:
An indoor bar and outdoor lounge on the first floor of the Lincoln Financial Center at Cobbs Creek, opening in fall 2025.
Catering for a 200+ person community event space on the top floor of the Lincoln Financial Center at Cobbs Creek.
Refreshments at the TGR Design short course, designed by Tiger Woods’ golf course design firm, opening in fall 2025.
Healthy food for students at the Smilow | Woodland TGR Learning Lab, which Strother Enterprises is already providing to students currently enrolled in after school and summer programs at the TGR Learning Lab at Cobbs Creek.
Full-service concessions on the 18-hole championship Olde Course, opening in 2027.
All excess revenue generated by amenities will go toward supporting education and community programming at Cobbs Creek. Year-round free educational programming is provided to local youth at the Smilow | Woodland TGR Learning Lab, which opened this year in partnership with Tiger Woods’s TGR Foundation.
Strother Enterprises is widely known for creating memorable experiences through thoughtful, innovative food solutions in a variety of settings. As a Philadelphia-based organization with a legacy of serving the community since 1987, Strother Enterprises’ distinct food service and hospitality expertise is enjoyed by guests at premier entertainment and sports destinations such as Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, as well as private events and receptions.
“As a minority-owned, veteran-owned and family-owned business, community is at the heart of what we do – and we see our values reflected in the Cobbs Creek project,” said Natasha Strother Lassiter, chief strategy officer for Strother Enterprises. “We’re excited about this partnership with Fitler Club and Cobbs Creek Foundation to make a lasting impact in our hometown by providing inspired food service, creating jobs and continuing our work to champion diversity and increase opportunities for residents of our city.”
Fitler Club President Jacob Smith, formerly an executive at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, said he and his team would bring their expertise and deep connections in the Philadelphia golf and nonprofit scene to the work at Cobbs Creek.
“Fitler Club is honored to join Strother Enterprises in supporting the incredibly important work at Cobbs Creek,” Smith said. “We see this partnership as an extension of our community-minded mission, and we’re excited to engage the local community and the city at large in supporting this world-class project.”
Once complete, operations within the driving range complex will create 50 new jobs, representing one third of the expected 150 total jobs created on the campus through food and beverage service, hospitality, golf operations, agronomy, and education. Cobbs Creek Golf Course opened in 1916 and became one of the nation’s top public courses, known for its history of inclusion and allowing golfers of every race and gender to play the game. Charlie Sifford, the first Black golfer to receive a PGA TOUR card, considered Cobbs Creek his home course. The nonprofit Cobbs Creek Foundation is raising $180 million to rehabilitate the 350-acre property, preserve it as a public course and Philadelphia landmark, bring a state-of-the-art education center to kids and families in the community and restore the creek area to mitigate flooding, create wetlands and promote environmental sustainability.
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About Cobbs Creek Foundation
The Cobbs Creek Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established in 2018 to restore the Cobbs Creek Golf Course and to return the site to its status as one of Philadelphia's historic landmarks. In partnership with the City of Philadelphia, local schools and community members, the Foundation's mission is to create a state-of-the-art, economically sustainable golf and educational campus that provides opportunity for the youth of Philadelphia by serving their academic, athletic, and social-emotional needs. To learn more, visit cobbscreek.org.
About Fitler Club
Founded in 2019, Fitler Club is a first-of-its-kind urban social club for socially conscious, forward-thinking Philadelphians. Providing world-class dining, fitness, social, business, hotel, and event offerings, the Club seeks to enrich the lives of its members and act as a catalyst for positive change in Philadelphia. Fitler Club is committed to driving local social impact, aligning its values and resources with the city's most pressing needs. For more information, visit fitlerclub.com
About Strother Enterprises
Strother Enterprises Inc., a minority, veteran-owned business headquartered in Philadelphia, is the exclusive food and beverage provider at the Cobbs Creek Golf Course. Founded in 1987, Strother Enterprises is a trusted partner to highly respected companies within the sports and entertainment, healthcare, higher education, and travel industries. In addition to providing tailored food service solutions to large scale audiences, Strother Enterprises offers premium catering through the company’s Legacy Culinary Group brand. Strother Enterprises remains family operated after three generations by delivering inspired food service solutions with the goal of making every culinary moment an exceptional experience. For more information, visit strotherenterprises.com.
Contacts:
Cobbs Creek Foundation
Allison Steele
asteele@ceislermedia.com
Fitler Club
Jacob Smith
pr@fitlerclub.com
Strother Enterprises
Angela Childs
media@strotherenterprises.com