Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah White.
Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my restaurant career on a dare. Some friends went to work at a local restaurant opening up and I had no interest. They dared me to at least interview and see if I could get the job. I did, so I gave it a try and it changed my life. It was a sports bar of sorts. I started making sure I knew game highlights and scores each day to talk with my tables. I would get stressed at times or bored and go to the kitchen and do dishes or ask them to teach me how to make something.
After that I went to fine dining, family dining, catering, golf course snack bar, overnight at a restaurant for a while. I just kept learning and moving to the next thing and learning more. Then I started moving up into different manager jobs. Eventually I worked my way up to regional manager and then was given the chance to buy into a restaurant. I am in the process of buying out my partners now and will close in the next two days.
I have always loved sports. I am really into women’s and men’s sports, but have realized there is no place to watch women’s sports. This is what promted me to turn my restaurant into the first bar to prioritize women’s sports in our area. We will show any number of men’s, women’s, and kids sports. I just want to have fun with it. We have already been converting so many guests into women’s sports fans. It is great to see them get into it and fall in love with it the way I have, not to mention our DC area women’s teams win more often than the men’s. Something I don’t let the people who question my decisions to have a women’s sports bar forget.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Though I am fortunate to have this opportunity, the bank and my partners have dragged out the buying process long past what I expected. I am so ready to just own the bar and move on. There have been only a few people to question my decision to make the restaurant into a sports bar focused on women’s sports, but every time someone does my heart breaks a little. Not that I might lose a customer, but that they are missing out on something so cool and I am disappointed that they don’t also think women deserve this. It is a very very small number. I can only think of three people in all honesty, but I really hope they give women’s sports a chance and also understand that if you love our food, you aren’t required to watch a tv.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The women’s sports bar is definitely unique. We have so much community support for it. Players from the local teams are even super supportive and know who we are, which blows my mind. We support so many local non profits including many schools. Giving back to the community is a big piece of our model. I am jokingly called the “Golden Retriever of Poeple,” by my friends. I really love meeting everyone who walks through our door. It is great that I found a career where everyone comes to me since I want to meet everyone on the planet. I guess I may need to open in some additional places to meet everyone.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I think if an objective observer looked at my life their head would spin at the amount of both good and bad luck I have had. Neither matters much to me. I think hard work and a great support system allow me to prevail regardless of what role luck might play. I am more a believer in karma. You get what you give in this world and I know that my team and I put a lot of good out there. I am confident that if we just keep doing that, even if bad luck comes our way, it will be brief and we will come through the other side stronger and ready to keep going.
Pricing:
- $3 Taco Tuesday
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.westovertaco.com
- Instagram: @westovertaco_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westovertaco
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwhiteinva/
