We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brian Thompson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brian, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My parents have always been and are still hard workers. I was taught that if you want something, you have to work for it. To this day, I don’t think there is another club owner that works as hard as I do. I believe that the best way to lead and inspire is by being able and willing to do it yourself.
Brian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Side Splitters Comedy Club has been in Tampa for 30 years. I walked in to Side Splitters in the summer of 2007 looking for a bartending job. Shortly after I was promoted to manager. At that time there were four managers and a hands-on owner. My responsibilities were mostly on the service and food&beverage side. As time went on I took on more responsibility and eventually I was the GM and was in charge of all operations. I held that postilion until June of 2019 when I was able to purchase the club. It was smooth sailing until the pandemic and the mandatory shut downs. I was all in on buying the club and came far too close to losing everything. I am happy to say we persevered we are now running stronger than ever.
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
I did not walk in to Side Splitters with intension of someday owning it but once the previous owner mentioned it to me, it became a goal. We spoke about it for years before negotiations started. Even after we agreed to terms, the process took much longer than I had hoped for. There were times that I doubted that it would ever happen. In our industry it is difficult to get financing. Once I had it in my mind I could not accept otherwise. We had to think outside of the box and get a bit creative to get the deal done.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The most obvious story of resilience for myself and most business owners has been surviving the pandemic. Like many businesses we suffered through the mandatory closures, supply chain issues, and staffing shortages. Even after we were permitted to reopen at 100% the business was not where it would have been pre-Covid. We are fortunate to have survived and to be running as well or better than ever. The most important things to remember through this entire time is to believe in your product and principles and stay the course. Also make sure to take care of the people that stuck it out with you through the most difficult times.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sidesplitterscomedy.com
- Instagram: sidesplitterswc sidesplitterstampa
- Twitter: @SSCCTampa
Image Credits
Brian Thompson