Evans gambling on success of Bar S in Great Falls
Pub Date: 1/1/2009
In Montana's urban markets that haven't seen the robust growth of Bozeman, Kalispell or Missoula, owners of small businesses have to try harder'; they have to be on top of their game...all the time.
Great Falls is one of those Montana cities east of the Continental Divide and Rocky Mountains that struggles to maintain its economic vitality. Residents take nothing for granted when it comes to their jobs, their incomes, their enterprises and their futures.
Perhaps the least reliable economic anchor of them all is agriculture. Weather, pestilence, wildly fluctuating global markets and commodity prices make for inherent instability. And Great Falls is the heart of Montana's "Golden Triangle" grain-growing bread basket.
Another economic engine is Malmstrom Air Force Base, situated on the city's out-skirts. The former B-52 bomber station has seen its mission change over the years at the seeming whim of the Pentagon. All large domestic military installations face uncertain futures. Having your local, state and Congressional political muscle in line becomes a life-line.
Local farmers and ranchers have made some good money recently with high grain and beef prices (they'll quickly tell you fuel, fertilizer and equipment expenses have kept pace) but commodity values have rolled back again in the last year. The air base mission hasn't been whacked for awhile though.
In short, the city has seen worse times and its seen better. But local business operators have become tough and resilient, given the cyclic economic fortunes.
They can also get a little daring when conditions seem right.
Rob Evans has spent the better part of his life in the foodservice and hospitality business in Great Falls almost 30 years. And like a lot of folks from elsewhere who ended up in "The Electric City," he was an "Air Force brat."
He was born in Indiana but lived in Japan, New York and other locations. However, his dad was stationed at Malmstrom in 1972 when retirement rolled around and the family put down some roots.
Rob's father and two other partners bought the Bar S which was situated on the far eastern out-skirts of Great Falls off Highway 87 & 89. It was an older, somewhat cramped facility that nevertheless thrived and built a reputation for good food especially steaks and seafood friendly service and fair prices.
Meanwhile Rob attended C.M. Russell High School, then pulled a stint in the Marine Corps, part of which he spent guarding Vietnamese refugees on Guam. He returned to Great Falls and joined the business.
"There used to be three partners," Rob says. "I was the fourth, and the others took turns retiring until it was down to my father and me."
The Bar S served dinners Wednesday through Sunday along with full beverage service.
The business thrived but the physical plant was in need of renovations perhaps as much as $100,000 to make it modern, efficient and roomier, Rob says. City water and sewer services were desired, it was too far from town to develop a viable lunch business and the gaming department would never reach its potential there.
In 1994, Rob and his father sold the business only to get it back in 2000 after a default.
In the interim, Rob ran the old Riverboat Queen, owned the Hang Out bar and for awhile ran the restaurant at the Townhouse Inn.
As the city of Great Falls grew eastward, the area where the Bar S was situated was annexed. This meant his county all-beverage license became a city quota license, which increased its value substantially.
"That gave me the collateral to borrow and build," he says. And boy, did he.
The new Bar S, now situated in a rather industrial section of northeast Great Falls, represents something over a $1 million investment. It was launched in August of 2008 and is open for lunch and dinner six days a week.
This writer had to wonder about Rob's choice of locations. The Sletten Construction yard, Conoco Phillips tank farm and other light and heavy industrial installations surround the Bar S. But like a rose in a wheat field, the Bar S is an attractive, rustic presence among corrugated metal structures.
Besides, first impressions can be misleading.
Rob notes his facility lies on the perimeter of the air base and he sees a lot of business traffic from military personnel, including meetings and parties. The industrial facilities in the area employ a large work force and those folks enjoy a quality lunch or dinner in comfortable, homey surroundings. There's even a small motel across the street that furnishes a ready supply of hungry customers.
Another consideration was Great Falls' strict zoning regulations. Ordinances now prevent businesses with gaming from locating in purely commercial districts and keeps them well away from residences, parks, schools and churches. That doesn't leave a lot of alternatives, Rob says. "We tried a number of other locations but couldn't get them approved."
Yet the alternative he chose appears to be working. "We're satisfied. It's been a great move. We're seeing a lot of traffic," he says, and indeed on this day at 1:30 p.m., there are still dozens of diners finishing up their lunches. A number of them stop on the way out to exchange personal greetings and a little BS with Rob.
From the outside, the place looks like a rustic dreamland hunting lodge, with massive upright logs supporting the foyer. Inside, the theme continues. It's open, airy and homey.
Once though the heavy wooden doors, you're surrounded by more weathered wood. You can make your way past the hostess station to the left and into the bright, spacious dining area, or to the right and into the tavern and the enclosed, private, 15-machine vended casino with its separate ventilation.
It is apparent this place wasn't just slapped together, then hung with an "open" sign. Great care has been taken and attention paid to decor details.
In the dining room is a massive stone fireplace that reaches to the lofty ceiling. The bar area features great log pillars and beams cut from an old burn area near Browning. Above and behind the bar is a seeming creekside willow thicket where taxidermied pheasants and other riparian critters are found in various lifelike poses, even a small bear, bobcat and ratlesnake.
Near the foyer is a waterfall where squats a wild turkey in full display. The stones over which the water pours were gathered in the canyons between Great Falls and Helena. In the rear, a dandy full-mount Whitetail makes a descent through downfall.
Details, details...
The interior barnwood came from the buildings of a defunct feedlot near Vaughn. Big circular saw blades on one rear wall came from a sawmill near Milltown.
Simply everywhere you look are more painstakingly assembled natural outdoors features. One wants to try a few casts or maybe don the hunter orange and tote a rifle or shotgun.
The bar is also a popular informal dining setting. Customers are lunching at the bar and at buddy bars scattered around the interior. Toward the rear is an open kitchen where the bored or curious can observe the frenzied cooks at work. It is an appealing feature.
"We built this place the way we wanted it," Rob says.
It takes a staff of 20 to get the job done," Rob continues, and that includes him. He's apparently not an adherent to the concept of an "absentee owner." "I pull shifts, I do all the behind-the-scenes work'; the swamping, the tons of paperwork... This is a people business'; customers like to see the owner."
The Bar S gets its beef out of Billings and only goes for the prime stuff, sometimes Certified Angus Beef. They make there own cuts in-house. they're also picky about their seafood and require a wide variety so use Seafoods of the World, also out of Billings.
"We're a little below the local price point," Rob says. "We try to be the last ones to go up in price. We just went to $2.50 beers."
It's plain Rob Evans enjoys the hospitality business. He must, if he's been in it 30 years. As for the future, he says he's hoping his nephew, Mike, now learning the ropes in the kitchen, will want to take over the operation someday.
"He loves the business."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, January, 2009, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.