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Young entrepreneurs form restaurant-bar partnership
McCOOK, Nebraska -- The already exciting McCook restaurant and bar scene will become even more of a region-wide draw in the months ahead as the result of a partnership formed by three McCook High School graduates who share a love for their hometown and have a proven record of culinary success.
The three young entrepreneurs -- Adam Siegfried, Tyler Loop and Ryan Fuller -- have formed a new limited liability corporation, ATR LLC, as the ownership group for three McCook food-and-drink establishments: The Coppermill Steakhouse, Loop Brewing Company and a brand new sports bar which will be called Bombers.
Tyler and Ryan, who graduated from MHS in 2001, and Adam, who graduated in 2003, are good friends, who, in the years after high school, followed different paths which led them to successful careers in the restaurant and bar business.
Ryan went to the French Culinary Institute in New York City to become an executive chef; Tyler won the Hormel Business Prize to help finance the opening of the Loop brew pub; and Adam returned from a guide career in Alaska and Kansas to purchase the Coppermill Steakhouse.
Three friends. Three careers. Three young men with a passion for the demanding-but-exciting restaurant and bar business.
All of a sudden, their career paths collided when Ryan took time off from his corporate chef position in Dallas to come home to be with his father, Val Fuller, following the fire which destroyed Fuller's Family Restaurant in July of 2013. While Ryan was in McCook, the good friends -- Ryan, Adam and Tyler -- began talking and dreaming. One thing led to another, and on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014, the deal was sealed.
The good friends became partners, linking their lives and their careers in the ownership and operation of the Coppermill, the Loop brew pub and the soon-to-be newest club in the Golden Plains region: Bombers Sports Bar on the northeast corner of the U.S. Highway 83 North and West J Street intersection.
All three of the restaurants and bars have a different appeal and emphasis, the young entrepreneurs said. The Coppermill is and will remain dedicated to fine dining; Loop Brewing Company will continue to be as it has been, a family place for pizza, sandwiches and specialty brews; and Bombers will be a classic American sports bar, with live entertainment every Friday and Saturday night.
To create Bombers, the ATR LLC partners purchased the Four County Feed corner from Larry and Jackie Rathbun. They will use the existing 3,000 square foot building and add an additional 3,000 feet of enclosed space to create a sports bar which will not only have a stage and a large seating area, but will also have a bunch of big screen TVs for sporting events; as well as pool, shuffleboard, pinball and dart games, Adam and Tyler said in a sit-down interview at the brew pub.
Ryan, who's still in Dallas, spoke with the Gazette writer by telephone, confirming all that Tyler and Adam said. Ryan added: "It's going to be great to come home. I've enjoyed my time in New York and Dallas and the Dismal River Country Club in the Sandhills. But I love McCook and I can't wait to come back to join Tyler and Adam in this exciting venture."
If all goes as planned, Ryan will be back in McCook by late next month.
A 60-hour to 70-hour a week worker like his father, Val, Ryan will also be filling in as a cook at Fuller's Family Restaurant, which Val opened in the former Looking Glass location at 110-112 Norris Ave., less than a month after fire destroyed the Fuller cafe at 218 West B Street.
In fact, it's the all-out work ethic which Ryan, Tyler and Adam say is the secret of their success. The learned if from our fathers, they said, all working since they were in grade school, filled in at their businesses, washing dishes, doing plumbing and sorting cattle. It becomes a way of life, they said. Knowing how to work is a big help in starting and running a business.
The restaurant-bar partners' fathers are Cal Siegfried, the owner of Willow Creek Meats and Cornerstone Cattle Company; Gale Loop, an electrician; and Val Fuller, the owner and lead cook at Fuller's Family Restaurant & Lounge.
Looking back even further, Ryan's, Tyler's and Adam's grandparents fulfilled key roles in business and agriculture in the McCook area as far back as the 1940s and 1950s.
Without question, the three young businessmen are linked to the past as they embrace the present and prepare, together, for the future.