A Conversation With ... Kevin Mackey

Company: Springfield Brewing Co.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science and business administration from Missouri State University

Industry involvement: Mackey is treasurer of the Springfield Independent Restaurant Association

Tell us about Springfield Brewing Co.

We just had our 10-year anniversary in January. (The restaurant) was built in December of 1997. We have about 85 employees, including servers, cooks, bartenders, all that. We have a full-service bar, banquet facilities, pool tables (and) cigar room. We have a PowerPoint presentation system for business meetings. I think one of the reasons we’ve been so successful is that we’ve had so many different things. We have live music Wednesday through Sunday (and) the banquet room, regular dining and entertainment, and a full patio.

What is your role as director of operations?

I do payroll, menu development, design, marketing, you name it. With restaurants, it’s not ever a situation where there are separate departments, like a human resources department. Whoever runs a restaurant is in charge of everything – pretty much A to Z.

How is business at Springfield Brewing Co.?

Business is good. It’s been tough for restaurants in general because they raised minimum wage last year. And food costs are like fuel costs – as they go up, it just goes through the roof. And they just hit us with (a restaurant license fee, expected to take effect in January). … I think it’s justified. If everybody else in the state is paying for it, I can see why we’d have to pay for it. … It’s going to be tough on a lot of people. There are a lot of restaurants in Springfield and, I think, by the time it’s all over, there’s going to be a restaurant graveyard. A lot of guys are not going to be able to weather the storm with all the things that are going on.

What are you doing to deal with higher costs?

We had to raise our beer prices. We took it from $3.25 to $3.50 … about two weeks ago. For the most part, that was because of … ethanol. A lot of the people we used to get our hops from are producing corn now, because there are so many government subsidies for ethanol. The beer industry in particular has been extremely tough as well. Everybody’s dealing with the high food cost, but we have to deal with the commodities cost of producing our beer.

What’s on the horizon for Springfield Brewing Co.?

We came out with a new menu in February. I knew that costs were going to go up, so we were trying to get ahead of the ball a little bit. We usually do a new menu about every year and a half. So I wouldn’t expect us to do another one for about a year. We’re comfortable with a lot of items on our menu. Our brewers are always working on something different. We’re always looking for something different to (attract) anybody’s palate as far as beer goes. And those guys are really good with that.

I do also have another Four Jacks reunion show coming up in September. Those guys used to play here every Wednesday, (including) Jake Simpson, who won “Star Search.” When they come back, it’s always a huge deal for us.

Do you have any favorite dining locations in town?

Probably No. 1, if I go out to eat, I love Italian food, and I go to Gilardi’s a lot.

Interview by Editorial Intern Stephen Herzog. You can e-mail Features Editor Maria Hoover with suggestions for future installments of this feature at mhoover@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]