Pleasanton natives return home to run The Sand Bar

PLEASANTON – On a quiet Sunday morning in 2021, Tate and Kerry Lewis learned that the former The Sand Bar, a longtime restaurant here, was for sale.

“We just looked at each other and said, ‘It’s time,’” Tate said. “There were whispers of other buyers, so we called the local realtor right away.”

The Pleasanton natives always knew they’d move back home from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where they had lived for 25 years. “We were just waiting for the right opportunity,” Lewis said.

They bought the restaurant and opened it on Dec. 9, 2021.

The first thing they did was change the name back to The Sand Bar. That’s how it was known when Bernard and Diana Stubbs owned it years ago, but it had most recently been renamed the Red Dog Saloon.

“When they owned it, it was booming, so we went back to the original name. It’s what everybody knows,” Tate Lewis said. “There is traffic and money in nostalgia.”

The owners focus on good food, excellent service and cold drinks, along with presentation. ”People eat with their eyes,” he said.

Lewis, a Pleasanton native, recalls how people would race to get back to The Sand Bar following a high school football or basketball game years ago. Today, high school teams travel more and travel farther, “but Friday night games are still a big deal. People all come to enjoy each other’s company. They come in, and they know they’re home,” he said.

Lewis has added technology (“you can’t run the same business Bernard Stubbs did in the ‘90s”) and plans to add a few more large TV screens in the main dining room.

“Our local crowd is very important to us. We’ve made great strides. I can’t cater to one person, but I think I have a pretty good feel for the town’s wants and needs,” he said.

Hometown boy

The extroverted Lewis brings a successful career in food service to his hometown. He graduated from Pleasanton High School in 1993, worked for farmers for two years and joined the Navy in 1995.

Five years later, he began college in the Dallas area. But married by then, and with a set of twins on the way, he left before graduation to to take a management position with UPS.

He scampered up the career ladder, eventually becoming the logistics director for a small office products company in Fort Worth. He was then recruited by Legends Hospitality, a “major player” in the concessions business that had been founded in 2008 by the owners of the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees.

Working inside AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Lewis started as the warehouse manager and eventually joined the management team working on purchasing and logistics. It was a tireless but gratifying job.

Working an average of 80 hours a week from August to March, he helped oversee food and beverage operations for national championships, Super Bowl XLV, the American Country Music awards and 50-60 high school games every year. He spent a month in Manchester, England. He knew Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

“It was constant. There was never a break. When you do logistics and purchasing, you have to make sure they have the tools they need to do the job. We’re working alongside sponsors. It’s just a massive machine where everybody plays a small part,” he said.

“I was blessed to work under some of the best people in the industry. I learned to do this, whether feeding 100,000 people or 80. It doesn’t matter,” he said.

He has brought those skills back home to Pleasanton.

Trade secrets

Inside, the restaurant is bright and inviting, with a spacious front bar and a smaller room off that with a few games. Husker decorations hang on the walls. Out by the bar, there’s a shirt belonging to Rex Burkhead, the star Husker running back now playing for the Houston Texans.

The restaurant’s main dining room is in the back, with plenty of tables, booths and large TVs on the walls.

On an average Friday night, Lewis serves roughly 50 to 60 meals. Saturday nights, he might serve between 40 and 50 prime rib sandwiches. Sundays, he often offers brunch.

The most popular menu items are chicken fried steak and patty melts. Other customer favorites are burger baskets, pulled pork sandwiches, mac & cheese and brisket.

“The hamburger we serve on Monday is the same hamburger we serve on Friday,” he said. “If I can’t feed a grandmother or a child what I’m cooking, it’s not good enough.”

Four weeks ago, he served prime rib, “but I don’t want to do prime rib every week. I think it saturates the market. I want to have an excellent product people get in line for,” he said.

Behind The Sand Bar is a massive smoker. Using only hickory, Lewis can smoke 150 pounds for 12-14 hours. “Our barbecue is one of the best-kept secrets in central Nebraska,” he said proudly.

His staff of 25 includes cooks Rob Haworth and Shannon Rehbein, who, together, have cooked in restaurants for 55 years. Lewis himself will fry a hamburger if necessary. Many students are on the payroll, too.

“It’s a good way for them to pick up extra cash. Everybody does a little bit of everything.” he said. “The staff has made us what we are. They have a willingness to work. They do their job so The Sand Bar can do its job.”

He added, “I have to have a committed staff. The stadium life will teach you that. This isn’t something you do because you’re bored. This is hard on families and people.”

The restaurant is open 75 hours a week, but Lewis extends hours, if needed, for home football and basketball games. “In the middle of the week, we generally shut down the kitchen between 8:30 and 9 p.m. but if there’s a game, I’ll make sure anybody who wants to eat gets to eat. If you make sure there’s hamburger, friends and cold beer, they’ll come back,” he said.

Challenges

Lewis has faced challenges head-on, like soaring prices after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a challenge putting a menu together and keeping it amiable with people’s pocketbooks, but if I stay a shade under Kearney restaurant prices, I’m fine. But I have to buy meat, pay the staff and keep this facility in good shape, so if I charge $11 for a chicken dinner basket, that’s still a good price,” he said.

Three months ago, he had to address some electrical and plumbing issues, “but a lot of local contractors went above and beyond to make this work,” he said.

In mid-January, when Pleasanton got 20 inches of snow, it took Lewis an hour and a half to get to The Sand Bar even though he lives just a mile and a half outside of town.

“I arrived and found guys with Bobcats clearing out my parking lot. When you come from a place where you have lifelong friends, they are willing to give you an afternoon. Friends and family are instrumental to this business. We couldn’t have done it by ourselves,” he said.

“This is one of the greatest places to live. I wish my kids could have grown up here. Places like this are going away. I don’t think there’s anywhere better than Pleasanton, Nebraska,” he added.

Coming home

Despite so many years in Texas, Pleasanton remains home to the Lewis family. They’ve been back for visits every summer, and they still have family in this area although Lewis’s father passed away two years ago and his mother moved to Lincoln to be closer to grandchildren.

Kerry and their twin daughters will move to Pleasanton after the twins graduate from high school in Texas this spring. One daughter will attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney this fall; the other will be at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Meanwhile, Lewis is thinking of ways to enhance the restaurant beyond food. Last year, he had a six-team sand volleyball league. He may expand that this year. In the future, he envisions a goat roping rodeo with a live band along with car shows. “You’ve got to start small, but people can come out and get together,” he said.

Meanwhile, he is attracting customers from Broken Bow to Cairo to Grand Island to Kearney.

“People have discovered that this is a good little place to have a good meal. We always need to breathe a little life into the menu, explore cost options, make sure we’re serving it right and charging right,” he said. “People continue to come back. I’m forever grateful for their patronage.”

“I have only one regret.” he said. “That I didn’t do this sooner.”