Episode 35 - Miranda Garrison & Julia Parks, co-owners of Arena Sports Bar & Rookie’s Sports Tap

In this episode of The Realtor Who Wines, Rashelle Newmyer is in Independence, Oregon, sitting down with two powerhouse entrepreneurs and local community staples: Miranda Garrison and Julia Parks, co-owners of Arena Sports Bar and Rookie’s Sports Tap. What began as a college friendship behind the bar has grown into a long-standing business partnership and two thriving establishments at the heart of Monmouth and Independence.

They dive deep into what it really takes to own and operate bars in today’s economy, covering everything from rising costs and changing consumer habits to menu trends, culture-building, and the realities of leadership. Miranda and Julia speak candidly about inflation, the rising cost of goods (including napkins and all those unseen essentials), and how quarterly pricing analysis keeps their business sustainable without losing customer trust. Their accountant once warned them their cost of goods was “through the roof,” and they share what they’ve done since to correct course, find new efficiencies, and strike the perfect pricing balance.

Of course, they also talk about drinks because when you sit down with seasoned bar owners, it’s impossible not to. They sip Cascade Sweet Potato Vodka from Wild Roots, discuss their house-made Bloody Mary mix (a drink and a snack), and enjoy a delicious glass of Eola Hills Pinot Noir from right up the road. They share how their own palates have changed over the years, the seasonal “mood-based” nature of their drink choices, and the surprising rise of gin in Julia’s rotation.

The three women also explore how trends such as mocktails and non-alcoholic cocktails are reshaping the bar industry. With younger generations drinking less but still wanting social experiences, Arena and Rookie’s have adapted with a full mocktail menu, multiple non-alcoholic beers, and an inclusive environment where everyone, from families to nondrinking bartenders, can feel at home.

Miranda and Julia talk about expanding from one location to two, including the challenges, the growing pains, the logistics, and the systems that now allow them to manage both bars without burning out. They do it all without managers, relying instead on senior staff, strong communication, and an incredible culture that keeps employees for years.

They get into their famous menu staples (26 wing flavors and counting), how data, not personal preferences, drives menu decisions, and how they’ve learned to pivot based on trends, customer behavior, and cost efficiency.

They also share their advice for anyone dreaming of owning a bar: spend years learning the business inside out, expect to sacrifice your social life in the beginning, understand your market, choose the right location, and stay flexible when the market tells you to pivot.

Finally, the ladies highlight the community events that make Independence and Monmouth so special, from the huge Independence Day festival and summer concert series to their annual “Pabst & Tats” fundraiser supporting the Ash Creek Arts Center. Whether it's breakfast during the NFL Sunday Ticket, live events, or the family-friendly atmosphere at Rookie’s, there’s always something happening.

This episode is packed with laughter, honesty, and truly invaluable insights into entrepreneurship, partnership, and building something meaningful in a close-knit community. Whether you're a local, a business owner, or just someone who loves a great story over a great drink, you’ll love this one.

Pour a glass of something local (or a mocktail!) and enjoy the conversation. Cheers!

Thank you for listening! Connect and collaborate with Realtor Rashelle on any of her social media platform pages > https://linktr.ee/RealtorRashelle

Transcript

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Welcome to the Realtor Who Wines podcast. I'm Rachelle Newmeyer, your hostess with the mostest a student of life, a connector, a passionate wine enthusiast, and your local favorite guide. Join me as we explore the vibrant Pacific Northwest. Savor the finest wines and champion the spirit of entrepreneurship. Each episode, I'll sit down with inspiring guests, supporting business ownership and uncovering the stories that make this community unique. So grab a glass of wine, settle in, and let's embark on a journey of discovery and connection together. Cheers. Hi everyone. Welcome back to the realtor who whines. I'm Rachelle Neumeyer, your local realtor who loves to whine. Today I am in independence, Oregon with Miranda and Juliet at their sports bar. Thank you so much for having me. Cheers, cheers. Cheers for having us. Yeah, yeah. I'm excited. Please go ahead and introduce yourselves to everybody. Well, I'm Miranda Garrison, I'm co-owner of arena and rookie Sports Bars, and I'm Julia Parks, and I'm Miranda's business partner. And we own Arena Sports bar in Rocky Sports Town. I talk a little bit about how this relationship developed. Like, did you start off as friends? Did you meet in college? Like, how did you guys meet and then decide to become business partners? We met working here. Oh my gosh. Perfect. Yeah. In college. Yeah. We both worked here, through college and, became friends because we're in this industry and worked together, quite a few shifts really closely. When we got a lot of mutual friends in college as well that we. Sure. So we went to Western Oregon University, both of us. And we'd see each other at school and work, and we so liked each other. That's important. That's definitely important. Yeah. So you started out as servers, bartenders. Yeah. Yeah. And and what made the transition mentally and then also in life to go from that to ownership, I'm assuming management started first and then maybe dabbled into the ownership part. Yeah. It was kind of that system. Yeah. So we started as bartenders then, you know, shift leads. And then we worked here for a decade and years. Yeah. And we had graduated and we still weren't finding jobs in our fields. And, we enjoyed our jobs. Yeah, yeah. So we, we decided if we couldn't find jobs in our field of study, we wanted to we'll go into this industry together. Yeah, I love that. At that point, we were looking for bars to buy and, lamb at Valley of the Valley anywhere or startup locations. And the, owner of arena at the time knew that we were actively looking. And she made us an offer to buy the arena. Yeah. Nice. And she was, like, looking to retire then, and she had owned it for over 30 years at that point. And she was she still owns another bar in town. She just wanted to have the one she want to have downsize a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. So when she made that offer to you, what made you decide like, yeah, we want to stay with arena or did it just feel like it fit because you'd been here for so long? Yeah, it just felt like home. Yeah. It does feel like. Yeah. I love that time. And a lot of time here. What was something that surprised you about the purchasing like process and stuff, since you hadn't done that before, was there anything that caught you off guard or was it exactly what you expected? Well, we had really good mentors. We, worked with, Small Business Bureau and the Schumacher, the business development, and they had a mentor program. So they had helped us and they had guided us in, like, what that looks like and, and how to write a business plan. Profit and loss projection based on, the current profit and loss that Paul provided us. So that was a really interesting process. Yeah. And they you know, guidance because especially like, partnerships, usually don't work. Right. And I think that's why a lot of people always like to know how we've done it, because they don't usually work well on a lot. And that's why I asked if you were friends first or were you colleagues first, because sometimes, too, it's romantic to be like, oh, my best friend and I are going to open this. I don't want your business partners. You're like, I'm going to murder you. You know, because it's hard. Exactly. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Ding ding. Yeah. I think we, because we worked together for so long, we raised such a great working relationship, established already, and we knew kind of the ins and outs of the bar, but also the ins and outs of our strength to, and that really helped. I mean, a common goal. Yeah. And we also, like, we have a contract between us just it's our contract of like, what we will do and our expectations. And like, that was one thing our mentor taught. She's like, you want to have these hard conversations while you're still happy, right? Yeah. When things are back to it, not very often because we get along pretty well. But yeah, that's hard when the business changes or atmospheres changes. And so sometimes you have to remind yourself of foundations or goals that you had. Did, you know, because of working together already, like, oh, I'm going to be really good and on this part of the business and I'm going to own this part of the business. Like as far as like marketing, staffing and training, like who decided to do what kind of I think like that was the goal at the beginning is that we had kind of more clear ideas of what we wanted to do, in regards to those things. But it's changed throughout the year. Sure. Based on what's happening, in the community, what's happening in the bar, what's happening in our lives. So, those roles can change if we change that. Yeah, yeah. Well, and, well, like, we do have our strengths and weaknesses. We both do know how to do the other things, like. Yeah. And, like, we have really good checks and balances, like, you know, our accounts. Everyone, we both of us look at them, we, you know, inputs and then reconciling. And so that way, we're very transparent with everything. Yeah. Which is important. Yeah. I think that's. Yeah, one of the biggest keys to our success, is being so transparent. And honest. Yeah. What has been something that you've learned over because how long have you had this far now. 11 years. 12 years. Somewhere on there. Yeah. Six. Right. No. 14. 14 okay. I was thinking when we like when it changed tour arena, it used to be schooners. So. Got it. Yeah, yeah. So, 14 over the 14 years, what are some different things that you've learned as business owners and leaders in this industry? What have we learned? Oh, that we don't know anything. It's just like being a grown up. You're never actually you're. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I learned that, like, the level of community involvement in something that I had not anticipated. And it's really great. Being able to give back and be a participant and what's happening in the downtown activity is churn or with the college on Earth. Yeah. It's you know we are pretty involved. That's something that I learned. What else. Management. That was, has there been like some pain points with staffing or training staff especially like over the last decade like employee have changed retentions changed a little bit. Well, we actually are pretty lucky for a bar and restaurant, and I think that we've worked really hard at being good bosses. We when we started, we said we want to be the bosses that we always wanted, and we've done a pretty good job of that. So we keep our servers for a very long time. That's how we have ones that have been with us for a decade, I love that, yeah. Josh just celebrated his ten years. That's amazing. Yeah, I love that and all. Let it go, Josh. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Josh. Yeah. And we have people six, five years. Eight years. Yeah. And then they're very happy. Like we love it here. I'm like okay. Well I think it's we work really hard creating a culture specific culture that as we call it that the culture, and we get them to kind of buy into it. It's all about, you know, service and making our customers happy. Right? Enjoying themselves, but also keeping our staff happy, too. Absolutely. With whatever that. What, whatever they need to be successful. Well, we always say we want a fun and safe space for people to gather. Yeah, and that includes, you know, having staff that's trained, it has all the tools that they need. Yeah. You know, if they also need something like, I need this tool or I need this, I want to try this liquor. What we accommodate and we listen to them. We we really listen to what they want and need. Sure. How has that changed over the years? Like relationships with distributions or local companies like do people? Can people come in and be like, I'd love for you to carry our vodka, or do they have to go through a distribution type channel? No, they have they're they have sales reps that come in, usually, like our regional sales person will bring in somebody like, we have a liquor rep and we have beer reps and they'll have different people tag along with them like, hey, you want a beer? Yeah. You want to try this? Within individual, sales, from breweries and the woman and get samples so anybody can come in. Yeah. Samples and talk to us. Putting their product on. Okay. We are drinking some local spirits today and wine. Do you want to talk a little bit about what's in their glass. And we'll go this way. Yeah. This is a wild roots Marion Dairy martini. It's, made with wild roots vodka. And that is made in sisters. So very local, very Oregon. And it's probably one of my favorite vodkas out there. Yeah, they have really good flavored vodka. Yes. That are so fun. And different drinks for sure. Yeah, it's all real fruit. Yeah. They only use real fruit juice in their vodka. I so that's why I really like it. Yeah, yeah. And that's why it's red. It's not clear. Like the other Marion Barry vodkas are clear with the cranberries color. Yeah. That's pretty. Yeah. There's color to it. Yeah. And the artwork, on the label is really nice. Yeah. You're drinking a Bloody Mary. Yeah, I do believe me. This with the potato vodka, Cascade Street potato vodka, because I like that. And then, we have a signature Bloody Mary seasoning mix that we make and, different concoctions that go in it. Yeah, it's all the things that go into it. And that's the best part about a Bloody Mary. It's a drink and a snack. Yeah. It's healthy for me. I'm getting my vitamin A tomato juice. It's. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect morning. Absolutely. It's a balance. It's a balance. And I go ahead. Sorry to the cascade. Sweet potato vodka is also made by Wild Roots. Yeah, yeah. Just throw that out there. Yeah. But both locally. And then I'm drinking Eola Hill's Pinot Noir, which is also here in the Willamette Valley as well. So delicious. Just right up the road. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How, how's your palate changed over the years owning a bar? Like, do you go through different seasons? Like, we were talking about espresso martinis earlier? Has I always been something you enjoy it or has it kind of changed over the years? Yeah. You never know what I'm going to drink. Like I'm a mood person to. Yeah, I am what mood am I in? Drink? So, like, I will get to the bar and I'm like, I don't know, I gotta think, I gotta think. Also, the temperature weighs on me, too. Like, if it's a million degrees outside, I can't drink certain things. Yeah, well, I'm already sweating. I don't need that. You know? Yeah. Summer. Like gin and tonic, right? Winter, like, you know, warm drinks, coffee, you know, nudge, coffee, nudge or something. But, Yeah. So me, I've always been, but I've always been that way. I've always kind of, wherever and whenever my heart takes me. Yeah. I've got my, like, the five things that I like to drink consistently. Julia's top five, and here we go. This is one of them. Yeah. But I like to try new things. So if I go out somewhere, I'll usually order something off of their drink. You sure you want to check out? Do it. And I am just figuring out my love for gin. So that is not something that I've really cared for in the past. Like I'm really liking some gin drinks. Nice. Yeah I love that. So you own arena Sports bar and then you mentioned another location or you want to talk about the other location. Yeah. Yeah. So we own rookie sports tap in Monmouth. So like Monmouth independents are basically they're nested. They're connected. They're they're really close. And it is a family friendly bar, which is a and it's more of a tap house. We have 40 different beers on draft. So there's something for everybody and lots of ciders. Oh if you're a cider drinker, we have at least ten of them are ciders. Which is really good. And we just got a gluten free beer on draft now too, which is. Yeah, really great. Really? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, just fish. Great. Great IPA. Yeah. It's really good. If I didn't if you didn't tell me it was gluten free, I wouldn't, you know. Yeah. That's, we also have, nonalcoholic root beer for kids. Oh, cool. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. So we get a lot more families over there that want to watch the games, and it's actually really cute. This is my third. You'll get dads, and they get their beer, and their kids will get their root beer and sit and watch the sports games together. It, and that's a lot of fun. Yeah. That's so cute. What made you decide? Like, you know what? This is going great. Let's open a second location. Or did it kind of come out of nowhere? Like, did someone reach out to you? Did you reach out to them? Well, so when we bought arena, we thought, like, what are our goals? You know, what are our five year goals? And sure, when we got five, ten, 15, 20 year goals, yeah, we decided that we wanted to expand on some level and we were getting close to that five year goal and hadn't really found anything or weren't really looking that hard. And, our friend Alex Trevino owned rookies, so, we knew that he had moved to Lincoln City and was traveling back and forth every day. Also busy doing, like the summer concert series for Independence and Lincoln City and some other things. And he is partial on a rusty truck as well, brewery in Lincoln City. So yeah. So we emailed him and asked him if he was interested in selling. Oh yeah. We're just like, well. And we also like, thought about the different bars in town before we. Yeah, we're like, well, hey, what fits with us and who we are and her style and what we like and we're like rookies is it just made the most sense to add to our portfolio. So what did you learn about managing two locations versus one? Like, was there anything that it's kind of like when you have one kid and you're like, oh, this is great, I'm ready for two. And then you get to kitchen like, Holy cow, what am I doing? Or was it not like that? There were some growing pains, a little bit, but not too bad because there's two of us. When people always ask us, oh, does one take care of one? One take care of the other? I'm like, nope. We both go back and forth. It's really just about like we talk in the morning like, hey, where are you at? What are you doing? And you know, what can you do today? And we were really good at dividing and conquering. And that's why it's important we both know how to do everything. Yeah. So we're like, oh okay. Well that makes the most sense for you to go to cash and Carry day. And I'll go over here and, you know, Oh. Then do you have managers at each location also help or do you manage both locations? We manage both locations. We don't have, a manager per se. But we do have senior staff who kind of take over some, duties. Sure. Like closing up or opening if one of you can't kind of a thing. Yeah. Or doing deposits of meat, or helping with the ordering. Yeah. Doing the Sysco order. Right. Yeah. Cash and carry. Well, cash will always be cash and carry, you know. Yeah. And I'm sorry. Us food chef store. It's cash carry. What about your menus? Like how have they changed over the years or like, do you have your tried and true I see like the hot wings behind us over here as a staple. We always have the hot wings. We have 26 different flavors. We do a seasonal one of them up sauce of the month. And we are known for our chicken wings here. They're really really really good. But the rest of the menu does change quite a bit. Yeah. Well wings and burgers stay. Yeah. Pretty consistent. And we'll add something and we look at, I'll look at a lot of reports. The numbers don't lie. What's selling what's not sure what's, what's price appropriately what's not, you know, so we're kind of figuring out what's working and what doesn't. Something's not selling. Then we'll try something else. Yeah, that is the key, because Miranda might like something, and I might think that it's not selling or selling, you know. Yeah, but. And then we'll run reports and we're like, oh, no, I bought all four of those. Yeah, yeah. And the numbers don't lie. And I think that that is a thing that a lot of restaurant owners do is that they'll say, well, I feel or I like or whatever. Sure. And it's not about that. It's about the numbers. Like, what do your customers like, what do what makes the most of sense according to cost to make time to make and selling and using data to analyze things is really important. Yeah. How often with like inflation and things like that. Do you reevaluate pricing on the menus? Pretty often. When I say quarterly, quarterly. This year we've been looking at, the trends, the cost trends a little bit more closely. Because the cost of things are higher ups. So, we're watching that a little bit more closely. But usually we do a pretty in-depth quarterly analysis. Nice. Yeah. And have you seen the costs go up significantly. Not necessarily on your menus but like on the back end. Oh yes. Yeah. Yeah yeah. Last year our accountant did our taxes and he goes I don't know what you need to do, but you need to do something because your cost of goods is through the roof. We know, we know. Yeah. What? Knowing our best. Yeah. But you can only raise prices so much, right? You gotta find that sweet spot and do things. And I think we. Yeah, we found it. We found a sweet spot. Other things that are not just like menu items. The costs are going up. Sure. Like napkins and all that stuff. Yeah. It's like it's those things that, that you don't kind of see that are behind the scenes of definitely increases. Yeah. But it has gone up quite a bit. I think it's funny. Yeah. Check. Yeah. Shopping. Yeah. But it's the other little things that. Yeah, it's all the little things that add up. Definitely. So what is some advice that you would give anybody that was like thinking about like the person you were when you wanted to buy this. Like if that same person was like I've been working in the industry for about ten years, I think I want to own. What are some advice you give them on, like where to start? Well, I definitely would tell them to have a really solid three years where you just want to work and not have any life. Yeah, that's any investment for sure. Yeah. People don't realize how much time it takes when you first buy a business, because you just don't know how to do things efficiently. Sure. And start. Yeah, yeah. And that learning curve is hard. And you have to spend time inside the business. You can't learn it from your house. So you're in the, you know wherever you are. We were behind that bar so much that first couple of years I mean. Const s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I think also doing market research about where what you want to do and where you want to be to make sure that that is a viable business. Yeah. For the location that you want. Because it's businesses are there hard and you want to make sure that you're making money. Truly that's ultimately that's the goal right. Make it look like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Provide something for you in your family. Yeah. Well is it a service that that that town region area needs. Like do you have to fill a need and a want and if and that's an important aspect. Absolutely. One I liked what you said about being flexible too. And like because I think sometimes entrepreneurs, especially green ones that are just starting and just wanting to dabble in their own business, have this idea like, this will be great. And then the market tells them different and they don't pivot and they're this like, no, but this is great. And you're like, but the market's telling you it would be if you just shifted a little bit. And so I love that you were like the numbers don't lie. Like yeah speak to the numbers. Move to the numbers. Yeah. Well you have to follow the trends too. Yeah. Like you said, there are trends with, cocktails or beers that we used. What about mocktails. That's a really popular thing right now. How have you shifted to incorporate mocktails. I'm actually really glad you brought that. Yeah. The younger generation aren't drinking right. They're just not. But they do like to go out. Great. So we have a mocktail menu. We have 5 or 6 different nonalcoholic beers available. And we really try to cater that. They used to be like Dry January, but now it's they're just they're not drinking as much, but they want to hang out still. So that's great. Yeah. And you know what? The nonalcoholic IPA has the same price as the other IPA. So I really am as a business owner. Yeah. It's not impacting you. I didn't actually if they don't come, but if they come and order nonalcoholic versus alcohol, that doesn't impact your bottom line. And they taste pretty good. Yeah. So and we're getting more bartenders that don't drink. Which is a really nice trend because you know bartenders are pretty well known for taking shots. And you know Oregon doesn't allow that. So you would never do that at our house. Absolutely not. We're compliant everywhere when they're off work. You know. But we have a lot of bartenders that don't drink and, and it's fine, but they're still great servers, right? And it's just a different culture. Yeah, it totally is. I've noticed that a lot. And I've used to like speaking to different restaurant owners, and wineries and things, and they're trying to figure out how to shift their business to accommodate the new culture, but also the seasoned culture of who their clientele is. Yeah. I think that we really try hard to do that. Again, coming back to circling back to, environment and culture. You know, we work really hard to make sure that this is a good place for everybody, that everybody is welcome, all ages, all walks of life, that everybody can come here and have a good time. Yeah. Rookies, do you also have nonalcoholic beer on tap there, too? Yeah, not on tap, but we do have it in the in the kitchen. Yeah, yeah. All right. Cool. Yeah. You have to have the nonalcoholic now. Yeah, you just have to, we don't have any CBD stuff, but no yet future. Yeah. That's becoming more and more. It is. Yeah. It's coming in and stuff like that. Yeah. What is on the horizon for you? Like, what's the next five, ten years look like another. Do you think you'll acquire a third location? We've talked about it, and we're always kind of keeping our ears to the ground to see if there's something that fits, our culture. In our life. Yeah. It has to fit into our lives. So what, do you want it to be in this area? Or would you maybe expand a little bit more? Realistically, it'd have to be pretty close. Because if you're in if you're in the establishment, right. Today, I don't want something that's too far away on our way that I have. Absolutely. It's just not. It's not feasible. Yeah, totally not something close. Yeah. Why, when we figure it out, well, we'll know. I will know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, tell us. Yeah, it's like just like arena and rookies like our heads just tell us. So. Yep. That's where we need to be. Yeah. And and the opportunity came up and it was, I love that we're really lucky to have, been there at the right time. We worked really hard at it to. It's not just luck. No. We are filming right now in October, but this will actually be live and December. What are there any events or anything that, like you guys have over the years that people should know to check you guys out? Like, I know independence does a great 4th of July parade, so I'm sure you do stuff during that. Like are there different events? When would be a great time? Yeah, the non-local wanted to drive up from Portland Or come over and check you out. Well, I always say Independence Day is really big and independence, right? Like it makes sense. It's our time and that's our name. Yeah, yeah. So we do a huge festivals right over the in the park. There's fireworks. They shoot them off over the river. It is just it's fun. It's a good time. Lots of. Yeah. I've cut the parade a few times. Yeah. The parade is great. Rotary Club does that and it's wonderful. That summer concert series all summer long. So that's really nice. That's free on Friday nights, and then we're just right across the park from that so people can come in and have a drink and just grab something to eat. Yeah, grab something to eat. Yeah. We our signature events, we always do the paps and tats, fundraiser for ash Creek Arts Center. Oh, in November. So that will be after that. That's one of our big events that we do the local arts center. We partner with, tattoo shop across the street and street tattoo. Yep. And paps and we do, and then pretty much all of our vendors, we solicit all of our vendors. So like, yeah, Jeff, we have to just that are all our liquor wraps, right. Give us swag. Yeah. Please. And so Pendleton's really good about Pendleton helps us a lot. And then all of Jeff and our, bureau reps help us out. Yeah. And we raffle that. All the proceeds go to Ash Creek Art center. It's a local nonprofit. Very cool. Support arts of all mediums for all ages. I love that. And then obviously you can catch games here. You have games on all the time with the NFL Sunday Ticket. So we open early for the first game. Yeah. We open at 930 on Sundays during the NFL season. Other than that would normally open at 11. Yeah we it's pretty normal. Yeah. But for football we open up early. Yeah. And serve breakfast. That's the only day we serve breakfast. Oh I love that. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. So much for having me today and for sharing your journey with me. I really appreciate it. And if you're ever in the independence area or in Monmouth, definitely go check out one of their locations or both. Make a day out of it. But drive responsibly. Okay. We have a hotel in town. Oh that's true. Cheers. Cheers. Thank you. Thanks everyone for listening. I can't wait to see you next week.