By Cole Boehler
When you walk into an establishment owned by "a good operator," you can sense it right away: the place has a neat, orderly, efficient air about it, but mostly the place is simply, noticeably clean.
Most members of the Montana Tavern Association run such businesses, so it certainly wouldn't do if the organization's president's business was any different.
We paid a mid-October call on recently elected MTA President Dennis White at his Dapper D's in Helena on Montana Ave. True to form, the inside is modern, spacious and clean and features a not overstated "sports bar" motif.
And White is there and ready for the interview to commence.
By way of a biography, White says he was born and raised in Helena as a third-generation native Montanan whose great-great grandfather, a Civil War Veteran, obtained a homestead in 1880. Dennis' grandfather and father were born on the place.
He graduated Helena High in 1968, then joined the U.S. Army in 1969. White pulled a total of 12 years on active duty and was 32 years in the Army Reserve, even called up for active duty during the Desert Storm and Desert Shield operations in the Mid-east, in charge of air transporting hospital equipment into the war zones--"pretty routine," he says.
White is a self-confessed "car nut" who now owns a restored 1950 Chevrolet, a 1970 El Camino that his father bought new and a classic 1967 Corvette, the last of the real Stingrays. He's also got the beginnings of a vague custom "rat rod" in hand and in mind on which he intends to spend less than $2,000 during the build.
He had the car bug back in November of 1998, too. That's when Dapper D's came up for sale and fortunately Dennis had a rare and valuable 1970 Chevelle LS6 (454 Big Block) that he was able to sell to make a down payment.
But his interest in the bar business began long before that.
He landed a bartender job in June of 1970 and says, in hindsight, he was fortunate to have worked for three deans of the bar business and all past MTA Presidents: Don Larson, Neal Kirkness and Bob Blair.
"They taught me a whole lot about the bar business while I put myself through college," White says. He attended former Eastern Montana College in Billings and the University of Montana in Missoula, eventually earning a business degree.
He ran his own bar supply company during the 1970s, even attending an MTA convention at West Yellowstone back in 1976 as an associate member. He primarily marketed the new-at-the-time liquor pour control systems, in his case the Bar-O-Matic line.
"That was a good business; I made a lot of money," White recalls today. But he soon confesses he was rather irresponsible at the time and went about partying and gambling and spending that money all too freely, eventually costing him his first marriage about 1979.
"I began to get my s**t together after that," White says matter of factly.
When he bought Dapper D's, he joined MTA right away, he said, because he'd known Marie and Bob Durkee, three-decade operating executives of the organization.
"I got the MTA religion from my old mentors, but also knew Bob and Marie long before I bought a bar," White says. "They all treated me like gold."
White has served as the Tri-County (Lewis and Clark, Jefferson and Broadwater) Tavern Association vice president and president, then chaired the MTA Public Relations Committee under past president Steve Morris.
Finally, Dennis tossed his hat into the ring for MTA president in 2005, only to learn later that Havre's Jupe Compton had similar plans. White says he knew Compton would be a fine president but didn't see the need to withdraw his own name so was edged by Compton.
When he tested the MTA political waters in 2007 he found support from almost all quarters and ran unopposed. He was elected unanimously Sept. 13 at the close of the convention.
White says the licensed hospitality business has changed a lot over the decades he's been involved. The social outcry over drunk driving led to a decline that was offset somewhat by the legalization of gaming, particularly electronic poker and keno.
Now with a total smoking ban pending in 2009, White sees the need for further adjustments and evolution to keep the business viable.
In his own enterprise, he has had a good on-premise adult beverage business and an off-sale package store that was "gangbusters." However, a new agency liquor store opened and other private entrepreneurs also opened another retail outlet just south of him that White admits took a big bite out of his package sales.
"In this business you better be able and ready to adapt and compete," White says, so in a strategic shift he remodeled the front end of his business to place more emphasis on machine gaming and less on the off-sale department. He also plans to update the exterior and add a new sign "with that dreaded word, 'casino'," he says.
"I've been awfully lucky," White says, then allows as to how these businesses need to be worked always harder and with more hustle. "I've got employees who have been with me 10 years, nine and eight years," he says. "They're good and that 's the key to the business. Others have tried to hire them away."
White will apparently be keeping a close eye on his business while he provides a gentle guiding hand to the MTA.
He said, "It's just good policy that Montana regulates alcohol closely, from production to distribution and, among other controls, bases the number of on-premise retail outlets on population. It just makes sense."
He also notes the contradiction inherent in those advocating more wide-open alcohol availability while the public is calling for tougher controls of the same availability.
"I sometime wonder where M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is when it comes to policy debates regarding limiting availability," White says.
In that vein, he notes that the recent round of "cabaret" restaurant beer and wine licensure was largely successful, despite a few abuses by some applicants and subsequent screeds by members of the press.
"
I was glad to see some Helena restaurants that needed them will get them," he said.
White also says recruiting new and younger MTA members will be an objective of his administration.
Gaming tax rates will have to be rigorously defended he said, especially in light of the pending smoking ban which could reduce gaming revenues and, thus, taxes collected, possibly leading some to advocate higher rates to make up for reduced tax revenues.
And tribal gaming has got to be on everyone's radar screens, White said, conceding at the same time that non-tribal owners have little say in the matter as it is between the federal government, the state and the tribes.
"The level of the competitive field cannot be allowed to become too far out of whack," White says, and that could be compounded if tribes continue to allow smoking in their casinos.
He says the cost of liability insurance is "scary" having increased about six-fold in the 10 years he's been in business. "But the MTA insurance program is the best there is around," he says, noting the MTA Insurance Committee has thoroughly researched all other options and found none better.
"This is a fun business," White says. "It's unbelievable; more fun than a barrel of monkeys. It's been very good to me."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, November, 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.