FERGUS – The idea of a group of friends opening a bar or restaurant is an idea often floated about but rarely followed through. But a group is going for it in downtown Fergus.
Offside Sports Bar & Grill will be the latest restaurant to take up the mantle at 120 St. Andrew St. W. near the St. David Street intersection.
The owners – Fergus couples Melissa and Logan Orobono, and Kirsten and Cory Witteveen from Fergus u2013 are hoping to open the sports bar later in July at a location that has seen a lot of turnover through the years.
“We’ve lived pretty much our whole lives and we’ve seen this restaurant go through many different hands over the last 10 years … we want to make something that sticks there,” Kirsten said in a phone interview, referencing past restaurants like Beers and Cheers, North River Lounge and D’s. “It’s a great location but nothing really seems to take off.”
Therefore, the owners are looking to do something that really caters to the town and isn’t going for anything too niche, Kirsten explained, so they landed on a sports bar with an approachable menu.
“We’re gonna just do sports bar-type food, burgers, fries, but we’re going to kind of give our own spin on it,” Kirsten said.
She said there’s not a ton of options in Fergus in the realm of what they plan to offer, for example a baseball team wanting an after game beer or a group wanting to watch a UFC event.
“We wanted to focus on locals that just want to go and watch a game and get some good food and feel comfortable in the atmosphere,” Kirsten said, later adding tourists are more than welcome too.
The ownership group is not inexperienced in the restaurant industry. Kirsten said Melissa has 20 years of experience in the food and beverage industry and will be largely responsible for running the restaurant.
“Melissa is really the brains behind the operation and she has so many great contacts from being in the business for so long,” Kirsten said.
Kirsten, a nurse, said she’ll be handling more behind the scenes work while their husbands have been doing all the renovations since they took ownership of the restaurant in March.
“The inside is completely redone, the basement is redone, we’ve got a new bar top, we’ve got all new TVs everywhere,” Kirsten said, noting the restaurant has largely looked the same through various name changes over the years.
“We were like ‘we really need to completely change this, make it like a whole new experience when you come in.”
An official opening date will be announced at a later date on Offside’s social media page.
