Daryl Chester
Daryl Chester (62), Owner Manager of Jester's Billiards (2010) and Rino D's Pizza and wings (2016). He has been in the Food and Beverage business since 1979. He is married to Kenda vonHamm for 19 years. They have raised 5 children and have 2 grandchildren.
Daryl Was born in Tacoma Park Maryland in 1962 and Moved with his family to College Station, Texas in 1965. H graduated from A&M Consolidated High School in 1981 and Texas Lutheran College in 1987. His BA degree is in Biology. Daryl Moved to Arizona in 1990 to open a new Clicks Billiards. He was awarded Manager of the year in 1994.
Episode Transcription
This episode is sponsored by Gilbert Independent, Your Valley. net, dedicated to serving readers with good community journalism. The Gilbert Independent is a nonpartisan newspaper, an online site that covers your town's institutions, development, and events. Describe and follow your Valley. net daily to stay up to date with the latest local news. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce and Modern Moments wedding and event venue and produced by Sleepy Time Studios. OK, so we're not in Waco today. We are not. We are in Gilbert, Arizona, and we got a new guest today do you have a guest.
Our guest today has built a career spanning over 3 decades in the food, beverage, and entertainment industry, owning and managing some of the most well-known billiards and dining establishments in Arizona. From his early days in Texas to opening pool halls and restaurants in Arizona, he has made a lasting impact on the industry. An accomplished endurance athlete, he has competed at the highest levels in duathlons and triathlons worldwide, proving that dedication and training apply both in business and in sport. A devoted husband, father, and grandfather, he believes in doing the next right thing every day.
Please welcome Darryl Chester. Hey, hey, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks to be here. Yes, we're so glad you're here. We're going to start with what we call rapid fire. Here we go, Sarah. You hit. Would you rather sing in public or dance in public? Dance. I want to see that. OK. I'm sure he does. Yes. What is one of your nicknames? Kahuda kid. Well, do you want to unpack that later? We should definitely unpack that. OK, yes. Would your? Oh, I would hope so. I think we already know this one, but have you ever won a contest?
Yes, I have. I think you have. OK. Would you ever skydive? No. All right, this is for champions. What is your favorite favorite breakfast? Bacon and eggs, bacon and eggs. All right. What is one thing you wish you enjoyed more? Wow. I thought you were gonna say carbs, but I, I really enjoy carbs. I like carbs a lot. Um, ice cream I love, uh, I wish I got to enjoy ice cream more. I, I have to not enjoy that as much. OK. I don't know if that's what you are looking for as an answer, but for me.
That works. OK, so are you more of an introvert or an extrovert? I'm an extrovert. OK. Um, do you have a favorite book? I really like the answer Alan Alda gave in Mash. It was the dictionary because all the words are in them. And the meaning too, yes, I love that. That's good. Forgot about that show. OK, last one, glass half full or half empty. I'm a full guy. I love that, yeah. Every day at APS we're here to help you save energy and money. APS solutions for business can help you make energy efficient upgrades more affordable.
Find rebates at APS. com/business rebates. Want to start your own podcast? Whether it's a business, personal, internal, or hobby podcast, Sleepy Time Studios can help you with everything you need to get your podcast recorded, edited, hosted, and shared with the world. Get started on the podcast of your dreams at sleepytimeStudios.com. Mention guiding growth and get 803% off any podcasting package at SleepytimeStudios.com. Very good. Well, let's get started in your journey, sir. Talk to us about the early years of where that was and and how that went for you.
Uh, originally was born in Tacoma Park, Maryland. My father was a veterinarian, uh, in the Washington DC area, and, uh, he decided at that point that he was spending too much time working and not enough time with the family and, and got a job working for Texas A&M University and the vet school. And moved us there when I was 4, and I grew up in College Station and ended up going to A&M for a year and then Texas Lutheran, where I graduated. What are, what are some of your memories of growing up in Texas?
Ah, you know, typical kid, you know, small town at that point in time, um, able to walk to school and ride your bike and, you know, of course, the classic staying out until the street lights come on and then having to go home, you know, uh, drinking water out of the garden hose and, you know, all the classic old guy stuff. Yeah, right. Do you have any siblings? I have 2 older brothers and a younger sister. OK. All right. So then when you were in Texas, talk about, so the high school that you grew up there, um, were you in like a lot of sports I assume because that's your thing now, but yes, um, it's called A&M Consolidated High School.
Uh, we were lucky enough. A&M had a weird rule that said that, uh, uh, married couples could not teach in the same department. Well, of course, where do people usually find their spouses in college was in the same department and so. We had a lot of college level professors, uh, as our teachers in high school, so it was an excellent education and yes, I participated in, uh, cross country football and wrestling, OK. And that when everybody says wrestling, I always ask what, what weight did you end at in that career of high school?
167, 67, OK. gentleman before you was 156. It's always a, seems like that's the senior age weight, but that's also the toughest area because that's where you're. Basically maturing at that point, right? Well, yeah, but then I went to college and I wrestled at 150 at A&M, and, uh, that was, that was pretty dramatic. That, that was way too low of a weight class. I couldn't beat the guy at the next two weight classes up, so I had to drop and uh I, I got too weak at that level.
Did you ever sleep in trash bags? No, but I spent a lot of time and I'm working out. Yeah, people hear those stories like, what are you talking about? Weight loss. What were you pursuing in college? Originally, I started off wanting to be a physical therapist. I had injured my knee running cross country in high school and really enjoyed the physical therapy thing. And uh when I transferred to Texas Lutheran, they had a really unique January. 3 week deal called the interim, and you could go and intern at different places or take certain, it's kind of a little 3 week class.
I interned with a physical therapist and realized at that point, um, sports medicine hadn't become a thing yet and most physical therapists at that time were dealing with stroke victims and and uh. I got really disenchanted because The people I was working with, um, really wouldn't try and I never understood not trying. They had kind of given up on life. They had a stroke and they're just sitting in the wheelchair and I couldn't even get them to to squeeze the ball and so I got disenchanted with that and changed uh to business and uh.
Ended up my senior year, pretty much tired of college after 6 years and and uh. Well, OK, how can I get out of here? So it was 20163 and 19 hours my last, uh, college year in mostly upper level biology, so it's kind of a challenge that year for your business. No, for my biology degree. I don't have a degree in business, but I got enough credits. I guess I could say I have an associates, but college didn't do that. Yeah, absolutely. So do you look back and think what, maybe you should have continued on the course of, um, the physical therapy or sports medicine or Uh, I'd think about it a time or two, but I'm pretty happy doing what.
Yeah, absolutely. That physical therapy part, so my wife's a physical therapist, so I know a lot about that through her. Um, when you were in that program, do you have any mentors or anybody that comes to mind that, that kind of help you through that program or or maybe talked you out of it? Um, no, nobody talked me out of it. It was a decision I came to on my own. Um. The, the mentors I had at that point in time would probably be, uh, my college professors.
Um, one in particular was, uh, Doctor Squires. He, uh, headed up the medical physiology department at Texas Lutheran, so working with him quite a bit. He's, he's a pretty good guy. We butted heads a little bit, but, uh, I think it was all because he wanted what was best for me and at that young age I thought I knew what I was saying he knew it already, so I think he's gonna know. OK, great. So what what do you do after you get your degree? Well, uh, did some interviewing, uh, wanted, uh, I'd done some work with Doctor Squires where I'd done some research stuff, uh, for NASA actually, and Doctor Squires published, uh, on the research that we were doing.
And uh so I was trying to get some jobs in the in the medical field and things like that, and most of the areas that they were offering me jobs, uh, they said I needed a master's. Wasn't really interested in continuing school, so I, I bartended in order to uh get through college, support myself and so I just kind of continued into that field and moved on and went to work for a company called Graham Central Station, which there was one here for a long, long time and I don't know if it's even still here or not, but this was back in Texas and they were a pretty big company in Texas, so started my management career with, uh, Grams.
Do you look back on that and think, um, I mean, it seems a bit serendipitous that you actually made the career out of something that hadn't unrelated to what you had studied and the time you spent in post-secondary. Yeah. It's interesting about college degrees. I think it, it's a matter of getting the degree and and making sure you finish college, not necessarily what you The the actual classes, um. My my degree is in liberal arts, basically, you know, it's from a liberal arts college, so it's well rounded with a variety of things in order to actually get the, the bachelor's that I got.
Um, So again with studying all the business courses along with biology which actually in a way helps me with running the bar because I learned how to make beer yeah you know one of the classes was making beer and distilling spirits so that helped me learn. The finer, uh, aspects of what makes a good beer, what makes a good whiskey, what makes a good, you got a 4.0 in that class. I, I did all right. Yeah, I can't complain. There no sampling left, but it was good. I did, uh, I did brew my own beer in college.
Yeah, I was, you know, of course it wasn't quite as good, you know, you're still experimenting with the yeast and things like that, of course. Yeah, anyway, as your bartending, did you imagine a career? Back of my mind kind of thought about it'd be kind of cool to own your own bar, you know, back when you're in college. I think that's pretty much every bartender's fantasy when they first get into it. I still have that dream of like I'd love to have Ben's bar or something. Wouldn't that be fun?
Yeah, it, it, it can be fun. It's, it's a lot of work. I think it's that cheers mentality, you know, you watch that show and you're always like, Oh, wouldn't it be great to, well, they always show you the best sides of things. yeah, of course they do. Um, one of the other jobs I had while I was in high school and college was I was a lifeguard. And that made me realize, you know what, there's always good and bad sides to every job. You know, lifeguarding was a great job, right?
You're sitting out in the sun, getting this tan, looking at all the ladies. Yeah, they didn't see you having to clean up the bathroom after a little kid pee out the trash and you know, cleaning up and spraying down the, the, um, pool decks and checking the, uh, uh, chlorine levels and you know I ended up in the hospital one time because I messed up the chlorinator and took chlorine directly into the face, you know, scorched my lungs and burned my eyes so. You know, every job has its greatness and every job has its not so greatness.
Yeah, well, and then there's, of course, the sun burns too that that always comes with lifeguarding. Yeah, of course, back then we didn't worry about it. That's when you use baby oil. That's right, because you wanted to sizzle. That's right doesn't like frying yourself. All the things we did, yes, that's great. OK, well, so then what happens next in your adventure, your journey, where are we at? Well, Ended up uh Working for Grams for a while, um, then went back, finished up my degree, I'm sorry, uh, I took a break in college, uh, got my degree.
And then, uh, started working in a restaurant, um, what was it called Fort Shiloh uh Steakhouse. That's where I learned how to cut steaks and make chicken fried steak and gravy and those great things, and across the street was a pool hall, uh, that I became a regular at and just sat at the bar and talked to my friend Bob, who was the manager and uh the pool hall ended up being bought out by a company called Clicks Bigyards. And uh Clicks was expanding, um, and I thought that seemed like a really good company to work for, and eventually I did, uh, was hired on by the regional manager, Rock Genro, and uh I learned a lot from Rock.
Um. He was a tough boss, but a fair boss, um, really a rule stickler, and, uh, as long as you followed your rules with him, you're doing great and that's when I moved to Waco and, uh, worked for Clicks in Waco and then, uh, turned that pool hall around. It was, it was a kind of a rough place at the time when I took over it. There's quite a few bikers that were hanging out there at the time and. Um, So, uh, then they started moving me around to different clicks to turn them around and, uh, retrain the managers.
I went up to Wichita Falls for a couple months and went down to Corpus Christi for a couple of months. I'm envisioning bar rescue, but pool hall version here, similar, yeah, in a way, yeah, um, kind of come in for a week, just evaluate where we're at, what we're doing, the staff, you know, what I thought could make it better, follow clicks's rules. And then, uh, eventually I after that they ran out of places. I started writing the training manuals and they shipped me out here to open new ones for them, and I opened uh one at 40th Street in Thomas and then one at Southern and McClintock for them.
In those initial days, what was it about the billiard business or pool hall that interests you or intrigued you? I think it was more the bar business and it was, it's different every day. You have different customers, different people, um. It it's, it's always something different when you come into work, you know, some days are great, some days are, are a little tougher where you're more just babysitting, you know, not necessarily even the customers, sometimes it's just babysitting the staff or the building because it is empty. Yeah. Yeah.
Do you look back, um, on that time? I'm actually curious, what are some of the lessons learned from those early days in your career as you're moving around and managing different sites and Making corrective actions. The biggest thing I learned I would have to say is be the best at what you are. You know, when I tell people I own a pool hall, they go, oh, you're gonna be busy for Super Bowl. Not really because I'm not a sports bar. I'm a pool hall. People come and they pay money to rent the pool tables while they're renting the pool tables, they're not going to be watching the football game, you know, uh.
I've run sports bars and sports bar is a different animal. A karaoke bar is a different animal, you know, pool halls are a different animal, dance halls are a different animal. So be the best of what you are and don't venture out. That's why, you know, I, I always get these guys coming in, oh, we wanna do karaoke here. No, pool players don't want to listen to karaoke. I'm a pool hall. Oh, let's do live music. I'm not a live music venue. I'm a pool hall, so as long as you be what you are and be the best you can at that.
Then everything else works out. I like that. So I got to know, are you a pool shark? No, I'm terrible. Can you do any trick shots or anything like that? Nothing. All these years in pool he can make his own beer. Well, that's, I know, amazing, but the pool, he's in these pool halls. I know. I'm a fairly decent dart thrower, OK, or I used to be, uh, until I. Took on a different hobby. OK, OK, I was just curious if I should play. I was, I was actually, uh, I finished 4th in the state, uh, in the steel tip darts one year.
Uh, my doubles partner was actually turned out to be the 2019, uh, US national champion. His name is Chuck Pullio, uh, and he went to Europe and played in the world championships in the Alley Palley. OK, that sounds awesome. I think of Ted Lasso right now. So, um, talk about in the course of your life, when did you discover endurance sports, endurance activities, and why did it become so important to you? Um, well, I ran cross country in high school and really kind of enjoyed it, your knee, yeah, uh, yeah, the two knee surgeries where I, uh, they had my lateral and medial meniscus removed my sophomore and junior year in high school, um.
I decided that I, I, I wanted to do something, oh, I can't even remember how long ago it was, but I started training for, I wanted to do a marathon, and I started training with, uh, trained to end stroke and uh raised some money. My grandmother had had a stroke and I wanted to support the organization and so then I got into a, uh, they had a coach, his name was Josh Trask who helped me build and get to that. And I, I really enjoyed the aspect of of long distance endurance sports because it, it I'm very good at zoning out and then I can get in my own head and so I'm either meditating or I'm thinking about what I'm doing or what I need to do and stuff like that as I'm running.
And the next thing I know, oh, I've gone 10 miles. Oh, I've gone 12 miles, you know, and it's, it just makes it a lot easier for me, and I realized I was in a better mental spot when I was able to do that. And I think you should share that you're a defending super sprint duathlon US national champion. It's a pretty big deal. In first week in June last year, I went to the uh United States Multi-sport uh festival in Omaha, Nebraska, and uh they have this thing called the Masters, uh, or Uh, multi-sport masters, and you had to do 5 races over a 5-day period or a minimum of 63 day.
We were doing 9 races. Well, I was a big triathlete, and uh I wanted to, I had a day where I wasn't really racing, and so I threw this duathlon in, which is a run bike run. It was a 1 kilometer run, a 5 kilometer bike, and a 23 kilometer run. And uh uh I'll do that and ended up winning. Is there someone in your life that inspires you or works alongside you, or is this a solo activity for you? I get a ton of support from my wife, um, an amazing amount of sport because it's triathlon's kind of a loner sport.
You, you don't work in in pairs and groups and things like that. Yeah, there are teams, but most of the time you're spent out on your bike by yourself or running by yourself or, you know, you're in the pool, it's impossible to talk to somebody unless you're taking a break and then you're not working out, right? Um. So the I, I would have to say the person that got me to where I'm at in this level is, is my coach, Pedro Gomez. He's a, a former Ironman champion and an excellent coach.
He took me from a guy that was. Let's see, I've been doing this a little over 26 years, seriously, and the last two I've been with Pedro, and he took me from a guy who, yeah, I was doing it and I was kind of one of the better guys at it to top in in the world, top in the country. How does your success in that side of your physical commitment and dedication translate over to what you do in business today? Um, Realizing that You gotta work at it a little bit every day.
Uh, you can't just take it for granted. You can't rest on your laurels, um. The next thing coming is you gotta work for it, you know, you gotta, I just recently remodeled the bar and that was a hard process because we're trying to stay open, but we also had ripped the entire bar out all the bar equipment was out. How do you sell drinks, you know, so coming up with solutions, uh, you, you look at your issues, you look at what you have to work on, you come up with a solutional problem, you know, a solution to the problem, and you move on from that.
Yeah, yeah. OK, sorry, back to the journey. So you did share with us that moving to Arizona was a pivotal moment in your life. How did the move to Arizona come about and, and why? Well, um, I was living in Waco, Texas, running, uh, a clicks Billiards in Waco, and they had announced they were, um, Gonna build a location at 260th Street in Thomas in Phoenix and I put my name in so I wanted to go, wanted, I wanted to know what it was like to start from scratch as opposed to coming in and and fixing somebody else's screw ups.
I wanted to to start it and do it right and uh that was a big learning experience, big time. And then, uh, so you were with Clicks for a while while you were in Arizona? Quite a bit. Um, let's see. uh I was with Clicks. I moved here in 270, November of 280. I can't remember. I'd have to look it up on the resume. Let's see. Opened a second location in '22016, and then you went to work for six shooters in '353. OK. And then you went off on your own.
Yes, I was given the opportunity when I first moved to Arizona, um there was a lady named uh Sam Meakas who owned a bar. In the strip mall that Clicks was in, and I got to know her pretty well. And over the years, even when I wasn't running Clicks, I would, you know, keep in contact with Sam. Um, one of my dart league teams, I would play in her bar and, uh, she got to the point where she wanted to move and wanted to sell, uh, her bar.
It was called the Ice House Tavern, and, uh, she asked if I wanted to buy it. Of course, you know, having that dream for all your life, you know, I was, uh. I was ecstatic and I jumped at the chance and she was willing to um finance me and uh do the owner carry back on the loan to to buy the bar and uh probably one of the best things I've ever done for myself. Yeah, I, it's risky and scary and I'm sure exhilarating at the same time.
It really is and again back to my wife, she supported me while, you know, in the. Even with an operational bar that's working, it takes a while to get it ramped up to how you want it, and there's several, several months there where it wasn't very profitable. Um, I took pretty big cut in pay and my wife had to carry the load for the family we did well together. When you look back at that time, I'm curious if you could tell yourself something that you know now that you didn't know then, what is it that you would tell yourself?
It's gonna be OK. You're gonna face some hard challenges, and it was, um, I remember one specific uh thing where we were trying to get the health permits over into my um Our name And the health inspector came in, inspected his fine, everything was great. Um, she left and then came back the next day, and she goes, oh, and she came in at like 235:224, said, by the way, I'm gonna turn in a cease and desist for you tomorrow morning when I get to work. And I'm like, what happened from yesterday to to now?
And she goes, well, these these ice bins where you're making your cocktails have drop-in uh cooler plates for your sodas, and they need to be integrated. And it's 27:30. How am I supposed to get that taken care of between now and then? You're gonna shut me down and basically the old grandfather laws don't apply to you when you buy a bar or a restaurant. So whatever laws have changed or regulations have changed have to be upgraded to what you need to do. Yeah, and I, I pulled it off.
Everything was fine. I, it cost me way more money because of that. So had I known about that rule, I would have been searching for the, we call them jockey boxes, but um I'd have found one. Instead of having to buy an emergency one. Yeah. So this set off then a trajectory in a different direction for you, because now you're in ownership. Um, what does that lead to as life progresses and opportunities arise? Interesting. Once you break that ceiling and you get into becoming an owner, more ownership opportunities arise. Yeah.
And I never really quite realized that it it's, it's. As soon as that happened, all of a sudden, a bunch of ownership opportunities arose, and it was like, oh, so you are good enough to be an owner. Here's another opportunity, here's another opportunity. So, uh, I, I ended up um owning uh with a couple of other guys a bar called Bull Shooters. Uh, it was an old 6 shooters that I had helped build from the beginning and then after I no longer worked for them, the owners decided to sell it and, uh, I'd spent most of my money buying the ice house, so I couldn't afford it, so I got a couple of guys to come in with me.
Um, turned out to be, uh, I guess I don't work well with others, uh. We butted heads a little bit, so I said, OK, you know what, you guys just take that one. I'll, I'll go back to my other bar, be one by myself, and then the opportunity for, uh, gestures came up. Where do you think you're going next in this process? So you've got jesters, Is there more to that then after that, or? I, I still play around with it. I, I think about it. One of my things that I tell people, um, that know me pretty well, I, I tell him it's God's world and I just get to play in it.
That's right. Uh, he guides me as to what I need to do. Um, I've got some thoughts about what I'd like to see and do, um, but then sometimes he has his own thoughts and where I need to go. Um, he's given me a wonderful opportunity to raise my two granddaughters. Uh, they're 5 and 1 currently, so the time that it takes to build or start up another bar or another concept or even expand a lot, um, it's not there right now. So if. If there is an opportunity, I'm sure it'll arise and show itself, and, um, I'll have the time to do it, but we'll wait and see what God has in store for me. Yeah.
In the meantime, talk about jesters a little bit and I'm curious also tell me about some Uh, misconceptions maybe about owning a billiard. Hm, Jesters came about and while I was running the ice house, the owner of the complex, the strip center that it was in, his name is is JD. He uh he basically through another person came to me and asked if I wanted to take over this pool room. It had been there for years called Lazy Q. And it started off being a very nice place.
Uh, eventually, uh, it sold to someone else who kind of ran it down and and had some bad luck. And had gotten uh behind in rent, and but he wanted to have the pool hall there. He thought it was a good thing for his strip center to to have that there. And a good well-run bar is a good asset. It draws a lot of people to a strip center and it it's financially feasible, um. But this one was not being run to its best capacity. And uh when I walked in, um, they had 30 pool tables, uh, 7 of them weren't even playable.
They either didn't have felt or the rails weren't on, or the table was in such disarray that it couldn't be played on, or it didn't have lights on it, things like that. So it had, it, it had, um, suffered a little neglect. Um, so JD said, well, What will it take? And I said, well, I don't know if I can turn this one around. It it's in pretty bad shape. And so we started off with. Couple of series of little short 2016 months, 3 months, 6 month leases, um, to see if I could get it coming around and uh eventually I did, and then started going into the long term.
He, he, uh, he worked with me really well. He's an excellent, uh, strip mall owner. Yeah. OK, so, um, misconceptions. Misconceptions are, uh, I believe come from A very popular Hollywood movie, uh, the Music Man, you know, uh, pool halls in trouble, and they aren't necessarily trouble if you. Make sure and don't overserve. You don't let the small rules get broken, because if you let the small ones get broken, then the big ones get broken, you know, uh, you let people know that they're out there for, for their best interest, and pool halls can be a really great place.
Uh, it's easy to let them go, and it's easy to let a bad element in and then you have exactly the conception that most people think about a pool hall Roadhouse, that's what I think of and, uh, they're, they're not, they're not that way, right? You know, there are bars that are that way, not all pool halls are that way. Actually, I can appreciate that message because I think it applies to any organization. It really does, you know, it does, you know, the, the, again. Enforce the small rules because once you enforce the small rules, the big rules don't get broken.
Yeah, absolutely. They know you're watching, you know, I, I think about a casino, um, if you're playing craps, right, and you have a cocktail in your hand and you lean over the craps table, the pit boss is very gently and kind, but he puts his hand on your hand and says, no, please serve no drinks over the table, and you can continue. I, I even tested that one theory one time. And just see how many times he would do. He's always very nice, always polite, but again, enforcing the small rules, the big rules, you know, you knew he was watching, so you're not gonna get in a fight.
You're not gonna cause a big problem because they know you're watching. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, that's cool. And then of course keeping the riffraff out too. That's, that's the other thing. So, well, we have a pretty strict policy of, uh. You know, if you get kicked out and you get 86, you're not ever gonna come back, you know, I know a lot of bars that say, oh you gotta stay away for 3 months or 6 months or a year or something. No, once you're gone, you're gone. We, you know, you've shown us that you don't respect the establishment well enough, we don't want you back.
Um, talk about Jesters in terms of your, um, what has surprised you as something that's rewarding about owning that business. My staff, my staff is phenomenal. I have, uh, one of the best staffs I've ever had in all the years I've ever worked. Um, they look out for it, they appreciate it. Um, it's their home, and when, when the staff has ownership like that. Life is easy and my life is great. I, I, I'm spoiled now as a bar owner, you know, I, I used to have to put in 60, 70, 80 hours a week.
I don't have to do that anymore because I know, you know, my manager Shane, my assistant managers Zoe and Candace, and I've got servers who are management level people now and they all care and that's that's phenomenal. Well, and it's a good thing you have that solid team because you've got two little ones to take care of, right? Yeah, absolutely that'll drain all the time right there for sure. That's good. All right, so, so I wasn't clear. Do you still have the other bar as well, or is that one?
No, no, it's sold off. Uh, the only other business I have is called Reno's Pizza and Wings, and that's next door to Jesters. Um, 2016, uh, Anastasia, the owner of, uh, Reno D's, wanted to retire and get out of the business. Asked if I wanted to buy it, I had uh. We had a great working relationship where. Uh, we use their menu in Jesters and would call in the order to Reno D's. They'd run us a tab and then at the end of the night, we'd just pay the tab out.
Well, after I bought it, I cut a hole in the wall, back in the back, and then I was able to extend the liquor license over to Reno Des. Well, that, because I have a number 6 license allows me to deliver beer and wine, so I could deliver beer and wine with a pizza, and then now it's, uh, we actually do about 35% of our sales from Reno D's is over at Jesters. OK, so it works out it's really nice, uh, interesting. So it's one business, but it's got two storefronts and two names.
So you can share the service of both, but yet you can have two different audiences. OK, so last question for you that I am, I'm as you talk and you share your experiences in the entrepreneurial spirit, where does that come from? Is there someone in your life that had that type of influence on you? I don't know if anybody. Made me think about that other than kind of a little bit of everything throughout my life you know you can do this you can do that you have the ability focus on the problem get it taken care of and and build from there phenomenal parents that were always helping and guiding me.
I wish I understood it better when I was younger how much they were teaching me I think we all do and you know again the liberal arts bachelor degree that I got helped me learn more and to think, you know, I, I, I worried today about whether or not the kids today are being taught to think, you know, and maybe question, OK, somebody said this, is that true? Check. I mean, everybody's got a massive computer in their hand every day now. Check to see if what people are saying is real.
I have two teenagers and everything I say, so I feel. Oh goodness. Thank you for your time today. Thank you for sharing your story. It's been a pleasure just getting to know you and um now understanding the story. That's cool. Yeah, I got the pool. I have wings. OK, I better go pizza. Fresh every day. Uh, it's actually made the day before and set to rise, so it has a little better, you know, when I say it's made every day, yeah, we're using yesterday's dough for today, but we're making, making more fresh made sauce.
It's all fresh ingredients. OK, well, I'll just bring my whole crew and we'll take over your whole tables. We're ready. Come on out. Well, this has been awesome. Thank you for sharing your story with us, like Sarah said. I know that you out there listening have enjoyed this story. Uh, I certainly have. And if you want more of these, join our tribe, subscribe, and you get these in your inbox when we have our next great conversation like today. Thank you for listening. Guiding growth conversations with community leaders.
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