• "Love Island" drew large crowds at Tom's Watch Bar, co-CEO Brooks Schaden told Business Insider.
• The sports bar hosted streaming events for the reality show, sending sales spiking nearly 900%.
• Now the bar is looking for its next unconventional group of fans to host watch parties for.

A bombshell just entered Tom's Watch Bar: The reality show "Love Island" spiked major sales this summer.

Despite being known as a haven for sports fans, events centered on the reality television series — known for drama-filled dating antics in the "Love Island" villa — were among the most popular events hosted this summer.

Tom's Watch Bar is a chain of 16 screen-filled restobars that cater primarily to sports fans, cofounded by industry icon and food scientist Tom Ryan and former Quiznos CEO Rick Schaden.

Last November, Ryan and Schaden named Brooks Schaden, Rick's cousin, and Shannon McNiel co-CEOs to succeed them in leading the company. And the new leadership may have found new soul ties with its latest promotion geared at reality TV lovers.

The very first "Love Island" event, held on a steamy Monday evening earlier this summer in Sacramento, drove a nearly 900% rise in sales during the otherwise slow sports season, with hundreds of people lined up to watch, Schaden told Business Insider.

"Normally we'll do a couple thousand dollars in sales — there's just not much going on in the summer at that property," Schaden said. But with its flagship "Love Island" watch party, he added that the store made $30,000 in sales in a single night. "So it was a massive, massive increase."

Normally, big-ticket events at Tom's Watch Bar are football and baseball games, soccer matches, and UFC fights. But fans can be fickle and hard to predict, so the chain is susceptible to big fluctuations in foot traffic. Schaden said that during opening baseball week for the Rockies, the Denver location made $2,000 on Wednesday and $220,000 that Friday.

Being prepared for wild swings in customer demand turned out to be a superpower when the "Love Island" events started, Schaden said. Tom's Watch Bar was able to roll out regular watch parties for the show, which airs new episodes multiple times a week, at all of its locations for the rest of the summer.

Schaden said the dating show's watch parties, featuring commercial-break entertainment by local DJs and influencers, were consistently attended more than most other summer events. Cast member Kenzo Nudo attended the Vegas location for the dating show's season finale, as did family members of cast member Chris Seeley in Los Angeles.

On "Love Island" nights, the chain's lavender lemon drop martinis surged to become its No. 1 selling item — rather than the typical beer and wings usually topping the sales charts.

"That week leading up to the finale, we've got pictures and videos of our places just packed with 'Love Island' fans and cheering and crying," Schaden told Business Insider.

He added: "It was quite a shock to us, but I think our biggest takeaway was, it's the same way people are with sports: people want to connect with other enthusiasts of whatever it might be, and we want to provide a place for them all to get together and cheer and laugh and cry and whatever else might go along with it."

Banking on the success of the "Love Island" parties, Schaden said Tom's Watch Bar is now looking to engage with other groups of enthusiasts at their own watch party events. Think slap fighting, dog surfing, or other reality TV smash hits.

Perhaps "90 Day Fiance" fans will soon rejoice.

• The Hamptons have long been a popular summer destination for bankers and traders.
• We spoke to Wall Street insiders and others about the top hot spots for summer 2025.
• Here are the 7 places they said you'll find finance industry insiders this summer.

Whether by car, helicopter, the LIRR, or the infamous Jitney bus, if it's a Friday afternoon between Memorial and Labor Day, Wall Street is going "out east."

The Hamptons have been a haven for the ultrawealthy since the Astors and Vanderbilts set up estates there more than a century ago, but the transition from fishing and whaling towns to playground for urban professionals really started to take off in the freewheeling 1980s, during Wall Street's boom years.

Since then, the secret has been out, and over the last decade, social media and Bravo's "Summer House" have introduced a whole new generation to these once-sleepy seaside towns of Long Island.

Walker Ward, who previously sold data and research to hedge funds and other large investors, told Business Insider that the Hamptons remain a recreation hub for stressed-out Wall Streeters looking to escape the heat and humidity of the city.

"There's so much to do there," Ward said, who has summered there for the better part of the last decade. "Why wouldn't you want to go out there if you could afford it?"

Whether you're looking to relax or rage, there's something for everyone — as long as you have deep pockets. And, as with any destination for the wealthy, these resort towns offer ample opportunity to peacock.

"The Hamptons, especially with social media, have become a runway show for people to go out and flaunt what they have, how much money they make, and what kind of car they're driving," said Ward, who now parodies Wall Street on social media as WalkSauce42.

In preparation for the July 4 holiday, we spoke to current and former financial industry professionals, as well as some Hamptons locals and business proprietors, about this year's hottest hangouts. Some of the industry insiders we spoke to asked to remain anonymous to protect their jobs because speaking to the press is either forbidden or frowned upon.

Here are 7 top Hamptons hangouts for bankers, traders, and more.

Surf Lodge

This was the most-mentioned spot, which is why we're putting it first. It's a quaint seaside hotel and restaurant, as well as a sceney place to get bottle service on the beach and hear live music and top DJs in Montauk. But FYI, tickets for entry on July 4th are pretty much sold out. A table on the beach for 10 for the next day is listed as $7,500.

A nearly $100 chicken tender tower went viral a few summers ago, thanks in part to TikTok and Instagram posts by Ward.

"The tendie towers baby, that's the intern's favorite, and the holy grail," Ward joked to BI. "Everyone knows Surf Lodge."

Someone who previously worked at a large investment bank confirmed it's popular with the Wall Street crowd.

"It's got a DJ, a deck. You pay thousands for a table," he said.

Le Bilboquet Sag Harbor

The Sag Harbor outpost of this Upper East Side French restaurant opened in 2017, and has since built a reputation for being "one of the satellite offices for the elite," said Ward, who currently summers in Amagansett, between East Hampton and Montauk.

The restaurant bans shorts and flip-flops and is perched alongside a marina deep enough to allow large yachts to dock.

"Everyone loves to sit there and drink wine and look at the sterns of all these massive yachts," Ward said.

The Wall Street recruiter described it as "another see and be seen spot."

The menu offers a seafood tower complete with a dozen oysters, king crab, langoustine, shrimp, a half lobster, snow crab and shrimp for $250, a 100-gram tin of Caviar Ossetra Imperial for $490, and their signature Le Poulet Cajun, a $39 Cajun-spice-rubbed chicken with a beurre-blanc sauce, salad, and fries.

Stephen Talkhouse

Stephen Talkhouse, founded in 1987, is also known for its live music scene. It's become so popular with vacationers that one Hamptons local complained to BI of summer lines that "wrapped around the village." Ward agreed, saying you have to know the staff in order to "Trojan Horse" your way in.

Located in Amagansett, between Montauk and East Hampton, its website describes it as "a legendary music scene and casual neighborhood bar in one. The music calendar for the July Fourth weekend includes "Secret Sellebrity Society Band" and alt-rockers "Kids That Fly."

Mary Lou's

The Palm Beach outpost of Mary Lou's is well attended by local financiers and the socially or politically connected. It's also attracted popular musical acts from The Chainsmokers to Mojave Grey.

Mary Lou's Montauk branch, which opened earlier this year, is aiming to provide the same ambiance and flair. Cofounder Alex Melilla told BI that the crowd so far has been "a more mature crowd, affluent crowd, influencers, tastemakers, as well as a great local scene." The

The Wall Street set may be especially drawn to the special menu set to be curated by the team behind Marea, the luxurious seafood restaurant just a stone's throw from Deutsche Bank Center in midtown, which Mary Lou's will offer during a weekend later this month.

Duryea's Montauk

Duryea's is a seafood restaurant on the water in Montauk known for its $97 lobster cobb salad.

Duryea's was purchased by Apollo CEO Marc Rowan in 2014, and it quickly turned from a classic lobster shack into one of the sceniest restaurants on the East Coast. Hampton's legend and Food Network star Ina Garten has said it is one of her favorite restaurants.

"In my 20's that was the only place we would go on summer weekends there because it was cheap and easy," one Wall Street recruiter said. Not anymore. "People go to Duryea's on their yachts and tender to shore."

Gurney's Montauk

Wall Streeters looking to decompress might turn to Gurney's Resort & Seawater Spa, a 146-room hotel and spa with multiple al fresco dining options along a lush stretch of beach in Montauk.

The Wall Street headhunter said it remains one of the most popular outposts for the financial crowd — and Lizabeth Zindel, the editor-in-chief of Hamptons Social Magazine, explained why: "It's absolutely beautiful," Zindel told BI. "There's a huge terrace as well, which overlooks the ocean from up above."

On the menu at the outdoor Firepit lounge are creative cocktail concoctions like the Chocolate Negroni; the "Afternoon Tea" featuring Earl Grey, bergamot, gin, and cream; and the "Improved Grasshopper" featuring mint and chocolate liqueurs. Each is $23.

The country clubs

As with any wealthy enclave, the Hamptons boasts numerous country clubs.

The Hampton's local described Southampton's Shinnecock, which is hosting next year's US Open, as the "fanciest golf place out here." Ward cited East Hampton's Maidstone Club as another place where "fancy people" from the Street spend their time "hobnobbing."

"Maidstone is the Arnie poster above the bed," he said, referring to a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a pro bodybuilder above an aspiring muscleman's bed. "It's what you aspire to be."