Bill Bence, a 1992 business graduate from The University of Memphis, may be new to the food-service industry, but he knows the biggest ingredient to a successful restaurant is easy â€" commitment.
"The closest I ever came to running a restaurant before now was going to eat somewhere," Bence said. "But what guy hasn't dreamed of owning his own bar at one point or another?"
Bence, along with his brother-in-law, Greg Ring, have owned Gill's Bar & Grill since the beginning of 2005, and they have spent much of their time this year on extensive renovations on the well-known Highland Avenue establishment.
"We've expanded the menu a lot, upgraded the bar, and put in darts and pool tables," Bence said. "We've tried to clean it up a little bit, too â€" I'm really obsessive when it comes to a clean restaurant."
Greg Ring, who has been in the restaurant industry for several years, said they're hoping some of the larger renovations will help Gill's stand out among the bar scene for University students.
Some of the bigger changes included tearing out an interior wall to make room for a performance area, as well as including new heating, air-conditioning and several televisions for sports broadcasting.
According to some University students, it's not hard to notice some of the changes at the restaurant.
"I went in there a while ago with some friends of mine to watch a game," said Joseph Barzizza, a finance senior. "It wasn't hard to see they had made some changes â€" as soon as you walk in, you can tell that this is more than just a normal college bar."
While Bence and Ring both agree the weekends are probably the most profitable time for the restaurant, their favorite part of the week, they say, is the Thursday and Friday night crowds.
"That's when we get the younger college crowd," Bence said. "They're more energetic, and it makes the place more fun to be at when they're here â€" that's going to be the time of the week when we're going to try to get our best bands and stuff in here."
Bence said attracting The University student crowd was one of the main goals he had in mind when he bought the restaurant.
"We're trying to cater to The University of Memphis crowd more than anything," Bence said. "We're famous around the city for attracting the Big 10 crowd, but we're also going to broadcast all The University events we can, and we also got all the ESPN packages we could, so we don't miss anything."
Bence says the real strength of Gill's is that it offers all the benefits of a large restaurant chain, but with a homespun feel to it.
"We offer pretty much the entire package â€" music, sports, recreation stuff or just a local hangout spot," Bence said. "Each bar has it's own characteristic, our niche is that we're really able to offer a little of everything, but we keep it within the community. I think people are going to respond to that."
