0:00

This is the Good Neighbor podcast

0:02

, the place where local businesses

0:04

and neighbors come together . Here's

0:06

your host , jeremy Wolf .

0:12

Hello everyone and welcome

0:14

back to another episode of the Good Neighbor podcast

0:16

. I'm your host , jeremy Wolf , and

0:19

our guest today . Let me give a little background

0:21

here . She was nominated by a

0:23

past guest of the show and

0:25

I actually had the pleasure . Probably

0:28

three , four weeks ago I stopped by to eat

0:31

at her restaurant , at her bar , and

0:33

what a wonderful place . I didn't , I had never

0:36

been there before . They're right on the outskirts of Cooper

0:38

City , right over in Pembroke Pines . I'm

0:40

here with Jennifer Everhart from

0:42

JT's Sports Bar and Grill

0:45

and I must say , jennifer , your

0:48

location was very warm , inviting

0:50

and the food was fantastic . So

0:52

you guys are up to some good stuff there and I am glad

0:55

to have you on the show to tell us all about JT's

0:58

Sports Bar . So , jennifer , thank you

1:00

for joining us .

1:02

Thank you for having me .

1:04

Now the pleasure is all ours , and thanks to our listeners

1:06

For tuning in to learn more about

1:08

our great community and the businesses that serve

1:10

us . So let's get into this . Why

1:13

don't you tell us a little bit

1:15

about JT's Sports Bar , your

1:18

back story , how you came to be in Pembroke

1:20

Pines , and then we shall go from

1:22

there ?

1:23

Well , I worked for another Sports

1:26

Bar for about 10 years and

1:29

it came time to where I

1:31

didn't think I wanted to bartender manage forever

1:33

. So Kind of came up on

1:36

this place here , which was a

1:38

Mexican restaurant that my husband

1:40

and one of my good friends kept saying

1:42

open your own restaurant . You know , you kind of do the same

1:45

thing here . I was

1:47

very against it , didn't

1:49

want to do it on my own . I love the

1:51

company I work for . It

1:54

was hard to leave there and

1:57

, honestly , was best decision

1:59

I ever made . I'm so glad that they both

2:01

pushed me to it . When

2:04

I came upon this location , all

2:06

the vendors said Jen , you don't know what

2:08

you're doing . This is a really bad location

2:11

. Nothing's made it here over a year

2:13

. You should really rethink

2:15

this . And I said you know what I feel

2:17

great about this location . It's in

2:19

a neighborhood and it's

2:22

going to be what people want and

2:24

Been here almost 16

2:26

years and I've given the neighborhood what they

2:28

want . I'm very involved with the

2:30

community , do a lot of donations , fundraisers

2:33

and it's worked out wonderful

2:36

. My customers have become family , so

2:38

that's really wonderful .

2:41

So so yeah , you were . You

2:44

were nominated by was it Rebecca Screema

2:46

? Relay for life Okay , cool . So I

2:48

had her on the podcast

2:50

a month or two ago and I know they have the upcoming

2:53

relay for life at Cooper City

2:55

High and we've been trying to promote that throughout

2:57

the community . They're doing some wonderful , wonderful

3:00

things for cancer research and raising

3:02

money for cancer awareness , so hopefully everybody

3:04

could check that out . I think it's March 16th

3:06

, from like three to ten at Cooper City High

3:08

School .

3:09

I believe you are correct on that

3:11

. I do have it in my calendar , which is in my office

3:14

, but I don't have access to it right now

3:16

, and there's one also coming up for Pembroke

3:18

Pines , which she's also involved in because

3:20

she volunteers everywhere with cancer .

3:23

Fantastic , so

3:26

okay , so going back when you took

3:28

over the Mexican , when you took over the restaurant , Did you

3:30

initially I didn't , maybe

3:32

I didn't hear correctly Were you initially going to

3:34

continue with a Mexican restaurant and then

3:36

you decided no ? I don't want to do that , or

3:38

did you always want to do the sports car ?

3:40

Actually , I came into the wrong

3:42

Plaza . I was supposed to go to a

3:44

different Plaza and the gentleman

3:46

was closed . They weren't even open . He

3:49

didn't speak any English . I don't speak any Spanish

3:51

, so

3:53

he told me it was closed and I was like I know

3:55

it's closed , I'm looking to buy it , even

3:58

though it's in the wrong place . So the only thing I know

4:00

is denaro . So

4:02

I just kept going to know denaro's place

4:04

, called

4:06

my realtor , who spoke Spanish , and

4:08

a week and a half later we closed and

4:12

I thought the rest is history , as they say . Mexican

4:15

closed restaurant from him

4:17

. He himself

4:19

had been sick with cancer and the

4:22

place had closed and he had lost

4:24

a lot of money . I could have taken it over , but

4:26

I didn't feel that was the right thing to do . Gave

4:28

him what he the money he lost out on

4:30

, and the rest is history .

4:32

So , aside from the previous 10 years

4:34

that you had I guess you said

4:37

bartending or waitressing in- the industry

4:39

Bar tending yes . Had you ever

4:41

had any experience running a business

4:43

prior to that , or this was just like a leap of faith . You

4:45

said , hey , I'm gonna do this .

4:48

I had the most responsibility at the place . I

4:50

ran for 10 years , but I've always been in this

4:52

industry . I started at

4:54

a Wendy's when I was 15 . And then

4:57

my most experience probably

4:59

came from . Most I learned is Shownies

5:02

. I worked there when

5:04

I was 16 and became a dining room supervisor

5:06

by the time I was 17 . And

5:09

so it just always been in my

5:11

blood to do this kind of work .

5:14

Yeah , I know that the restaurant

5:17

industry has probably

5:19

, I guess , the highest attrition rate in any

5:21

industry , right Like the failure rate for new restaurants .

5:24

Failure is very high . I

5:29

work very hard , I put everything into

5:31

it . Even so , you

5:33

can still truly fail , but

5:35

failure is not in my nature

5:37

. No matter , I would do anything to

5:39

do well , and I

5:42

just don't think failure is in my nature . And

5:45

whatever it takes , I'm gonna make sure the job gets

5:47

done , whether it's for somebody else or

5:49

for myself .

5:51

Love it , love it . So what were some of the

5:53

? I guess you're

5:55

going back now 16 years , but you mentioned

5:57

that it was one of the best , the best decision

6:00

that you had ever made . What were

6:02

some of the biggest challenges

6:04

? Going into business , for yourself , becoming

6:06

an entrepreneur , and then , on the other side of that , some

6:08

of the biggest rewards that you've experienced over the last

6:10

16 years , having made that decision

6:12

.

6:14

The hardest thing was our

6:18

roof , caving in at

6:20

our location and not

6:22

knowing if , once we reopened because it ended up taking

6:25

about a year to have the landlord

6:27

get fixed not

6:30

the initial opening , the initial reopening

6:32

I did not think people would come back and support

6:34

us . Our customers have been

6:36

super loyal and

6:38

very supportive . I

6:41

would say that was extremely hard . The

6:43

hardest thing now is getting product

6:46

in and the cost of everything

6:48

.

6:48

Yeah , food costs are crazy , right , everything

6:50

is just nuts .

6:51

Everything is insane For small businesses

6:54

. Anybody who makes it through this coming year

6:56

. It's harder than COVID

6:58

the cost of everything

7:01

, the out of stock . They blame

7:03

us . I'm fortunate to have

7:05

a lot of wonderful , loyal , loyal customers

7:07

who are kind

7:09

. But not everyone does and not everyone

7:11

is gonna be able to survive it . I would say the

7:13

hardest thing is getting product in the costs

7:15

and in employees . The most

7:18

rewarding is my customers

7:20

. They're loyal , they

7:22

become family , they love us , we love

7:24

them . We love supporting

7:26

the community . I only

7:29

donate to families and

7:31

small organizations

7:35

. I don't believe in donating to large organizations

7:38

because I feel that there's too many kickbacks

7:40

. Anything I raise goes directly

7:42

to them . We don't keep anything of it . It

7:44

goes back to the community or whoever we're

7:46

doing the fundraiser for .

7:49

Well , thank you for doing that . That's

7:52

so important to give back , obviously , and

7:54

when I came in there , that was the vibe

7:56

I got . It was friendly

7:59

, warm , inviting , that

8:01

place where everybody knows your name . You go

8:03

in there . And I think that

8:05

the location you mentioned people

8:07

said it's not a great location . It is fantastic

8:09

that it's back in the neighborhood because it's that little

8:11

neighborhood kind of dive joint where people go in

8:13

to hang out and have a beer together

8:15

. And I gotta say , even though you

8:17

mentioned , food costs are high what I had

8:20

when I came in there I think I got a mahi sandwich with french

8:22

fries and a drink . It was really reasonable

8:24

, Like it wasn't much more , like like it was

8:26

very reasonably priced and very , very

8:28

good . So you're doing something right there , Jennifer

8:30

.

8:31

Thank you . I try to keep my price as reasonable

8:33

. I'm not looking to

8:35

become a millionaire , I'm looking

8:37

to pay my bills and make a little money and enjoy

8:39

life . I

8:42

love that you said I'm a dive bar . I

8:44

do like that . I love being a hole

8:46

in the wall . I

8:48

don't like to be compared to a fancy restaurant

8:51

. We have had some bad reviews about things

8:53

like that . We're not a fancy restaurant

8:55

, we're a hole in the wall . We're cheers , and

8:59

that's what I like to be referred to as .

9:01

And that's part of the appeal right . Yeah

9:03

, absolutely . After a hard day's

9:05

work , you want to go somewhere where you can feel comfortable

9:07

. You don't want to go to necessarily . You don't want to go to a big

9:10

corporate place and not that there's anything wrong

9:12

with that , but sometimes you like it , cheers Right

9:14

. Sometimes you just want to go Everybody

9:16

.

9:17

Totally agree Very

9:19

cool , very cool .

9:20

So what do you like to do for

9:23

fun when you're not working ? Tell us a little bit about your family

9:25

.

9:27

I love spending time with my family . I love

9:29

being outdoors , the

9:32

beach , riding bike , anything

9:34

my husband and I . He has a motorcycle

9:36

, we love

9:38

going out on the motorcycle and

9:41

I love spending time with the kids . I

9:43

have three boys and

9:45

grandson and I absolutely

9:47

love spending the time with them .

9:50

Three boys huh .

9:51

Yeah , 29

9:55

, 27 and 21

9:57

.

9:57

No way , I'm sitting here . We're

10:00

doing this virtually so we're not face to face , but

10:02

I'm sitting here . You said you had three boys . I'm thinking

10:04

they're like still in grade school

10:06

, maybe middle school , you're

10:08

doing good .

10:09

Thank you , you're looking good .

10:11

Yeah , no , I got a nine year old and an 11

10:14

year old , 11 year old girl who

10:16

just entered middle school . She thinks

10:19

she's 17 , 11

10:21

going on 30 . Oh

10:23

boy , got my hands full there , but

10:26

time really , really flies , and trying

10:29

to enjoy every minute of it for

10:31

sure . So do

10:33

your boys all live down in South Florida , or are they ?

10:35

Yes , they all live down here .

10:37

That's nice .

10:39

One works for BSL , one works for

10:41

me and one works for another restaurant in

10:43

St Augustine .

10:44

Very cool .

10:46

Very cool . Yes , they're all down here , thankfully

10:48

.

10:49

Nice , nice . So

10:52

what would be the

10:54

one thing that you'd

10:56

like for our listeners

10:58

to know about

11:00

JT's Sports ?

11:04

Bar , Just that . We're committed

11:07

to the community . We

11:11

love supporting optimists

11:14

, seeing families together . We

11:16

do a trivia night . It's amazing

11:18

you have grandparents , kids

11:21

and grandchildren all together .

11:23

When is trivia night ?

11:24

Monday nights .

11:25

Monday nights .

11:26

At 7.30 .

11:28

Monday I'm making a note because I want to take my family

11:30

there for trivia night .

11:34

Yeah , it's a lot of fun and

11:37

just

11:40

that . Families need to be families

11:43

again , and I

11:45

think it starts with small businesses and

11:47

different things like that . We

11:49

need to go back to basics and

11:51

families need to spend time with families . Sometimes

11:54

you just need to stop and smell the coffee instead of

11:56

always being on the go . We

11:59

need and I need that advice myself

12:01

. I'm watching

12:03

.

12:04

Right in an era where everybody's

12:08

becoming increasingly disconnected

12:10

from community . Everybody's plugged in

12:12

to social media and

12:14

it's becoming increasingly

12:17

more important to have those deep community

12:19

roots and family roots

12:21

, and so I love

12:24

what you're doing there , jennifer . I really do .

12:26

Thank you , we do too .

12:29

So for anyone out there who's listening

12:32

, who has not had

12:34

the pleasure of stopping by JT Sports Bar

12:36

, why don't you share your

12:38

location , maybe

12:40

website contact information ? Let

12:42

us know how we can come by and

12:44

see you guys .

12:46

We're located on 10466

12:50

Pass Street , which is just

12:52

west of Palm Avenue in

12:54

front of the Pembroke Lakes Country Club . We're

12:59

do Instagram and Facebook

13:01

. We used to have a website

13:03

. We are working on getting a new website

13:05

. That company sold , so

13:08

find us on Facebook . That's the easiest

13:10

way . That's what I go on

13:12

the most . I'm not

13:14

huge into social media . I

13:17

try my best , but Facebook

13:19

is where you can find all our information

13:21

, any events coming up , and

13:25

we're hidden in the little corner on

13:28

Tatch Street right in front of the country club Anytime

13:31

you want to see anything going on , as far

13:34

as crawfish coils , any events . We

13:36

have St Patty's Day . We

13:38

post everything on Facebook and our specials

13:40

and pictures of it .

13:43

Wonderful . We will , of course , link

13:46

in the description to all of your contact

13:48

information . Jennifer

13:50

, it was a pleasure having you on the show

13:52

.

13:53

Thank you so much for having me .

13:55

Of course , and thanks as always to our listeners

13:57

for tuning in , and we will catch

13:59

everyone next time . Take care , have

14:02

a wonderful day .

14:03

Thank you . Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor

14:05

Podcast Cooper City . To

14:07

nominate your favorite local business to

14:10

be featured on the show , go to GNPCooperCitycom

14:15

. That's GNPCooperCitycom , or

14:24

call

14:27

954-231-3170

14:32

.