13 minute read
The Untold Story of a Bar Rescue: Pushing Through Adversity
by John Stapleton, Contributing Editor
It looked like a good idea even though it “wasn’t in the plans.” It also came with a “the great price.” At the bargain price of $50K, it had the size and the atmosphere to become a steak house where people could watch their favorite team, hang out after hours.
At least that’s what Ralph Skrzypczak thought as the new owner of O’Shays.
In May 2015, on a $150,000 loan, Skrzypczak with his partners took over O’Shays as kind of an “interesting idea.” He wasn’t looking to get into the restaurant business.
With rent for the facility only $10,000, he thought he would have much of the loan available to carry the restaurant/bar for the first year during rebranding.
However, within the walls to be remodeled, mold had taken over, and Skrzypczak had a $75,000 problem on his hands.
“I got this place with no inspection,” Skrzypczak says. “I never questioned as to why it was such a great price, and I admit it was the first stupid thing I did.”
By the time Skrzypczak could start recuperating any costs, he was left with only 30 days to keep the doors open. A faithful late night crowd made it happen. After 60 days, Skrzypczak and the crew survived and officially O’Shays became True Grit.
Where’s the Captain?
After the first intense year, though, Skrzypczak says he was burnt out as personal issues and other business ventures came into play. The restaurant had sidetracked his goal of opening a dispensary in Colorado. He wanted to get back to that.
He hired managers and staff he believed could run the operations. However, “I didn’t know the business well enough to know what to look for,” he says.
For the next year, Skrzypczak’s naivety and absence took the business off-course, financially and reputationwise. He needed to navigate True Grit out of troubled waters.
“I jumped into the game,” he says. “I hit it hard, but still, it probably wasn’t hard enough.”
By the end of 2019, True Grit had become an events-driven venue and had gone from a four-item menu to a place where one could sit down with a menu offering a little something of everything, including a popular fish-fry.
Ralph Skrzypczak at The Roost Photo: Volo
End of the World (as We Know It)
2020. The restaurant and bar biz had to figure out overnight how to adapt to shutdowns and restrictions.
Skrzypczak realized he was not just responsible for the employee, but for the employees’ families. The news of a mandatory shutdown put Skrzypczak into another mode of leadership. No one was “getting let go” unless they wanted out. He was determined to keep the show running and his employees working.
“Looking down the barrel of the bankruptcy gun” Skrzypczak turned True Grit into a mini-grocery store with a delivery service. Where grocery stores were running out of items from their suppliers, the restaurant suppliers had everything in stock.
He went full throttle on his marketing campaign, putting his face out to the public. Sales exploded. Employees stayed busy with orders and the delivery service. Skrzypczak avoided bankruptcy, and as restrictions began to ease True Grit began to transition to the “new normal” complete with higher supply costs and an employee shortage.
Enter Hollywood
Coming out of 2020, Skrzypczak was feeling good about True Grit’s future. They had kept their core employees; business was returning. The idea to be on the TV show Bar Rescue had been on the table before, starting with the previous owners when it was O’Shays.
Once the light at the end of the tunnel began signaling that 2021 was going to be an “interesting year,” communications with the show restarted.
Skrzypczak thought maybe the show would focus on how the businesses survived the COVID pandemic. Anyone who watched the episode called “Wreck it Ralph,” though, didn’t see someone who had just spent the last year adapting to challenges, hustling day and night to save a business. No, they saw someone getting punched as if he was the village idiot who had stolen his dad’s credit card and maxed it out on video game purchases.
Skrzypczak says he caught on immediately this would be the show’s angle and it was the preferred route versus making his employees look bad. He isn’t denying there was some truth to the episode, and he was willing to take on the role if it helped the business.
“I told the staff, I was OK with being ‘the stupid guy,’” Skrzypczak says. “But I am not OK with being called lazy.”
Even though he was expecting it, Skrzypczak was “hit hard” by Bar Rescue host Jon Taffer.
“If you know the show, you know I was going to get yelled at,” Skrzypczak says. “Or they were going to go after my staff.”
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For “drama,” the show put Skrzypczak in a position to fail — having him as a shift manager supposed to be handling the floor, a host or server, stepping up to make drinks behind the bar, or someone who should be able to throw on an apron and get in the kitchen.
Skrzypczak’s normal day-today is spent looking over payroll, inventory, supply orders, making cost comparisons, and making sure invoices are being paid — not that he wouldn’t jump in, but he does have a manager and staff in place.
While the operations overhaul is one aspect of the show, Bar Rescue also remodeled the floor taking out a few pool tables, creating a more open atmosphere to accommodate more seating. The biggest change was the name. True Grit became The Roost. Photo: Volo
Aftermath
Pre-COVID, there was a staff about 20, Skrzypczak say; The Roost is now at 40 employees. Like everyone else in the industry, Skrzypczak is dealing with a labor force shortage, disruptions in the supply chain and inflation.
That said, The Roost is going strong as people are packing in on Friday and Saturday nights for comedy nights, karaoke, UFC fights or just some dancing. Football fans are flocking in on Sundays, and the daily crowd is showing up trying the new menu items.
“Did Bar Rescue help? Oh, absolutely!” Skrzypczak says. “It prepared us for what we were not ready for, and now we have to rise to the occasion. People go in for scream therapy, and I can tell you it worked for me and I got one of the best in the business to do it.”
Lots to Love at the Library this February!
In addition to story times and afterschool programs for children this February, your Casa Grande Public Library is offering fun activities for kids interested in Legos and getting crafty.
Beginning Feb. 1, bring your kids by craft stations at both the Vista Grande and Casa Grande public libraries for a chance to design and create their very own Valentine’s Day card. A variety of craft materials will be provided for children to make and play with.
Love is in the air, and here at the library we love LEGOs! Beginning Feb. 14, visit your Casa Grande or Vista Grande public library and use your math estimation skills to guess how many LEGOs are stored in our mystery containers. One lucky winner will take home all of the building bricks! Children ages 4 through 12 are invited to submit their best guess! One entry per child please.
With so much fun going on at the library, we hope to see you all this February!
Main Library Mon – Fri 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 520.421.8710 Vista Grande Library Mon – Fri 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 520.421.8652 www.facebook.com/cglibraryaz
Pinal County Press
States Plan Additional Conservation for Lake Mead
The Lower Basin states of the Colorado River watershed — Arizona, California and Nevada — and their partners in the water-using community signed an agreement Dec. 15 that took a further step to help keep Lake Mead from descending to dangerous levels.
They agreed to a plan that would leave at least 500,000 acre feet of water in the reservoir above their Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) commitments during the next two years.
The document, known as the “500+ Plan,” aims to add at least 500,000 acre feet of additional water to Lake Mead in both 2022 and 2023 by facilitating actions to conserve water across the Lower Colorado River Basin. The additional water — enough water to serve about 1.5 million households a year — would add about 16 feet to the reservoir’s level, which continues to reach record low levels.
The agreement piggybacks on the Drought Contingency Plan approved by the states in 2019 that was intended to keep enough water in Lake Mead to keep it functional until 2026. The lake’s level is used as a barometer for the health of the system’s water supply and the hydropower supply from Hoover Dam, which serves millions of people in California.
Arizona will not be getting its full allocation of Colorado River water in 2022 under the DCP and the Tier 1 shortage that’s been declared by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation due to the lake’s dropping elevation. Pinal County agricultural users will take the brunt of the cutbacks.
As part of the agreement water agencies in the three states, as well as the reclamation bureau, committed to investing up to $200 million in projects at Lake Mead over the next two years.
Following the signing of a type of agreement known as a “memorandum of understanding,” Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke noted the sense of urgency to get the job done.
“Our work on the 2019 DCP took more than five years to complete. This commitment to work together to stabilize Lake Mead came together in a matter of a few months,” said Buschatzke. “That alone is a powerful testament to the commitment of the Lower Basin States to work together with our partners at Reclamation to protect this vital river system.”
Nikola … continued from page 14
Based on the performance of the first four vehicles and TTSI’s acquiring additional government funding, up to 30 more BEVs are expected to be delivered during 2022, followed by 70 fuel-cell vehicles beginning in 2023.
Vic LaRosa, president of TTSI, said, “This day represents a major step in our continual quest to achieve a zero-emission fleet, which is why TTSI highly values its partnership with Nikola. Production, performance and maintenance will be the key to our future success, and we are confident Nikola will excel on all three fronts.”
Nikola purchased 400 acres within the Inland Port Arizona development on the southern edge of Coolidge in March 2019, beginning construction in July 2020 and producing demonstration vehicles while the factory is completed. It’s eventually projected to cover at least 1 million square feet.
The Nikola Corporation stated in its third quarter report in November that it is negotiating a $125 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the SEC’s investigation of the company after charging founder and former CEO Trevor Milton with making false and misleading statements.
Pinal County Press
Project Makes Maricopa Traffic Uglier
The City of Maricopa’s John Wayne Beautification Project along State Route 347 (also known as John Wayne Parkway) is being built between the northern city boundary and Honeycutt Road to attract future residents and employers to the area and is scheduled for completion in February.
The project’s scope includes adding trees, landscaping, metal art, decorative lighting and an entryway monument greeting residents and visitors as they arrive in the community.
A distinctive entry point “has been well-needed in our community for many years,” Public Services Director Mike Riggs said. “This project has been years, even decades in the making.” The project is sprucing up 347 between Honeycutt Road and the northern city boundary.
Construction on the streetscape improvements began last summer and created some traffic headaches along the way, including some miles-long backups in the early afternoons on Fridays for people coming into town from the north. This unusual timing has made the situation even more aggravating for residents, the city acknowledged.
As a result the contractor on the project agreed to have workers remove barriers placed at the north end of town at noon on Fridays rather than at 3 p.m., which was the end of the 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. workday for the road crews.
The feedback from frustrated drivers helped to trigger discussions about the outlook for longer-term improvements in traffic flow and commuter satisfaction with living in the area, officials said.
City spokesperson Quinn Konold said, “The paradox is that our ability to build the infrastructure to accommodate a larger population only increases as that population arrives. That’s because the state prioritizes our road projects as the population grows, which is why city leaders are highly motivated in preparing for growth and creating long-term solutions.”
Route 347 … continued from page 81
For Segment 3 covering city and Ak-Chin tribal land, city officials and residents also preferred converting their portion into an Arizona Parkway design, according to the draft version. The report states that in the city’s more urban setting with additional intersections between the major ones, this would be more difficult but may be possible at a few intersections, including Lakeview/Cobblestone Farms Drive and Edison Road.
The draft includes funding estimates for most of the proposed improvements, which add up to $229.5 million spent over more than a decade. Not included is the cost of a rebuilt I-10 interchange and improvements at the Smith-Enke intersection, for which the city has already completed cost estimates.
The public comment period after the release of the draft report ended Jan. 7 — the input will be used in the design of the corridor improvements and complete planning and environmental documents that will conclude the report.
The partners in the study include MAG, the City of Maricopa, Pinal County, Gila River Indian Community, Ak-Chin Indian Community, Maricopa County Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.
