ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997 TAG: 9701020035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
TEXAS STEAK HOUSE will be moving into the vacated building sometime soon.
After the tips were counted early Wednesday morning, in the first hours of the new year, the Ground Round was reduced to nothing but history.
Employees of the sports-crazy restaurant near Tanglewood Mall found out Friday that the Texas Steak House & Saloon would be moving into their building. Tuesday was the restaurant's last day of business.
The Maine company that owns the Ground Round franchise decided it was too much trouble to run a restaurant so far away, assistant manager Karen Gruver said. Most employees had heard rumors that the restaurant might be sold, and all Ground Round employees have been invited to apply for jobs with Texas Steak House, but those factors only soften the blow.
"We're a real family here," Gruver said. A good many of the workers have been there for eight or 10 years or more. "People are more upset about being separated from each other than anything else."
"It just felt like a death in the family," said Tracy Gibson, 35, a prep cook at the restaurant. In 12 years, she's also worked as a waitress and manager. She started out when 18-year-olds could drink legally and happy hour lasted all night. She's painted, put up ceiling tiles, mowed the yard. "I thought I was going to retire here."
Her best hope now is getting a job with Texas Steak House.
Some workers have already lined up other jobs, but still more are undecided.
"I might sign up for a class at Virginia Western," mused bartender Kathy Gee as she polished a glass behind the bar.
When Gee started working at the Ground Round, the floor was wood and patrons crunched across discarded peanut shells on the way to the restroom. The restaurant, which opened in 1979, evolved from a saloon atmosphere into a sports bar. Carpet now covers the floor, and football helmets and trophies adorn the walls.
Gee - who met her husband when he plopped down in the second stool from the end of the bar seven years ago - knows all the regulars and all their habits.
There's Jim, who comes in by 4 p.m. Curtis comes in by 5. "Frankie, Bob, Keith, Ray, Tom and John," Gee said, pointing to the stools where each usually sits.
"You can set your clock by those guys," said Jim Howard (not the 4 p.m. Jim).
With seven TVs in the bar area and five in another room, there might be a half-dozen football, baseball or basketball games on for the customers to watch.
Tuesday was a slow day, but a few regulars showed up around lunchtime.
John Pennington, a tax consultant who eats at the bar twice a week, hadn't heard the news. He found out when he pulled out a punch card he was trying to fill up so he could get a free lunch. He had two spaces left to fill, but Gee marked them both out and gave him his free lunch.
"Today's the last day," she said.
Two stools down, Bill Ould was trying to loot the sinking ship.
"Is everything free today?" he asked.
"Everything's double," Gee said.
"Aw, come on. Spring for a beer."
Nothing doing. Ould may have blown that privilege back in 1989. It was the National Football Conference Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and his beloved Los Angeles Rams. The Rams got whipped, Ould recalled.
"I cried. I think I left after the third quarter" - without paying his $200 bar tab. His brother paid it then, and Ould said he's been paying his brother back for it ever since.
But not all loyalties run as deep and long as Ould's.
Jim Howard said he hangs out at the Ground Round because his son Tom works there. Tom has already landed a job at the Mac and Maggie's Restaurant up the road.
"I guess I'll just be a regular at Mac and Maggie's," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART. Staff Kathy Gee works behind the bar on Newby CNBYear's Eve, the last day of business for the Ground Round sports
restaurant. color.