“A pun has not completely matured until it is full groan.”
Each week, a new letter board marks the roadside in front of Old Mill Tavern in Chester, New Jersey. The brains behind each creation are Virginia “Gigi” and John Butkus ’80, high school sweethearts who became tavern owners.
“We started those when we first opened the place,” says John. “During COVID people really liked it because they needed a little humor and a distraction.”
Thinking Ahead
“I made a commitment that we were not going to close down,” he recalls from the early days of the 2020 pandemic, which tested many hospitality establishments. During that time, they ran their business on cashless payments, text updates, and straight-to-your-car takeout until John took the initiative to think about what the next phase might bring.
That foresight gave Old Mill Tavern the edge when some of the restrictions started to lift. “I bought patio seating and a tent before outdoor dining was allowed. I bought a heater in August, and by the time September rolled around, you couldn't get a heater anywhere.”
Offering comfortable outdoor dining before competitors did allowed them to recover quickly after the lockdown ended. It was also a boon to their customer base. “It helped a lot of people who had never been to the tavern fall in love with it.”
Destiny Across the Street
A little more than eight years ago, the Butkuses lived across the street from the Old Mill Tavern and were loyal regulars. “We had lived in that house for 20-plus years. We got to know a lot of the staff.”
So naturally, when the proprietors were interested in passing their business along to new ownership, Gigi and John heard about it first.
"You always wanted to own a bar!” Gigi said with eagerness to John, who responded, “Yeah! In my 20s!"
But once the idea was planted, they couldn’t let it go. They considered it might be a future pathway for their son Peter to find financial security in the face of his Stargardt disease, a genetic eye disorder that causes progressive vision loss.
“It looked like a decent investment,” John says. “It was a place that we loved locally and a lot of people loved locally.”
Reputation
John quickly learned “if a place is doing well, don't change it.”
“We improved what was there,” he says. “But the baseline was a beloved local establishment.” So John focused his time and money on giving the late 1800s building some overdue TLC.
They have a business manager and staff that help run the business while Gigi splits her focus with her real estate career (where she does business as Virginia).
“I do the grunt work,” John says. He has some limitations due to past sports injuries and recent surgeries, but he handles all the office work, starting his day at 7 a.m.
As far as marketing, John says his customer base is pretty consistent, with minor slowdowns in the winter or during summer vacations. The reputation of Old Mill keeps people coming back, and they leave great ratings on social media.
While he knows there will always be critics, he notes that the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. “Whenever we get negative comments, we get 10-20 that counter that one negative comment.”
John prioritizes the aspects of the business that appealed to him when he was a customer 10 years ago. “It was affordable, and the American fare hit it out of the park.”
“We continued that legacy,” he says, noting that ties to the local meat market ensures their burgers and wings are still the “best around.” They also offer ribs, a turkey dinner, and an ahi tuna salad that competes with fancier establishments — but twice as much for half the price.
Loyal Service
Drawing customers has never been a problem. In fact, when they reopened their dining room after the pandemic, they discontinued outdoor dining because the crowd was double what they were equipped to handle in their kitchen. It was resulting in slower service and impacting the experience their diners had come to expect from the Old Mill. John and Gigi knew what appealed to their loyal base of families, couples, and retirees.
While you can get fancy cocktails at their bar, John emphasises that they aren’t a cocktail lounge. “It isn’t the type of place where you come to get drunk. If you came in and sat at our bar, you'd know everybody around you by the time you left. It's like Cheers,” a reference his customers would appreciate and second.
Old Mill is a community tavern that values loyalty and honors the service of the most loyal in their town — they proudly display 400 patches of those that serve and protect. They go a step further, offering service members and first responders a 10% discount on their meal. “We shamed some local places into doing the same,” says John. “Which is a great thing.”
Welcome Back
While John was recruited by some bigger schools, he narrowed his choices to Columbia and Lehigh. “Lehigh had a much better football team, and I had a great recruiting trip. I loved the school and campus life and ended up getting a scholarship.”
"I don't know anyone who went there and didn't have a great experience."
He played lacrosse as well as football and kept close ties to Joe Sterrett ’76 ’78G ’03P ’05P ’07P ’09P, who started as John’s freshman football coach and moved up to senior coach at the same time John moved up on the team.
John spent his first years post graduation coaching and teaching at his old high school. “I did the Welcome Back, Kotter thing,” he recalls. He coached football, girls lacrosse, and freshman wrestling. “I had no wrestling experience,” he admits, “but ended up undefeated.”
Eventually John and Gigi got married, and he opted to move into a new industry, becoming a sales professional in 1984. He worked in several markets over the years and found success in each one. “When you are selling, it's not about the product. My pitch was as an educator — why they should use your product over something else’s. It's not more complicated than that. I also tend to have some good stories.”
Years later, Lehigh — and teaching — called him back. Adjunct professor Rich Titus approached John about teaching a segment of a Six Sigma graduate seminar at Lehigh.
“If you told my football friends that I would go back to teach, they wouldn’t have believed you!”
No matter the job, John insists that happiness is found in the company you keep.
“Don't worry about the job or the money. Worry about the people you will surround yourself with. Do you like them, do you trust them, will you have the opportunity to grow there? Don't worry about the dollar or the position. That stuff will come based on being in the right place with the right people.”
