We recently connected with Lee Cahill and have shared our conversation below.

Lee, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Before I started my own business I was working downtown as a manager at a small financial firm. We weren’t the biggest company in town and I wasn’t pulling down a huge paycheck, but there was a certain level of stability and safety to the job that gave me some freedom to travel, go out to eat whenever I wanted, and live a life that I was comfortable with. One day my coworker and I were having one of those, “If you could do anything and be guaranteed to succeed, what would you do” conversations. I had recently been to a brewery that allowed dogs on their patio and saw that the only thing these dogs wanted to do more than anything was to play with each other. Of course, they couldn’t because they had to remain on their leashes. This caused the dogs to get anxious and pull on their leashes, the owners had to keep an eye on their dogs while still trying to talk with friends, and it just seemed like there had to be a better way to do this. So when it was my turn to say what I would do if I was guaranteed to succeed, I went with opening a dog park and bar.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well as you already know, my name is Lee Cahill and I own The Bark Park & Patio. It has been a LONG journey to get here and it still doesn’t feel like this is real. I grew up in the Northern Kentucky area with three brothers, my parents, and the family dog. Ever since I can remember I have always loved dogs. I joke with my customers today that I will remember their dog’s name after just one visit, but it might take two or three visits for me to remember theirs.

After high school I moved down to Louisville for college and stayed there for a few years after graduating, working at a few distilleries down there for the next 3 years, but then ultimately made my way back up to the NKY area to be closer to family. I found a steady job, had a good group of friends, and was in a very comfortable spot in my life.

As time went on things began to change at my work and my job went from comfortable and manageable to downright exhausting. The company was trying to go in a new direction to gain new clients, but didn’t have the support system to do so. When things didn’t go so smoothly with their new strategy I was the one assigned to pick up the pieces and stitch things together. I started waking up on Sundays already dreading going to work on Monday and of course the pandemic “stay at home” orders, which were in full effect at the time, didn’t help much.

On top of all of this, things in my personal life weren’t going so great either. The girl that I had been seeing broke things off with me abruptly and I was left stunned, confused, and lost. Not being able to see my friends or family (height of COVID hysteria) wasn’t helping things either. And that was my breaking point. Work sucked, my personal life was a hot dumpster fire, and the only thing I knew for certain was that I couldn’t keep doing the same thing I’ve been doing and expect things to magically get better.

So, I hit the reset button on my life and quit my job to dive all in on this business idea. Now, I want to clarify some things. I didn’t quit my job without already having done a lot of personal financial planning, already having written my business plan and financial projections, and giving myself a deadline to see if this business idea had any momentum behind it. By that I mean, if I went 6 months and gained no traction, not a single investor, hadn’t found a location, or moved forward in any meaningful way then I would dive back into the corporate world. Fortunately, one by one, those things happened. And one thing after another they helped move me forward to where we are today.

After 2 and a half years of planning and grinding to get everything in line, we finally opened our doors. We are now the only dog park and bar in the tri state area. That alone sets us apart from the others, but to take it one step further, we are also one of the only self – serve bars in the area with over 20 options of beer, wine, seltzers, and ciders to choose from.

If I had to pick one thing to say that I am most proud of throughout this whole process, it’s easily the community my team and I have been fortunate enough to have behind us. Our customers are the best people you could ever have the good fortune of meeting. They are kind, loyal, and passionate people that have welcomed us with open arms. I know a lot of business owners probably say this, but we really do have the best customers anyone could ask for.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word of mouth. Hands down the absolute best source of new clients. Sure we have a few people say they saw us on Facebook or Instagram, but by far the best way to attract new clients is to give your existing clients such a great experience that they go to their friends and say, “You know where I just went the other day that was so much fun?!”

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think some people might disagree with me on this one, but for me it was unlearning the concept that I needed to sell only what I truly loved. Please keep in mind we are strictly talking about beer/wine/seltzers/ciders here. My taproom has a 20 tap self – serve beer wall that I personally curated with all locally sourced craft beers that I personally love. We did have your big 3 domestics, but aside from that it was all craft. The beauty of the system that I use is that it tracks everything from most/least popular to how many ounces remain in the kegs. After our first full month of data I was shocked to see that the local stuff wasn’t selling nearly as much as I thought it would. I made a change in our beer selection and started to include seltzers, ciders, and national brand beers. Those sold like hot cakes!

The point I am trying to make is this: listen to your customers, they know what they want.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.barkparkpatio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barkparkpatio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarkParkPatio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bark-park-patio/?viewAsMember=true
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-bark-park-and-patio-florence