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Appetite for success consumes Sports Grille owner
BOARDMAN
Nine years ago, Sean Pregibon began a journey when he opened the Youngstown Sports Grille — without a liquor license — in the Boardman Plaza.
Six years ago, he made the leap to a bigger location on South Avenue, liquor license in tow, and three years ago, the worst recession in recent memory began.
“This business is not easy even in good times,” he said.
But the good times will roll Friday, he said, as the restaurant celebrates its ninth anniversary with free kids’ meals, an ice sculpture, drink specials and a performance by The House Band.
The restaurant has done what 90 percent of fledgling eateries fail to do: succeed, he said.
The biggest challenge, though, has been surviving.
“No one since the Great Depression has seen this. You can’t get advice; you can’t find a solution. You have no answers,” he said.
“All you can do is roll up your sleeves, go to work every day, try not to cry and know one day it will be better,” he added.
Pregibon chalks the Sports Grille’s success up to one thing: the food.
“It’s not a dive bar, but it has the same quality of those ethnic recipes that were served in those types of places,” said Pregibon, who grew up on Youngstown’s South Side. He began cooking for himself as a third-grader after his parents’ divorce.
Marty Hudak, of Boardman, has been a regular for four years and said the food lures him back.
“It’s the beers and the wings that bring us back. And look at all the TVs,” said Hudak, who often comes to the bar to watch the Cleveland Browns games.
Sports inhabit every aspect of Pregibon’s establishment. The walls are filled with displays of memorabilia from Youngstown State University and many other leagues and sports.
And like a dedicated athlete, Pregibon keeps fighting. Two years ago, he pleaded guilty to five counts of workers’ compensation fraud, telling the judge he had trouble keeping up with payroll during the economic downturn.
He was sentenced to two years’ probation and ordered to make more than $30,000 in back payments in workers’ compensation.
“Things happen for a reason. You never know what’s it for, but as long as you learn and grow,” he said. “There are always obstacles and challenges, and you have to get better, going through the economy and that experience and everything else.”
Pregibon and his wife, Kerry, have considered closing.
“The easy thing would be to throw in the towel,” he said. “It would be so much easier to get a job with [my] accounting degree, but we would have to give this up.”
Now, Pregibon isn’t looking back. Business is steady, peaking during special events such as St. Patrick’s Day. His concept is ready to be franchised and investors from Cranberry Township, Pa., near Pittsburgh, already have approached him about a location there.
And he has two children, Nicholas, 6, and Katie, 4, who happen to enjoy their dad’s home-cooked food at the restaurant.
Do they play sports?
“I hope to have their pictures on the wall,” he said smiling.