Parks and Recreation blessed the airwaves with seven seasons of hilarious comedy, but since the hit sitcom was set in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana it left every viewer disappointed with the sheer fact that they’ll never be able to visit any of their favorite Pawnee establishments.
Throughout the entire series, audiences and fans were treated to some of the most clever and creative small-town businesses that have ever been concocted by a television show, reminding everybody just how interesting and innovative local shops and establishments can be. Take a look at our list of 10 Parks and Rec business’ we wish we could give our money too in real life.
Cozy’s Bar
Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a warm, jazzy welcome to my man, Mr. Duke Silver! While Cozy’s Bar isn’t technically within the city limits of Pawnee and slips into the neighboring, rival city of Eagleton, the business is one that every Parks and Rec fan (especially the women) would be flocking too simply to get an earful from their favorite jazz saxophonist, Duke Silver.
Ron Swanson’s alter-ego and the man behind some of the smoothest riffs of the entire series made Cozy’s his home, and it’s safe to say that we all would too.
Wamapoke Casino
One of the Parks and Rec businesses that fans, unfortunately, hardly got to take a look inside of was the Wamapoke Casino, owned by the towns Wamapoke Tribal Leader, Ken Hotate. Just like the city it’s set in, the Wamapoke are a fictional tribe of Native-Americans that used to occupy the land that Pawnee took over, and the Wamapoke Casino is their way of, “slowly taking back their money back from white people, one quarter at a time.”
While none of the shows 200+ episodes ever reside within the casino walls, the Native-American owned establishment is frequently mentioned throughout the series.
Paunch Burger
Their burgers are poison and full of wasps (according to April) but they sure do taste good, though! Paunch Burger is one of Parks and Rec’s most firmly established business’ as they have no issue targeting Pawnee’s obese population.
The series’ fictional city became widely known as one of the most obese cities in all of America (rising from 4th to 9th throughout the show) and with a fast-food chain whose ‘child’ sized soft-drinks are literally the size of a liquefied two-year-old, Paunch Burger is a big reason why. Grab us a Greasy Lard Bomb and a number 2 the next time you’re in there, Ron.
The Snakehole Lounge
The Snakehole Lounge is one of Pawnee’s most memorable establishments as it not only gave the show several running jokes throughout its entirety but also gave the series some of it’s best episodes. The main running joke that it established was that of Janet Snakehole and Bert Macklin, the alter-ego’s of April and Andy that they would portray quite often when goofing around with one another. The second running joke of the bar is the poisonous liquor, Snakejuice.
The alcohol that Tom invented to sell at the establishment quickly gave the series one of it’s most hilarious scenes when nearly every main character got obliterated off the liquid.
Rent-a-Swag
Even ignoring the hilarious concept that a grown man’s entire wardrobe could fill a boutique and fit a bunch of pre-tweeners, the business of Rent-a-Swag was gold from the start. Tom had already failed miserably at every one of his business endeavors when he came up with his first successful idea of renting out his clothes to children. The business was so successful that it prompted Mr. Saperstein to make a duplicate shop across the street called, “Tommy’s Place”.
To be honest, it’s a much better name, but we would still be shopping all day long at Rent-a-Swag (as long as we could fit in the clothes).
Gryzzl
Parks and Rec jumped forward in time a couple of years for it’s last season to the year 2017 – it’s now almost 2020 and we’re still waiting for the tech-conglomerate Gryzzl to appear. Popping up out of nowhere to become the antagonist of the shows final season, Gryzzl is essentially the series fictional version of Apple, a tech company that quickly begins to take over the world.
As consumers, we might not be “super chill” with Gryzzl taking all of our personal info and spying on us, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t want a tablet that we could convert into a skateboard. Step up your game, Apple, Parks and Rec already told you what the people want.
Tom’s Bistro
Another business that Parks and Rec fans were introduced to in the final season was actually mentioned much earlier on in the series when Tom was spouting off names for all of his different business ideas. Tom’s Bistro was a breath-of-fresh-air compared to the rest of Tom’s possible business endeavors since it was simply a restaurant that had Tom’s name on it.
There wasn’t anything particularly flashy about the “classy as s***” bistro, but it definitely solidified that Tom was growing up, and the restaurant looked like one that every fan of the show would love to be a regular at.
Sweetums
Arguably the most famous of all Pawnee establishments, Sweetums quickly became a staple of the series as the candy-company found it’s way into every nook and cranny that the show could fit them into. The sugary conglomerate was used as an antagonist for Leslie Knope who tried to stop the cavity-causing company from taking further hold of it’s obese Pawnee consumers.
But viewers should also remember that Ben was an employee of the candy factory for a while and that Bobby Newport (played by Paul Rudd) was brought into the show simply for being the heir to the Sweetums fortune. If you can’t beat them, Sweetums!
Entertainment 720
The silver-medal winning business of this list is special for one particular reason – we’re still not entirely sure what it does. As we stated, Tom had quite a few different business ideas throughout the series, but this one was the best (and wackiest) of them all. Entertainment 720 was the brain-child of Tom and his eccentric best-friend, Jean-Ralphio, and did about as well as anybody would’ve expected.
The boys rented out a huge warehouse and turned it into what looked like the dopest club the world has ever seen – the only problem being that Entertainment 720 wasn’t supposed to be a club. We’ll never be sure what E720 was supposed to be, but we know that we want it.
Very Good Building Co.
The last season of Parks and Rec may have given viewers some of the best business’ of the entire series with Tom’s Bistro and Gryzzl, but the undisputed top choice has to be the company created by the world’s greatest handyman. Ron Swanson finally jumped overboard from the local government ship and decided to do what he does best – build things.
Ron made it clear throughout the show that he was capable of building anything he needed and decided that he could do the same for others by creating the Very Good Building and Development company. We’re guessing any building constructed by Ron Swanson would last until the end of time, and we’d certainly have no problem with that.
