(upbeat rock music) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

I live just outside the small town of Bradford, Illinois.

I know the importance of what a small restaurant or small cafe, and even a good bar, means to a small town, but it seems like so many times it's like a revolving door.

But there are some towns that have that staple, that place that has been there and that the whole town loves.

And I always think to myself, "What are they doing different than everybody else?"

Well, today we're gonna be talking with Megan Couch, the owner of Red's.

How you doing, Megan?

- I'm good.

How are you?

- Meg's is in Sheffield, Illinois.

Which if people in Peoria have never been to Sheffield, how would they get there?

- 40, Route 40.

- Yeah.

Straight up Route 40.

And you got kick a little bit on Six, right?

- Yeah, just for like three miles.

- Yeah.

Psycho Silo, you're .

.

.

- Yep.

We love Silo, yes.

- How far away from?

- Three miles.

- Is that it?

- Mm-hmm, like you hit 40, or you hit Six, and they're just right on the corner.

- Okay.

All right.

I'm not blowing smoke.

Your place in Sheffield, when we go there, Emily's like, "Are we gonna find a spot to eat?"

You know, you guys are busy.

You're consistently busy.

- It's good.

We love it.

- Well, let's start from the beginning.

How did you get started in the restaurant slash bar business?

- Well, actually my first job was in a restaurant, restaurant and bar in Tiskilwa called Kelly's Place.

- Oh yeah.

- It's no longer there anymore.

- It isn't?

- The actual Kelly, somebody else bought it.

- Oh.

- But Kelly retired.

Good for her.

But yeah, I started there and then when I moved to Sheffield - They had tacos.

- Yeah.

Indian tacos.

- Yeah.

- They were the best.

They were the best.

- Anyway.

Okay.

- But then I went to, I moved to Sheffield with my brother and then I started working at Six and 34.

- I don't know what that is.

- John Cernovich owned it.

He owned Cerno's Bar and Girl in Kewanee.

- Oh.

Now that would be like the other place.

You're like, you're talking about staples.

- Yeah.

Huge staple.

- That place.

- Over 20 years.

- The same way.

It's always busy.

- Yeah.

- So he, I don't get it.

He owned?

- Six and 34.

- Which is where you're at?

- Yes.

Right before Red's was Six and 34.

- Oh, okay.

So like, how long had they owned that?

- I think he had it for seven or eight years.

I worked there for about seven years.

- Well, when did the place that you own, when did that originally start?

Like the beginning, the history of it?

- Of Red's?

The whole building?

- [Rob] Was that with Cerno?

- No, it's been, I mean, there's been so many owners.

- Oh, okay.

- So many owners.

- Again, it's like a revolving door.

- It's been there forever.

- And you've actually, you've got a picture of it, right?

- Yep.

- Now I saw this picture and it didn't- - It's cool.

- It didn't make any sense to me.

- No it doesn't.

- Because I've been in your place, I'm like, that's, is it a mirror image or something?

Because you've got the bar here, but that's not there anymore.

- [Megan] Nope.

It's back on the other side.

- So it's flipped over.

And this, like, where the bar is, that's a bunch of booths?

- Yep.

And I do believe they've moved it a couple times.

- Did you move 'em?

- No.

- So when you got there, it's the way it is.

- Yeah.

The layout's the same.

- Okay.

That's a pretty cool picture.

- I love it.

- They got the cigars.

You should sell cigars.

- Yeah.

I don't know about that now.

- Yeah, that looks like more of a, like they're selling ice cream.

- Curly's Cafe.

- Is that what it is?

- Mm-hmm.

- Was this a kitchen in the back?

- Yep.

Yep.

Where the games are now, our games and our bathrooms are back here, but their kitchen was there.

- Okay.

All right.

So you started in Tiskilwa and then you went to the place you own now and you were just what, like a waitress?

- No, I started out doing dishes.

- Oh.

- When I was 17.

Dishes, I learned how to cook, and then I went out front.

Just do whatever you gotta do.

- Out front.

Does that mean a waitress?

- Oh, front house.

Waitress, bartend.

- Okay.

- Whatever.

- You were bartending at 17 or whatever?

- Well, no.

- I mean, it's Sheffield.

- I think 19.

We're gonna say 19.

(laughs) - You didn't own it.

You can say.

- We'll just say 19.

(Megan and Rob laugh) Get nobody in trouble.

(Megan and Rob laugh) - So how did that progress then?

- After then?

- Yeah.

- John just said basically he wanted to be done and he said, "Do you want this opportunity?"

And I was like, "Oh, I don't know if that's a good idea or not."

And then I was like, "Well, I'm young, so why not give it a try."

I've done everything in the business, so I'm glad I did it.

- So how old were you when you bought it?

- 23.

- 23 years old.

- Paid it off in 10 years.

- You're kidding me.

- No, it was really.

- Really?

- Yeah, it was great.

- So what, I'm trying to think of what I was doing at 23 and it wasn't anything constructive at all.

- It wasn't always constructive, but.

- I can imagine that was a ton of work to- - It was.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

- Are you a workaholic?

- I mean, not as much anymore, but I definitely was.

I like to work.

- Do you like, those first years, do you have any idea, like a guess, how many hours you're putting in a week?

- I don't know.

80.

At least.

Probably.

- Were you open every day?

- Mm-hmm.

We did seven days a week.

Now we're just five, thankfully.

- What days do you take off?

- Monday, Tuesdays.

The ones everybody takes off because they're not profitable.

- Is that why?

- Yeah.

- It's like, you want to go out on a Monday and Tuesday, you gotta Google first.

- Correct.

And that really does suck.

Trying to go somewhere on our days off 'cause everywhere is closed.

- So now you got to imagine, well, what if I do open Monday?

Because I'll be the only place.

Have you thought about that?

- We have thought about opening just the bar on Mondays and Tuesdays 'cause we don't have another bar in Sheffield.

It's just us for the bar portion.

- [Rob] That doesn't make, how many churches do you have in Sheffield?

- I don't know.

Three, four?

- Because I think that's a state law, for every church, you're supposed to have a bar and something's off of whack then.

- I know.

We definitely need another bar in Sheffield.

- Sheffield's- - In my opinion.

- They've got some good things going for 'em.

We had the people that were running the Royal Mart.

- Yep.

- And there's a health clinic.

I mean, so you guys have got some good things going, but it seems like these bars, these restaurants, they have a hard time bringing back the locals time and time again.

I don't see that as a problem with you.

So my question is, what are you doing different?

- I don't know.

I mean, the food part is just consistent food.

- [Rob] Mm-hmm.

- But the bar part, I don't know.

Just be friendly?

(Rob and Megan laugh) I just don't wish I said that.

- The food part is absolutely 100% correct.

Because that's the thing, I don't even need like the best food in the world.

But when I go to a place, I wanna know what I'm expecting.

- Yep.

- So if I'm gonna go back there, I want the same experience that I had last time.

- Yep.

- You're always consistent.

But I can't imagine, I don't run a restaurant, but I can't imagine you have the same cook all the time.

How do you keep the consistency?

- You just have to train 'em and hope they listen to you.

(Megan and Rob laugh) - Do you have a problem finding people?

- I mean, right now, no.

Knock on wood.

- But yes, in the past- - This is not real wood.

- Shh, shh, shh.

We're gonna pretend.

But in the past it has been very hard sometimes to get help that's good, that cares, yeah.

- It seems like you are able to hold on to employees.

- Yeah, my manager's been with me the whole time.

13 years.

- Really?

- Mm-hmm.

Carly.

- Okay.

Okay, again, you gotta give up some of your secrets because people are looking at you going, "How did they make it?"

- I don't know, I think a lot of it are, we have really good customers and I mean they make good money doing what they do and why not?

Five hour shift.

You know.

- I've been in there and you have a lot of farmers.

They are not good customers.

- Why?

- Because we complain a lot and we're cheap.

- I don't, I don't know.

You think that's true?

I don't think that's true.

- It's damn true.

(Megan laughs) We're always grumpy.

- I mean, I can think of a couple, but not overall.

- Out of all the customers you have, which one do you like the least?

- Why would I answer that question?

(laughs) - Somebody came to mind.

- Yeah, no.

(Megan and Rob laugh) I don't know anybody.

I don't know who you're talking about at all.

- Going back to when you were 23 and you bought this place, what were some of the biggest hurdles that you can remember?

- Honestly, just getting respect from certain types of people.

- Farmers.

- It's always farmers.

(Megan and Rob laughs) No, but that was probably the worst.

You would say you wanted something and they wouldn't do it because I was young and they just thought I didn't know what I was doing.

So we just had to prove them wrong.

- Did you have to, like, hammer down with a firm fist?

- Yeah, I mean, I became not a nice person sometimes.

- [Rob] Well, sometimes you kinda have to.

- I had to.

Yeah.

- Or else you wouldn't be owning this place.

- No.

No, they would've just walked all over me, so.

- Yeah, do you think that's sometimes what people, because a lot of times they'll start and they'll want to be friends with all the people that work with 'em and being 10 minutes late turns into an hour late, that type of thing.

- Mm-hmm.

- Do you think that happens to a lot of these places?

- Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

- But you.

- I don't know.

You can only put it up with it for so long.

- Yeah.

It always kills me because people that do that, it's like that's your place, that's your dream, and you're letting other people tank it.

Do you think it's just because they want to be liked?

- I don't know.

I just don't think some people are maybe good at just telling people off, or like, this is what you signed up to do and you have to do it and if you don't wanna do it, then too bad.

And I'm sorry, but you gotta go.

- Okay.

- Because I mean, people walked all over me in the beginning for years because I was too nice.

- Yeah, well you were 23.

- But it's either that, it's that or I mean you lose everything.

Like you have to, you know, tell 'em like, "This is how we're doing it.

If you don't like it too bad, then you gotta go," because you're gonna lose everything and you can't do that.

I mean, there was a point in working so many hours.

- Mm-hmm.

Well see that's the thing.

I think you're very humble in the fact that you're like, "I had to do this."

You were 23 years old.

I don't think most people have the maturity or the experience to know that they have to step up to do that.

But maybe some of it has to go with the fact that you said that you were started at what age, at Tiskilwa?

- Oh, 14, Kelly's.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

So you probably had some.

- Seen a lot.

- Tell me about the first experience there at Kelly's, your first job.

- Oh, when I didn't know how to use a mop bucket.

(laughs) That's so embarrassing.

But I didn't.

And yeah, that was just embarrassing.

- Do you remember that now when you have a new employee- - Yes, that doesn't know how to do dishes or do laundry or yeah, you have to teach 'em the very basics, yeah.

- You have to have a lot of- - But we've all been there.

I mean, you have to learn somehow.

- I would imagine that takes a lot of patience.

- Yeah, sometimes I just have somebody else do it.

(Megan and Rob laugh) - That's delegating as part of being a manager and an owner though.

- It is.

And I did my time.

(Megan and Rob laugh) - So you bought the bar.

You've added onto it, haven't you?

- Oh my gosh.

We added on so much.

More than what the original square footage is, we've added on, and it's been wonderful for us.

- [Rob] So what all have you added?

- We put another bar outside.

More seating, we ended up doing garage doors, what, two years ago, I think?

There's a stage out there.

And then we've always had volleyball courts and we're gonna do rolle bolle.

That's the next thing.

- What?

- Bring back rolle bolle.

- I don't know what that is.

- I think it's a Belgian game.

They play it in like Annawan, Mineral, Atkinson.

- They do a lot of of weird stuff up there.

- I know, and I didn't know what it was either, but people really like it in our area.

So.

- Is it like bowling?

- I think it's more like horseshoes.

- Oh, okay.

- But with like a rolle ball.

(laughs) I don't know.

- You gonna do that on the sand?

- No, I think that has to be done on like lime.

- Oh - Yeah.

- I guess I'll have to- - You'll have to check it out 'cause where the volleyball courts is, it'll be back.

- Okay.

- Where we just fenced in more area.

- Putting the volleyball courts in there, do you think that's helped your business?

- Oh, they were there before, but they're wonderful.

This year we had 18 teams.

Nine Wednesday and nine on Thursday.

It's great.

People eat, drink, they have a great time.

- So like a, well.

- Leagues.

- A league.

Yeah, I can't think of the name of it.

Are those local people?

- Yeah.

- So you being in Sheffield, you're kind of in an oddity, right?

You have Princeton, you have Kewanee that are 15.

- Yeah.

- Apart.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then north and south, not a whole lot.

Buda.

Woo hoo.

Yeah, so where are you drawing people in from?

- I think all over, really.

I think we've done well.

45 minutes around, I would say, on average we do.

- [Rob] They'll come from 45 minutes, huh?

Oh that's- - It's great.

- I don't mean this as an insult, but I mean.

- It's okay.

- You're just a bar.

Right?

- I know.

- It's not like fine food or something like that.

- People just say it's like better than bar food.

'Cause they'll say it's like bar food, but it's not.

It's better than bar food.

And I really appreciate that.

- The food is, I mean, it's fantastic.

It is consistent and when you say medium rare, the burger comes out medium rare.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- We try.

- [Rob] Your waitresses are kind of mean though.

- No, they're not.

I mean, if you deserve it, yeah.

- Well I like to take hunters there and then they'll go there on their own.

they'll come back and they're like, "Man, these waitresses are really rough on us."

- I mean, I know who you're talking about.

(laughs) And if you give it to them, they're allowed to give it back to a certain degree.

- Uh huh.

I'm pretty sure they deserved it.

- Oh.

(Megan and Rob laugh) Oh God.

I don't think Steph ever waited on you though.

- I don't know who that is.

- She gets more riled up.

- [Rob] Oh well, they don't need that.

Yeah.

- It's funny though.

(laughs) - So did you put on a kitchen too?

- No, we never- - The kitchen was already there?

- And the kitchen is small.

We kind of landlocked ourselves when we did the walk-in cooler and the freezer and then we did the walkway and then the volleyball courts were to there.

So it's not, you can't really move it anymore, unless we move everything.

- And there's road on each side, right, so you can't take over?

- Correct.

- Yeah.

Unless, would you ever move?

- Mm-mm.

No.

- Yeah, 'cause that's.

- It's Red's.

- Well, and okay, let's take the German restaurant in Bradford, right?

- That was a good restaurant.

- He was absolutely slaughtering it, then went to Peoria.

- I know.

- Did not work.

- I know.

- And that was the end of it.

- Mm-hmm.

- So do you keep that in mind, because there's probably that people are like, "You need to be a bigger place.

You need to take over the Dollar Store."

- All the time.

"You need more seating, you need more of this."

I'm like, "We can't, though."

Like our kitchen is so small and I don't wanna go to another place.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Because why would you change it?

Because you know when, like when places remodel, and then people will go in and be like, "Oh, the food's not the same anymore."

- [Rob] Yeah.

- You can't win.

- Everybody wants to go to a place that has a lot of people in it, but yet, they don't wanna be by people.

- Correct.

And they don't wanna wait, yeah.

- Yeah.

Well.

- Mm-hmm.

- Your stuff comes out pretty fast, though.

- We try.

I mean, I just go back there.

We all help each other.

- How many times now do you have to step in as a cook?

- Well, I cook every lunch shift.

- Oh, do you?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- And then right now, this time of year, like Fridays, sometimes, they get really busy.

So I'll go back and help.

Or if something seems to be taking longer than it should, then I'll just go back and throw my apron on and try to get 'em caught up.

- What's a, I mean, what's the goal for the future?

Is it to be just- - Retire early.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- I mean, I don't really know if that'll happen, but that would be great.

- Okay.

- Travel.

- Oh yeah.

- I love to travel.

- Bora Bora.

- Yes.

I wanted to go when I hit my 10 year mark, but then COVID hit, so that didn't happen.

- Oh.

- But COVID really wasn't that bad for us overall.

We kind of got lucky.

- For Red's?

- Yeah.

- Did you guys close?

- I mean we closed when, what?

In the beginning when they made us close.

- [Rob] Like two weeks, everything closed, right?

- I can't really remember.

- Yeah.

- It seems like a long time ago.

No, but we didn't really follow a lot of the rules.

The masking.

- You can say that now.

- Yeah.

(Rob and Megan laugh) But yeah, we only got turned in twice, so it's fine.

- Oh, that's not bad, actually.

- That's not bad at all.

- Probably the same person.

- No, I know who they were and they were definitely different people.

(Megan and Rob laugh) - All right, now you are, you're a humble person.

You don't like to talk about yourself, but now you have to.

Okay?

- Okay.

- Tell me about all the things you have done to give back to the community.

- I don't know.

I just feel like when somebody asks, I try to always give something.

I do a lot for the school, I feel like.

I don't know if you can say it that way.

Does that sound rude or weird?

- Didn't I just say you have to talk about yourself?

This is a time you're being forced to brag about yourself.

- I don't know.

I donate for the school, to the town.

The fire department just asked for something for kids and I can't even remember.

I just try to- - Do you just write a check?

- Yeah.

I just try to donate as much as I can.

- Actually, I need some stuff for a project that we're doing.

- No.

- Is it because I live in Bradford?

- For what?

(laughs) It's 'cause you're a farmer, remember?

(Rob and Megan laugh) - Touche.

(Rob and Megan laugh) It says something to give back.

And again, it's rare that you see a restaurant like that.

I can think of one in Kewanee, where we talked about.

Well, two, the Mexican restaurant's killing it there too.

- Yeah.

- And then you guys in Sheffield.

I don't know, there used to be Spoons in Princeton.

- That's back.

They reopened.

- I just realized people in Peoria could care less about (laughs) restaurants.

- They have a lot of choices.

- You should come up north.

We do have some really good stuff.

What does it take to, how long of a drive was it to get here from Peoria?

- Well today the weather was not nice, but what was it, 45 minutes normally, I think?

- That's not bad.

- 50 minutes?

No, it's not bad at all.

- Yeah.

- That's easy.

- So in the summer you got Psycho Silo.

- Mm-hmm, love Silo.

They bring us a lot of traffic - For people that have no idea what it is, explain what that is.

- What Silo is?

- Yeah.

- It's like an outside biker bar.

- Yeah.

- But you don't have, I mean, it's kid friendly.

- [Rob] You can drive a minivan there, right, not get beat up?

- Yep.

You could drive a four wheeler or a side by side, a bicycle.

They don't care.

Nobody cares.

It's just a place to hang out.

It's really cool.

- It kind of has that feel like, maybe that's what I would see out in Sturgis.

- Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- That makes sense.

- So they bring in a ton of people, every weekend in the summer.

- Mm-hmm.

- And here you are, three miles away, they have food out there, right.

- Thriving.

Yes.

I appreciate them.

They tell people to come over.

So it's great.

- Yeah, that's, if there's ever a time maybe we're like, "Eh, no, let's not go to Red's because it's a Saturday night in the summer and it's gorgeous out and we know we're not gonna get in."

- And we're gonna be hammered.

- Yeah.

- It's wonderful.

It's crazy to go from summertime to this time, this time of year, 'cause you're like, you get bored.

You're just bored because you're so used to going crazy.

- What are you talking about?

We were just in there last week and we took the last- - But it's not the same pace.

It's totally different.

It can still be full, but it's not the same thing as summertime crazy.

- [Rob] Uh huh.

- Summertime is a different beast.

- With those doors on the outside part, can you run that all year?

- The garage doors?

Yeah.

- The outside bar, with the outside bar.

- The shed.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- We call it the shed.

That's what we named it.

But yeah, we put a heater in there, so I think we use it Thursdays through Sundays.

Just not Wednesdays.

- And how often do you have music?

- Rarely anymore.

We had it more in the summertime, but it didn't really pull a whole lot.

- Can I be honest?

- Yeah.

- I generally don't go when they have bands.

- Seriously?

- It's always, ugh.

- Too loud?

- I didn't say that.

- I did.

- Because that's what an old man would say.

- No, I agree with you though.

- Yeah, it's generally too loud and I appreciate local musicians, but sometimes.

- No, I agree.

We've had disagreements with bands in the past because they are too loud.

And they'll be like, "Oh yeah, I turned it down."

It's like, yeah, saying when I'm gonna go turn the thermostat up, which I'm not gonna do either.

(Rob and Megan laugh) But it's the same thing.

They just pretend.

I'm like, we can still hear it.

- Yeah.

- And I hate that 'cause I don't like when the music is too loud.

- I don't think the camera guy agrees.

I think he.

Volume up?

- He likes it loud?

(laughs) - No, okay.

He agrees with it.

See, everybody agrees.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

Have you ever thought about doing like a juggler or something like that?

- A juggler?

- I don't know.

Something?

- No.

- Like you ever seen those people that bring their dogs in that do the tricks?

Just anything to entertain.

See that's the thing.

You don't need to entertain people because you're serving cold drinks and good food.

- I don't know.

What do you mean?

Why would I bring in a juggler?

You mean like a comedian?

Is that a better example?

I don't understand.

- What if I wanted to watch somebody juggle?

- Who wants that?

(laughs) - You ever see that?

Dude, sometimes they get like five up there.

Can you do that?

- No.

- I appreciate the skill it takes.

- Well I'm glad you like that.

- I would love to eat a delicious breakfast burger at Red's while watching somebody- - While we juggle them?

- Juggle chainsaw.

How about that?

- Sure, sure.

- That would be too loud too.

(Rob and Megan laugh) Chocolate labs.

- Oh, my dogs.

Yes, I have three chocolate labs.

- [Rob] Three of 'em.

Are they all adult?

- No, one's three and then the other two are six months old.

- [Rob] Oh, they're puppies.

Are they litter mates?

- Yep.

- Okay.

Is there any other dog in the world besides a chocolate lab?

- We've had two other labs and one was yellow and one was black.

So yeah, it's only chocolate labs now.

(laughs) - [Rob] Do you know what my wife has?

- What?

- She has a French bulldog.

- Oh, they're cute.

- No.

- Why not?

- No.

And not only are they ugly, but they are dumb as a stump.

You see this bell right here?

This bell has more use in this world than her dog, my dog, my wife's dog.

Now I have a yellow lab.

- It's just to be a companion.

A buddy.

- It's an idiot.

- (laughs) That's your opinion.

- Okay, stop by and meet my dog sometime- - No thanks.

- And then meet my wife's dog and you tell me you disagree with me.

(Rob and Megan laugh) - I would probably lie.

So it's fine.

- Are you on social media?

- Yeah, just Facebook.

- Okay.

- I don't really do a lot.

It's just Red's on Facebook.

- Okay.

- Red's Bar and Grill, I believe.

- And is it mainly for, do mainly people check that to see if you're open?

- Yeah, I mean we closed one time and then for the next three weeks, they call, "Are you open today?"

I'm like, "Oh my god."

- What?

You just closed 'cause you closed?

- Yeah.

I can't remember.

We just closed for one day.

Oh, we went to a wedding.

So instead of closing the whole weekend, we just closed Saturday.

So whatever.

But, I lost my train of thought.

But they would call just because we just closed for one wedding.

Then they'll call for a while.

- Okay.

- To see if we're open.

- What is the most popular drink?

- Beer.

Draft beer is very popular again.

- [Rob] Oh, which one?

- Let's say Coal Creek.

- [Rob] That's what I drink because I drink the local stuff.

- They love that.

- Yeah.

But you know, I think you only had one on tap.

- Yeah, we only have one Coal Creek.

We have five tap handles right now.

I wanna get more, but we need to move the system into the basement so we have more space for it.

And my husband's gonna hate that.

- You know, I just, I've thought of something.

Why are you fighting spreading out?

Second story.

- No.

- He could have- - That sounds like a liability.

- Okay.

Focus.

You could just go up instead of out.

You could even do parking up there.

- No.

Yeah.

- Or you could do like, the motorcycles from Psycho Silo, could do like a jump off the second.

- That's a great idea.

- It really is.

- I wonder how much my insurance would be.

- Well, you don't have to buy insurance.

- You know you don't have to.

- Legally you don't have to.

- That would work well.

(laughs) - I love your place.

- Well thank you.

- My family loves your place.

It's a place that Emily and I will go to have a beer and a burger.

But it's also a place that we will bring our 15-year-old to, you know, you've found that rare, rare mix of a good place to just hang out and have fun, but yet the kids and the family are welcome too.

The food's always consistent.

Yeah, I should be charging you for a commercial here.

But your place is amazing and I think you ought to be really proud of it.

- Thank you.

- So Megan Couch, thank you for being here.

- Oh, thank you very much.

- Everybody else, catch you next time.

(upbeat rock music) (upbeat rock music continues) (upbeat rock music continues)