IT TAKES A VILLAGE… (a Super Bowl Village)

As a restaurant owner, I feel like everything we represent and embody, is mirrored in what our great city showcased on a worldwide Super Bowl stage…  preparation, excellence, service & hospitality and exceeding expectations.  I often say as a restaurant owner, we are a business made of humans that are prone to make mistakes (try serving Thanksgiving Dinner to your friends and family 365 days a year and never burn the stuffing).  But, for 10 days, this city and my restaurant hit a proverbial grand slam in all areas, and I am more proud to be a Hoosier today than I ever have been.

 I love traveling all over the country and talking to people.  It is always funny to me, after talking with someone for awhile, when the question of "where are you from" comes up.  In my most Yorktownian twang, I utter, "Indiana."  The person I'm talking to inevitably has an expression that I have read a thousand times over - the circuits in their brain are saying, "what the Hell, I thought they all wore overalls and said 'ya'll' in that state."  Now, granted, most people from each coast rarely knows where our state is located (but, to be truthful, I can never find Rhode Island or New Mexico on a map either), usually is just "flying over" our state and mostly knows us for a 2.5 mile race track, cornfields and Reggie Miller giving Spike Lee a "choke sign."  I don't really care if that remains to be the common misperception - because what we just did AS A CITY was EXCEED EXPECTATIONS and left people saying, "wow, those are nice people that really know how to throw a party and make a concerted effort to make other people smile and happy…" that's Indiana Hoosier Hospitality at its core.

Some of the interviews I had over the week, I was questioned with, "Is this weather hurting your business?"

My truthful answer was always an astounding, "It is 55 degrees and sunny in early February in Indianapolis.  We have 200,000 visitors from all over the world getting to experience 3 years of hard work and detailed preparation with outside events and activities.  The Super Bowl is 10 days.  My business lease in downtown Indianapolis is for 10 YEARS.  So, when you ask me, 'is this weather hurting my business,' how could I complain about doing 3 weeks' worth of sales all in 1 week and be greedy enough to say, 'but, I expected and wanted more.'  Couldn't we all agree that the long term payoff of potential convention, visitors and future event business will amplify for years to come in our great city?"

I think this small opinion piece from the Indianapolis Star said it very well: Click here to read  

They often say in sports, the quarterback of a team usually gets more praise than he deserves when things go well and takes more of the blame when things go wrong…  even though it is a team sport, the leader accepts these responsibilities.  Sometimes I feel that same way, mostly from the praise side of things.  And, I can't say it enough, that the "game" of restaurant is like the sport of football…  we succeed together as a team, because of each other, not just because of one person whose name is on a lit up neon sign on the building.

We planned 10 days of events, activities, 1,000 scheduled employee shifts, tent and outdoor liquor permitting, marketing and so much more over an 8 month period to prepare for the Super Bowl week.  The important word in that sentence was "WE."  From my Managing Partner, Dave Hornak whom was at the restaurant for over 100 hours, to my VP of Operations, Tyler Thompson, whom was integral in working with all facets of scheduling and planning, almost every person on my Executive Team from COO to Director of Digital Media to Director of Kitchen Operations and Catering putting together a $5,000 order for the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon crew on Super Bowl Sunday…  almost every person in my company had a hand in activities going on in every city, in every department, in every way.

Thank you to my employees that drove from other cities and locations to help us.

Thank you Super Bowl Planning Committee and City of Indianapolis Police Department and officials for taking care of all the details that often go unnoticed and just expected.  

Thank you Pepsi & Budweiser (Zink Distributing) for your partnerships, support and incredible tickets to the game.

THANK YOU GUESTS AND THE LOYAL PATRONS OF SCOTTY'S BREWHOUSE, for none of which the rest of this story is possible or important without you.

Thank you Today Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Esquire Magazine, Indianapolis Star, Fox 59, CBS, NBC, ABC and all other media sources that shined the light on, not only our city; but, my restaurant.  We have many years to become an institution like St. Elmo's in this city and I have nothing but love and respect for Craig Huse - just to start to get recognition in the same breath as a restaurant like this is humbling.  I told Chef Neal Brown at Libertine during the week of activities, "sometimes I feel guilty for all our exposure when there are chefs like you and Greg Hardesty and Black Market and all the others that are the culinary geniuses in this city making a real educational and creative impact on our communities."

"It takes a village to raise a child," they say.  I have felt this way from my childhood, through college, my early days of running my restaurant by myself and, more than ever, now.  It has taken swim coaches, neighborhood parents, local banks, incredible parents, great friends, co-workers that believed in this dream and a state that lifts me up and supports what we do.

I posted this comment on our Facebook page and I must say it again:  You know what I enjoy the most about all the media attention we received over the past few weeks?  Making all of you and my state proud of me and this company.  It takes a village to raise a small town country boy from Yorktown, Indiana and 2 fantastic parents...

I think it just took a Super Bowl Village to raise our entire state and city of Indianapolis to a new level of greatness and Hoosier Hospitality.

Thank you Indianapolis!

Scotty Wise