PropertyTales
Welcome to PropertyTales with Barrett Freeman – Co-Hosts are Comedians Billy Hubbard and Tera Padgett and they bring the fun while we interview interesting people and visit interesting places in the South.
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PropertyTales
Amanda McAullife, Owner of the Lucky Pint Irish Pub and Kitchen
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Amanda McAullife owns the Lucky Pint Irish Pub and Kitchen in Somerset, Kentucky! Tera Padgett is the solo host today with special guest host Tyler Holmes AKA Playboy from RedneckBrawl! Amanda talks about her jouney from the dream to actually opening the bar.
Hello everybody. This is Tara Paget, and I am solo hosting today on the Property Tales podcast. Joined with me is Amanda. Is it McCalf?
SPEAKER_02McAuliffe.
SPEAKER_01McAuliffe. Okay. And Tyler Holmes, aka Playboy. Um, how are y'all doing?
SPEAKER_02Thanks for having me. This is exciting. I'm scared, but don't be scared.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, don't be scared.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, you scared we're in grandma's house. You can't be scared at grandma's. There's butterscotch discs somewhere.
SPEAKER_00Single wide trailer, by God.
SPEAKER_01So it's cute. That we're a business podcast. And whenever we were looking for new guests to have on for this season, I was wanting to dive into closer where I'm from in Lincoln County, neighboring is Pulaski County. And I love your bar so much. Tell me how you fell into that and like plug the bar. Go ahead and let people know what you do.
SPEAKER_02So I bartended for like 10 years, different places in Somerset and Pulaski County. And through like everything, every bar that I worked at, I was like, this could be better, or we should do this. And nobody listened to me. Nobody wanted any of my You're like John Taffer.
SPEAKER_01You were like, this, well, it wasn't that harsh.
SPEAKER_02It was in your brain. But like it just, like, I'm the one that's in front of people all day. Like, I know what they want, I know what they don't like.
SPEAKER_01I I don't can't remember. I've seen you at you've bartended at just about every bar I've been to.
SPEAKER_02Like I was at Kegler's for six going on seven years. That was my first bartending bar.
SPEAKER_01I think that was the first place I seen you because that was the first, like that's your first bar. Yeah. Whenever you live that close, that's kind of it's in the bowling alley. It's your first bar. It opens you up to going into other bars because I was like, I don't know what to order.
SPEAKER_02For sure. For sure. We had that shit down to a T. But um, I was there for six years. I loved it, but and I'll never talk bad about the owner. She's a very, very smart businesswoman, but she's kind of stuck in her ways. Yeah. Which is good for her. What works works. Yeah. But you have to be able to adapt. And that's something that she didn't really do. Um, I got a job offer at the harbor, um, bar managing over there, and that was the first year we ever saw profit. Um, and then after that, the harbor ended up shutting down. And then uh I got a job offer at um tap on main. So the owner was leaving the gas station bar.
SPEAKER_01When I took people there for the first time, I took Billy. He didn't he didn't know what I was doing. He thought it was like one of them secret TikTok like opening. It kind of is, honestly. It felt like we were gonna open up a cooler that would have been way cooler. It would have. I was hoping that they would have like a speakeasy, yeah. Cause it was I love the outdoor atmosphere. The patio's beautiful. The patio really made you like because if you're claustrophobic, it can get packed in there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. You know, and then it feels busier. That's that's the keys to making your bar feel busy, even if it's not, because that's where people want to be. But, anyways, um, bought into that. I ran that for a year. Um, it's almost like I couldn't grow it anymore, you know, like it had reached its potential. Um, and then I had my business partner was like, Hey, this building's available. Are you still ready? Because we had talked about it for years. Yeah, I was like, Yeah, absolutely. And so that's how we started Lucky Pint. I've always wanted an Irish pub. Since I was at Keglers, I talked about opening an Irish pub because we don't have one.
SPEAKER_01I know it fits like you wouldn't think Lake Town in Kentucky Irish, but there's so many people that have Irish in them here.
SPEAKER_02There's so many Irish settlers, like yeah, I've got Irish in my family. Well, the crazy thing is so Irish settled obviously in like New England states, but the one of the first places they came to was like this area, the south central, you know, Kentucky.
SPEAKER_01That's where our dialect comes from. Like southern accents, like a mixture of English, Irish, German, and you know, the people that come here. And it it's cool. If you've not been to Lucky Pint and you're playing a trip to Somerset, I'm telling you, the you maximize the space.
SPEAKER_02We tried. We tried the best that we could. Um, we made some changes as we went. We would took out that wall because the dining room just wasn't doing anything. We wanted to be super family friendly. Um, because that's kind of what Burnside Law requires. Yeah, it's what till 10? Yeah, so we allow miners up until 10 p.m. Um, but Burnside Law, you have to sell 50% food to 50% alcohol. They don't allow full bars. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So that's a lot of towns around here.
SPEAKER_02We call it it's it's wet, but it's moist in my moisture, yeah. But um, so we try, I mean, and it we still do get families and stuff, and our our restaurant parts doing great. The food's great.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it looks great, it looks amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I never wanted a restaurant. I never wanted a restaurant, I wanted a bar, but given that location, I wanted that location. Yeah, so we had to adapt.
SPEAKER_01Well, that location, like we were before the podcast. I'm not supposed to talk to the guests before the podcast, but she's a familiar face, so that building is you, and then you could get your hair cut, your taxes done, go get seafood, go to another bar, go to your bar. Like I love the convenience of it. The plaza is great and your outdoor space.
SPEAKER_02That's my that's my pride and joy right there.
SPEAKER_01There's what three operating bars.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, we don't use that middle one too much just because I think the other two bars are so close. We're talking about taking it out and putting just like a VIP lounge area. Oh, that'd be fun. Yeah, for like band members and like stuff like that. Little green room. Yeah, that'd be cool. Um, but yeah, two full bars all the time is what we have right now, and it's super convenient. You don't have to walk more than 30 feet to get a freaking beer. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So if the inside bar is busy, we'll just go outside and around and go out there. And I I don't think we've ever had a hard time waiting on drinks. Great. Like your bartenders are they're on top of it, they know what they're doing. They were trained by a professional.
SPEAKER_02So I wouldn't call myself a professional, but they're I I was blessed with the best staff I could ever ask for. And the staff will make or break you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So yeah, your team really is they're the foundation because when you're if you're not there, you've got to have people that are fully capable of doing everything you know you've taught them without you having to stand over them. Yeah, and trusting them is my hardest thing.
SPEAKER_02I do, I do, but right now I'm panicking because I can't check my phone.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just whenever it's your business, it's your baby. It is my baby. And I just I I'm so proud of you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Like, how old are you? I'm 31. You're 31, and you're already this is a business woman. I'm telling you, look out. Look out Somerset.
SPEAKER_02I don't recommend it. Go live your life. Don't marry a business like I did.
SPEAKER_01But it's it's something that you know, for me, I I don't I don't want to know a time without Lucky Punt. Like I want that bar to be there for 30 plus years and still be doing good. Like it's such a beautiful thing you do for the community too. Thank you. Like with uh St. Patrick's Day Irish bar. Of course I was there on St. Patrick's Day. You did what was it, a food, was there a food drive with the potatoes?
SPEAKER_02So we got this wild idea because I was like, how funny would it be if people were just bringing in potatoes all day?
SPEAKER_01We showed up and didn't know that that we would have brought potatoes if we had known. And there was a truck backed up to the door and we looked outside and it was loaded, and there was trunks popping, and people started bringing in potatoes. And we looked at each other and Billy said, Were we supposed to bring potatoes? I went, I don't know. Nobody told me anything. They just said we're going to Lucky Pine. It's uh St. Patrick's Day. They got kazoos and they got live music. Right. And it was, I felt like I was in Ireland.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like it was the whole goal, man.
SPEAKER_01It was so cool. I was like, I don't want I wish that every day could be St. Patrick's Day if that's the vibe.
SPEAKER_02We got uh 300 pounds of potatoes were donated. So what we did is per potato you got a raffle ticket.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_02So if you brought in a 20-pound bag of potatoes, my bartender sat there and counted those potatoes and gave you raffles, and then at the end of it, it was 300 pounds and we donated it all to um God's food pantry.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's wonderful.
SPEAKER_02So I should have kept some of them because we go through the potatoes, but I didn't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you all have uh what kind of food is it? Like to be exact. I I know that it's I think I've gotten fried pickles and burgers there. Oh, that's American food. Yeah, that's that's what I went with.
SPEAKER_02But like, is there any specialty foods? Absolutely. We do a bunch of Irish, I want to call them Irish inspired because I'll never take, you know, like I'll never take credit for Irish food. But it's Irish inspired. We've got shepherd's pie made with real lamb, um Guinness beer cheese. Um our fish and chips is our number one seller by far because you know if you go to Ireland, you gotta get fish and chips. Yeah. Um, yeah, we've got Guinness Beef Stew. We do all kinds of specials, um, a lot of stuff with corned beef, scotch eggs, all kinds of stuff from like England inspired, I guess.
SPEAKER_01So like I'm hungry just talking about how they do.
SPEAKER_00You gotta go there after here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like what time you open. What what are the hours on Lucky Punt? So for the weekdays, Monday through Thursday, we open at three. Um, we try to do a lunch crowd, it just kind of never, I think we're so far on the end of the day. Yeah, you're kind of down towards the lake side of things.
SPEAKER_01So people don't really go there unless they're on their way home or they're going to check out, you know.
SPEAKER_02There's there's some lake dockers that will stay there. Oh, for sure. In the summertime, I've even thought about changing my hours back to open for lunch, but right now it's just not there yet. But three to one a.m. uh Monday through Thursday, and then 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know we we're definitely Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Yeah, yeah. And I know you've got the pool tables outside, the cornhole boards. The cornhole boards.
SPEAKER_02My daddy made those. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Now, how okay, I'm trying to remember exactly. Is your dad the open mic guy or no? No. Okay, because who he's somebody's dad there.
SPEAKER_02Uh just not with the lucky pint. Um Chloe. Her name's Chloe. She comes in a lot.
SPEAKER_01So she brought him in because I know the the open mics are uh very welcoming.
SPEAKER_02Jonathan New is literally the best thing that I could have ever asked for for open mic. He's been in the industry for so well, the industry is in local live music. Yes, he's so well known. Um originally Taylor Davis was supposed that's that's the one that I talked to, and I was like, bro, I need you in here for open mic. You will run it. Yeah, and he was like, Yeah, I'll do it if John New can help me because he's got like the connections and everything. And then a month before, not even a full month before we were supposed to start open mic, he passed away.
SPEAKER_01But I talk about a community in utter disarray. He I just talked to him um at the cove. He was doing karaoke down there, and he was like, Yup air.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yep, her. Oh, he is him and John are very good about getting people up there that aren't comfortable, but they need to be.
SPEAKER_01They'll get on stage with you. Yes. Like if you want to do open mic and you're not a hundred percent Jonathan New will be like, if you've never been on stage, he will he'll show you how to do it. He'll make everybody and the crowd is so welcoming. Yes, it is a great crowd. I love it. Like, I I said this is one of those bars that could be shoulder to shoulder packed, and you can bump into people and no one's gonna start.
SPEAKER_02They're gonna hug you. Yeah, they're gonna be like, oh my god, I'm so sorry. Oh my god. Let me bring you a drink.
SPEAKER_01The next thing you know, you're talking. Like, I've gotten so many free drinks from people just sitting and conversating. I guarantee it. Played pool with people that I I don't know them, I just know them from the pint, you know? Yeah, that's the way it is.
SPEAKER_02It's a family, man. I love it. I love every second of it.
SPEAKER_01Now, I did want to ask you, because Johnny, we all know Johnny. We love Johnny. Local legend. He told me the set to ask you about a kidney donation. Oh god, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Did you donate a kidney? I did back in September. How did you come about that? So Elijah has been one of my regulars since he turned 21. I was working at Kegler's. Um, his mom is Felice that runs Mellow Mushroom. Oh, okay. The most beautiful soul you will ever meet in your entire life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I want to go to Mellow Mushroom, but I will I will say I'm poor. Mellow mushroom is like a once-a year thing for me, but I do recommend if you got some cash and you want some good pizza, go to Mellow Mushroom.
SPEAKER_02I'm a happy hour too, though.
SPEAKER_01So I never catch it. Yeah. You see where I'm at midday.
SPEAKER_02Night owls. Um, but um, so I had known Elijah since, you know, he turned 21. He came into my bar for the first time. I served him his first alcoholic beverage legally. Um, and I was working at it was back when I was bartending at TAP, owning TAP. Um, I had a regular of mine come in and she was really distraught, and she told me that Elijah was really sick. And she told me the issue that he was having, and I said, What's his blood type? And she said, apositive. And I said, Well, I'm apositive. Let me go get tested. And it took me a couple months because I was that's a scary thing. Yeah. Like, that's a real scary thing. That's a because you're making yourself sicker to help somebody else, you know.
SPEAKER_01Um you're taking a risk to hopefully save somebody's life, ultimately. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that's huge. So, but it stayed on my mind, and like, I don't know, it was I don't know if it was God or just like my guilt for being healthy. I don't know. But I eventually went and I got tested. I didn't tell anybody. Um, and then at the end of the like testing periods where they're like, okay, everything's matching up. Um, I told my managers at the restaurant because we hadn't even been open a year yet. I'm like, I can't take two weeks off. Like, I'm here a hundred hours a week. I can't take two weeks off. So I talked to them and they were like, Yeah, girl, go do it. Like, we'll do whatever we need to do. And the last round of testing, it was like 10 hours long up at UK. And a couple days later, they called me and they were like, You're a perfect match. Do you want to do this? And I was like, Abs fucking Lutley. Sign me up. So then I texted him and he was just at the pint a couple days prior. And I said, Hey, buddy, you left something at the pint. And he goes, Oh, hey, what was it? I said, Your new kidney, bitch. Oh my gosh. I bet he was tickled. He was. He was. They're very grateful. They're beautiful people, man. At 26 years old. Oh, yeah, my kidney's doing great. Okay. Yeah. Living on. He's doing great. He's allowed to eat things that he hadn't eaten in years. Oh, that's so good. And I'm doing great. I mean, I have no issues.
SPEAKER_01Always tip your bartender, they might give you a kidney.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Like if you're nice to people, especially bartenders.
SPEAKER_02But I don't know. It was just, I'd do to get in a heartbeat if I could, but they won't let me give away my last one, I guess. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They get you. The only lab too. Y'all pick one. Any questions you want to ask Tyler about owning a bar? Because you're you're a forest. You go to a lot of bars.
SPEAKER_00I do get to a lot of bars.
SPEAKER_02You you you've been what do you look for in a bar? If you are just like out of town and you're Googling what bars are in town.
SPEAKER_00So I travel all over and I go to bars everywhere. Like Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma. Mainly good service. Quick service, good service, just friendly service. Like I'm welcome there. And that's so what's your main goal with your bar?
SPEAKER_02Like, um, I just want it to be a safe space for everyone. Like, that's what I've always ever wanted my customers to feel. Um, with bartending and running a bar in general, you see people at their absolute lowest. They just lost a family member, they just got a divorce, they just lost their job. You also see people when they're celebrating. It's their wedding reception, or they just got a promotion, or they're having a kid, you know, something, something crazy. And just like you never know what somebody's going through. And so that's what I've instilled in my bartender's heads is you don't judge people when they're here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Because you don't know. You don't know why they're there. Yeah. They could just be there for happy hour, they could be there meeting a friend, they could be in the worst part of their life. Yes, and you just gotta be that person that's hey, I'm here, you know. And with that, you see a lot of people come and go. Um, you get these regulars that you have served for 10 years and then they get sick and you never see them again. Yeah. Um that's gonna be hard. Or tragic accidents, or they get in a relationship and they just don't go to the bar anymore. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I've been there.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm wondering like what we would like if there was a moniker, a name we could put on that. Right. Like there's gotta be a term urban dictionary. It like for somebody that just goes to the bar to meet somebody and then they never need to go again. It's like until they break up and then they're back, and then you're there for them again. That's all I've always said if I could host an event at a bar, I'd do speed dating.
SPEAKER_02So I've thought about that heavy, especially since we knocked out that wall and we have that center um bar top where there's two seats on both sides. We've talked about doing that.
SPEAKER_01Like you could do also a night. I've thought about this too. Like instead of like a speed dating singles night, and they wear like colored wristbands.
SPEAKER_02Have you heard of like stoplight parties where you get green, yellow, or red? Red like means you're taking, yellow means um it's complicated, or like you're like, Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01And then green is your single. Yeah, I was gonna say, you girl, let's do it.
SPEAKER_00Why don't you do that?
SPEAKER_01Host it for me. I'll be up there and be like, all right, everybody, grab a partner, we're gonna go out. We're doing the cha-cha slide.
SPEAKER_00You could do like certain color cups too, like single, red, yeah, just bearing on that.
SPEAKER_01The wristband idea, you could get the little jelly bands.
SPEAKER_00I like that.
SPEAKER_01I like the ones that like you could literally get the ones that say single. Right.
SPEAKER_00That way, yeah, give me one of them.
SPEAKER_01Because there are colorblind individuals going to the bar. We gotta make sure inclusive babies. Yeah, we we gotta make sure. Just like I've always also said my cousin's epileptic. And she became epileptic at in her teens, like 15, 16. So she hasn't been to a skating rink or been to any because she can't. She can't because of flashing lights. Yeah. And I'm like, I would love for a bar, you know, you'd have to do some planning, partner with like an epileptic society to get a lot of people in to host an event for people that want to go out.
SPEAKER_02That's still like a party. It doesn't feel like that.
SPEAKER_01Because they want a party, they just can't have the lights, you know, the flashing lights. Because I always said I would rent if I ever get the money, Jacinda. I know you're probably watching this. I'm gonna rent a skating rent girl, and we're gonna unplug every arcade game, and we're gonna make sure that's all stationary light, and we're gonna roller skate. There you go. Yeah. You just gonna go around and unplug.
SPEAKER_00No, no, but I can make it happen. Back in Virginia, I got a skater and got a deal I work with, like helping like younger kids with skating and stuff. You see me skate. Yeah. And so I used to like teach younger kids how to skate and everything.
SPEAKER_01Is there nothing? There's he's a uh jack of all trades over here. It sounds like it. Man told me he's like, yeah, I used to do nails.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, you didn't back when I was 18.
SPEAKER_01That's he looked different at 18, though.
SPEAKER_00I worked in a nail salon back then.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd let you do my nails. I ain't scared.
SPEAKER_00I ain't do them in years, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_01Give her a go. Well, you got two dollars.
SPEAKER_0090 pounds ago, too.
SPEAKER_01Get the practice back in. Well, try again.
SPEAKER_00I do my daughter's nails all the time.
SPEAKER_01I love that though. I love that. I know when it comes to live music and stuff. I wanted to ask, have you ever thought of doing Battle of the Bands? Yes. You've got the ability to do that.
SPEAKER_02We have thought about it. I'm not educated enough. Like, I haven't been to a battle of bands, so I don't know how exactly it works. We just gotta watch Lemonade Mouth.
SPEAKER_01I think that was the movie from Disney Town.
SPEAKER_00I think yeah, it was. It was.
SPEAKER_02We have the stakes for it. We have that, you know, the staff for it. I would absolutely love my cook Danny mentioned it to me. Gosh, it's been a couple months. He was like, in the summertime, we need to do like a battle of the bands. And I asked him, I was like, Well, I don't know how that works. Like, is it just all day music? Like, do they do people vote? Like, how does it work? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I guess you would do you could do kind of that or have judges. Yeah. If you want to put it in that hand, or you could also have like people's choice, so you can do both. Because I know from weirdly enough, uh car shows, I've been to a lot of those because I do cars. Similar, because they do like private judging and then they'll have a people's choice where people can vote right in. See, I like that.
SPEAKER_02I like the people's choice. The only issue is if they have a huge family. I was gonna say they're winning, yeah. The judge and people's choice is a good idea.
SPEAKER_01I can't knock it because you know I love support and stuff, but there are a lot of bands that they'll br that they're like, yeah, we've got a crowd, and they do because their entire family supports and is there. And like, I mean, they might be all right musicians, they're not like you know, Grammy Award winning. Right. But they will bring a car hauler's forty.
SPEAKER_02Southern Kentucky for you, baby.
SPEAKER_01That's the same way with pageants too. Like I'm like How do pageants work? Do is it like just judges? They do private judging and then like county fairs and stuff, a lot of times we have people's choice, and then they'll do subcategories like best swimsuit, best interview, things like that. Because you could do a pageant too at the bar.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I'm open to anything. You've got so much footage.
SPEAKER_01Like whenever we talk about bars that we like to go to, Billy to even though he's a big internet guy, you know, he's pretty timid and likes his space.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he don't like crowds.
SPEAKER_01He doesn't really do crowds, which you would think but he performs in front of a Enormous crowds, and as soon as he gets done, he'll like say hello to people because he doesn't want to be rude, but then he'll like run back to the things like I'm so excited. He gets overwhelmed. Some people do, they got crowd anxiety. It's not necessarily social anxiety because.
SPEAKER_00I do, I understand. And I fight in front of thousands of people.
SPEAKER_01So your space has allowed us the ability, like I said, we'll go in between the two bars because we like the feeling down the road at the cove. We like going down there because I got family that goes down there. And if he gets over, we'll come down to the pint and go outside.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because the outside space it's just so big.
SPEAKER_02You can pack 150 people in there and it doesn't feel what is the fire code on so because you've got three areas.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's I'm telling y'all, this bar is huge. It's like adult Chuck E. Cheese.
SPEAKER_024,500 square feet. Um, the max caps 102, um, just because of fire exits and whatnot. Um I in a day though, with our hours, people come and go so much. I could see 300 people not at one door.
SPEAKER_01Rotating, but yeah. Yeah, rotating patrons. I I I know exactly what you're talking about. Because whenever we look at metrics on things, I'm looking at how many total showed up, not all at once. Right. But then I'll also look at how many people fit in the space all at once for the day. You know, I mean, you saw St.
SPEAKER_02Patrick's Day, it was crazy, and it was cold. It was cold that day. People were outside, people were inside, the dining room was full. Even the parking lot people were out there, they were talking about it.
SPEAKER_01I was like, I was like, there's like a whole family get together going on out here where people showed up, and I don't there because in Kentucky, if you show up somewhere before you go in and you see somebody, you know, you've got to talk to them for an hour and 45 minutes.
SPEAKER_02In the parking lot, yep.
SPEAKER_01You've got to conversate and catch up before you go in, or they might be leaving and you're going in. You want to get a feel for the vibe. Next thing you know, how how's your how's Aunt Martha doing? You know, here we go. That's absolutely right. Uh, I've got one question because I know this is gonna be a hot question. What is the wildest thing you've had happen working as a bartender?
SPEAKER_00Oh gosh, I was questioned that myself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I know it's on everybody's mind because we've talked about so much good, but we gotta talk about talk about the bad or the crazy.
SPEAKER_02There's just so much, man. I can't even bring one to the top of my mind right now. Um, anything from girls exposing themselves with full confidence, man. Full confidence. That's what he's at the bar for. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's what I'm coming to the bar for.
SPEAKER_02The fighting is. There was one time I was uh when I was at Kegler's, um, these two dudes got in a fight. Um this old man was sitting at the bar, he was just running his mouth, tried to get him to stop, and he did for the most part. But these two young guys were playing pool and they came up and said something to him. And when he stood up, so bar stools, you know, that they sit higher, yeah, and his foot was stuck behind like um.
SPEAKER_01And they throw back on them there, they got the low back to him to the biggest.
SPEAKER_02But they have that like foot rail that you see put your foot on. I guess his foot was behind it, and he went to stand up, and this dude just sucker punched him, and his leg snapped. Oh, it snapped. He popped right back up because he was ready to fight.
SPEAKER_00Then fell right back down.
SPEAKER_02But then he went right back down. Um, we got the situation under control for the most part. We got the dude out, had an ambulance come. Um, and then these two dudes were still like all hyped up. And you know, at Keglers they have that swinging, the swinging bar doors. Yes. So you don't go past those. That's for the bartender inside the horseshoe bar. And this dude literally came behind the bar and he said, Why the fuck did you let that happen? What why aren't you doing your job? Why did you let that happen? And I was like, bro, and I was 21 at the time, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm 100 pounds. What do you want me to do? How long had you been bartending for at that point? Was that like six months, maybe?
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Six months in, and that's the and then the other dude, so my partner, my bartender partner, partner, I like that. He was going to notify the owner, it was coming back in, and I'm at the end of this horseshoe bar where there's no exit. They're down here, and they all get into a scrap, and the dude just standing up, like, this is all your fault, whatever. I jump over the bar. Regulars surround me.
SPEAKER_01You had and if you've never been to cashers, they have two metal things. I like to imagine you jumped on those gymnastic looking things and swung over.
SPEAKER_02So I don't know if I'm supposed to say this, but that bar actually came from like a um uh like a brothel.
SPEAKER_01Um I was thinking, well, I know that like you know, whenever we buy stuff, you get it secondhand. You don't know, you don't really pick where it came from, you pick where it's going. It reminds me of like a casino situation. Yeah. Because it, like you said, it's a horseshoe. You kind of walk in the bar, and at no point are you back anywhere. There's no back room, you're in the middle of the floor and everything's visible at all times.
SPEAKER_02Which is a terrible idea for a bar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but when y'all have to haul stuff through the has to come all the way through.
SPEAKER_02That and like there's just no safe space, you're surrounded. Yeah, you know, and the only exit you have to dig through the crowd. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, dive. Everybody could dive.
SPEAKER_02You could just Right. But yeah, I had to jump over the bar top to uh get away from this dude who was trying to attack me. But um, other than that, I mean, there's just I mean, it's never ending. Every day you think you've seen it all and you haven't. Some dude tried to tip um my bartender at the time, Josh. Um, he was like, at the end of this, I'll take care of you, bro. I'll take care of you. I'm a good tipper. I'll take care of you.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you can't listen to that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know what he tipped him? Rocks. The deed to Disney World. D to Disney? Wow, what? Just like a printed off piece of paper and was like, yeah, man. Just had that ready on standby in the wallet? He was ready to tip somebody with it.
SPEAKER_00I mean, who wants to buy this?
SPEAKER_02How did he get he just printed something off online and swore that he had the deed to Disney World?
SPEAKER_00Was he on drugs by chance?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh. I was gonna say, have you I know that people coming into bars drunk is a problem. Have you had to like I know that you guys are more than comfortable about pulling the plug? Like, I've seen bartenders that are new or green, or I guess like bars that are nervous to be like, let's not overserve them. What's the overserving point?
SPEAKER_02So that's a really shitty law, is that everything falls back on the bartenders because I have literally been in the position where this person walks in sober, completely sober by all means to the naked eye. Yes. Um, you serve them one beer and they are falling on their ass. Like because you don't know what people do in the parking lot. They could have just chugged a whole fifth, they could have taken a bunch of pills.
SPEAKER_01They could also be in like pre-liver failure and one drink.
SPEAKER_02Anything, anything, and you don't know. Wait, I mean, and then at the end of the day, it could definitely fall back on you, be like, oh, well, they were already intoxicated and you serve them, so now it's your problem.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, it's a terrible law, and I suggest everyone write to whoever makes the laws because is like if you get your taxes done by somebody, the tax preparer isn't the one that's at fault, it's the person that signed their name on the dotted line and said, Yeah, they did it right. And nobody knows how to do their taxes if they're going to somebody else. Exactly. So why would the bartender if especially because you don't like you said, you don't know.
SPEAKER_02The liability is so huge on serving any kind of alcohol, um, especially with like new fake IDs, they are so good. Yes, you almost can't.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, you can scan them, they'll say they're real and everything. Really? They've got them where they scan technology 2026.
SPEAKER_02But then if a cop comes in and they're like, hey, we got a call from the mother saying that you're serving them, and you're like, Well, I checked their ID. Well, this is a fake, it's your fault. Yeah. The laws are fucked.
SPEAKER_00Oh, they really don't like alcohol like being served in certain places.
SPEAKER_01It's there, it's fucked. I know I've only ever been to one bar um where they put X's on the back of hands. And I know that that was like northern Kentucky. They don't do that a lot down here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I've wondered why. I assume it's because the insurance is probably like ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02It's not so much the insurance, it's the liability. So a lot of people don't want to risk that. Back when Mugbees was in the building that I'm in now, um, they had a lot of issues with because they would do the X's on the hands. Yes. But then their friend, that building's huge. Their friend would go buy alcohol and then sneak it to the underage, and that happened a lot. Even I didn't go there often, but maybe like once every other weekend, and I would see it happen all the time. And so that's why a lot of places that's why y'all ruined it for us.
SPEAKER_01Right. Some people just want to get out. I wanted to go places at 18 because there was live music, but it was usually at a bar. And I was like, dang, if they ever play Gaddy's Town, I'm so down. So down. Okay, so my next question is how does one acquire a bar? Like, walk me through your business process because you mentioned a little bit about you've been planning for this, your partner had reached out to you about the building coming up. So give me a little, you know, for people at home that maybe chase this crazy dream. So the Lonnie's.
SPEAKER_02I got lucky. Um, it's sad, but my grandparents passed away, both of them in the same six months. Um, my grandma was pretty healthy. Um, she lived in Florida in a very modest um single-story home, two-bedroom, her and my papa. And you know, we we knew they had money, but we didn't like know how much or where it was gonna go. We didn't care. I loved my grandparents, you know. Um, they lived here in Kentucky until I was about 13, right next door to us, and that was my whole childhood, is growing up with my grandparents, and um she passed away kind of unexpectedly. Um, she had some sickness, but nothing crazy, and then all of a sudden she was dead. And then my papa had been killed. Oh my gosh. My papa had um dementia real bad, and it progressed very, very quickly after she passed away. So then he passed away within six months. Um, and she left me some money, and my grandma was my biggest supporter, man. Whatever I did, good or bad, she was like, That's my baby, that's my grandma. She's okay. That's what grandmas are supposed to do. Right. And so when she passed away and everything, the IRA was settled, it was $45,000. And um, just so happy. I put it in his grandma, was she was a secret baller over here. She did really well in the stocks in the 90s, I guess. Yeah. But she lived so modest, like we were like, yeah, she might have a couple hundred thousand.
SPEAKER_01She got to a level of comfortability, it wasn't too flashy. And right. It's kind of like the inspo for this. Whenever I was designing this set, I was like, okay, my grandparents, they did okay. They weren't like living it up, but to me it was middle class. This hill's middle class. Yeah, they got by, you know, because if they wanted to go to Walmart and get ice cream for us, they could. Right.
SPEAKER_00You know, we're having popsicles by God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they were always doing something. So I understand what you mean by like hidden.
SPEAKER_02For sure.
SPEAKER_01Because they they were just that was how it was. There wasn't like a big need for something crazy. Like I think the most expensive thing she got was a Buick with peanut butter interior. Oh because she loved nice, she loved peanut butter leather.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02But uh, so when me and my business partner were um, we had talked about it for years, opening something as soon as Mugbee shut down, um, another business went into it. Um, we had looked at it a couple times and it was finally like cleaned up enough that we were willing to put in an offer to buy. Um, but he wanted way too much for the building. So we were like, well, we'll lease for two years with the potential to buy if it turns out okay, you know. Um, so he put in 50,000. I used that 45,000 my grandma left me, and then my 5,000 I had in savings. And we did a bunch of cosmetic changes, um, hired, um, bought the inventory, you know, all the stuff that needed to be done. We signed the lease December 18th, 2024, and we were open by March 17th, 2025.
SPEAKER_01I know you all got that place. Boom, boom. I I watched it on Facebook because when a new business opens up, especially in Somerset or in Lincoln County, Facebook will know. Yeah. If Facebook everyone's gone, you know, it's a big thing.
SPEAKER_02Our Facebook page was gaining so much traction, it was scaring me because I was like, oh my god, am I reading? There's too many people. It was insane. So, like when I started the Facebook probably in January, like showing the you know, coming soon, the property. We're working on this, yeah. Um, and just getting the hype up for an Irish pub. And boy, I mean, it was having 200,000. My Facebook was monetized in a month because of the traffic. Really? Yeah, and then good. So I way overhired um because I was just expecting this influx. Yeah. Because Pulaski County, I think, is only like 60,000 population. Yeah, and it was doing that much. I was like, dude, I'm not ready for this.
SPEAKER_01Close to like Burnside's kind of like the in-between where you can go down in like Monticello.
SPEAKER_02Because every time I'm there, I meet people from McCreary County and Monticello and Yeah, it's like the meeting point between the two counties, the two cities. Um but then when we opened, it didn't do what I thought it was gonna do. Opening day was great, but then in like the first couple of weeks were okay, but it fizzled out so quick. And we're just tax season, you had to wait for the maximum, you got a whole month of it was rough. I overhired because of I trusted Facebook and I was like, oh my god, it's doing this much, you know. Um my biggest mistake was we spent way too much on labor, and the money that we had was just trickling, I mean, it was pouring out just because of labor. And so the hardest thing I have ever done in my life let people go is telling having a big storm meeting, fighting tears and that lump in my throat and saying, I'm so sorry guys, I fucked up. Yeah, but I can't pay you all anymore, yeah, like this. And um, most people are understanding, and we're we went from 40 employees to 12, is what we have now. But I have the best 12 in Pulaski County.
SPEAKER_01I love uh talking about your Facebook and your staff. There was a reel that it got a little traction to it. They put the wrong sign out.
SPEAKER_02Sarah Gray. That video on TikTok went, I don't know what viral is, but it's got a hundred and almost a hundred and forty thousand views, which is great for a business.
SPEAKER_01Businesses don't get like a lot of traction on Facebook and and reels and social media because it's always the dumb stuff, man.
SPEAKER_02Playing a TikTok for two days, film it, and I'm like, God, that's it. That's so good. The the hashtag Zoom is good, nothing. But just Sarah literally one day puts a sign backwards, and I see this car pull in, they walk towards the door, then turn around and pull out. And I'm like, Sarah, what the fuck? Like, why did that just happen? And I go outside to make sure that the sign, and no, it was wrong. And I say, Come here, we're shaming you. We're shaming you, and it's going on things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and they were not supposed to be a good one. Supposed to say open. And these are your events tonight. Yeah. Oh that cracked me up. For like I kept re-watching it, and I was like, this is so fun. I was like, I thought, I thought it was like a joke. And then I was finding out, no, this like was an accident. Because you know, businesses are starting to do fun things like the can you shake it for me with the hair thing? A lot of hairdressers like women will go, no, your hair.
SPEAKER_02There's little trends amongst business owners, and they're so cute. I mean, they do well, but this one was a complete fluke, and that's the one that like I posted it, and within like an hour, I'm like, oh my god, Sarah. Like, what have we done? And uh people she'll be walking in Walmart and people are like, Oh, I love your TikTok videos.
SPEAKER_01Every time I'm in there, I'm like, Did you put the sign out today?
SPEAKER_02She got to, she hears that all the time, but it was just so funny. I don't even know, like, we just never erased it because surely they won't put it out facing that way, but no, they did.
SPEAKER_01Well, whenever you get busy, I know how it is. I know, especially nights before big events and stuff. Um, what's some upcoming events y'all got going on?
SPEAKER_02So Memorial Day weekend's gonna be huge. Um, we have karaoke on Thursday, every Thursday. Um, Friday, Saturday, we have live music, but because it's Memorial Day, we have music on Sunday and Monday too. So it is a huge week.
SPEAKER_01All right. So this is Tara Paget. This has been another episode of Property Tales Podcast. Thank you so much, Amanda, for coming on. So much for having me. This is so fun. I was so nervous, but you are so welcoming.
SPEAKER_02This is fun. I love it.
SPEAKER_01Well, um, go ahead and tell everybody where to find you or your business and what I guess go a little plug out.
SPEAKER_02So come and see Lucky Pint, Irish Pub and Kitchen. It's in um, it's at 100 Stonecrest Drive, Somerset, Kentucky, 42501. We're open Monday to Thursday, 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday through Sunday, eleven a.m. to one a.m. We've always got stuff going on. If you like live music, we're the place to be. Themed parties, good food, cheap drinks. We've got you covered.
SPEAKER_01Follow him on Facebook at Lucky Pot.
SPEAKER_02This has been another episode.
