(Photo: One final night at the Beef Haus. From left, Connor Insley and his fiance, Laura Sweezy, Tracy and Bob Insley and Nicole and Bryan Insley holding their son, Griffin. Photo by Darcelle Hyslip.)
By JOHN ANDERSON
Bob and Tracy Insley sat down one last time at the Beef Haus on Tuesday. The clock that sometimes ticks slow while at work during the week was racing. In a matter of minutes, they would get up to go sign over ownership of the iconic Wellsville restaurant for a new family to run and enjoy.
Is there really another restaurant like the Beef Haus? A place where half of the “fancy” restaurant is made up of families or friends celebrating a milestone event (guess where WE went to dinner for my birthday? The Beef Haus!) and the other half is made up of patrons who visit almost each day like it’s the local coffee shop.
What makes the restaurant so special?
The conversation turns to the beef bar and carving station. It goes to the menu. They talk about the new owner, Timothy Slade, who will be at the helm for the 50th anniversary of the restaurant.
But that’s it. When talking about the food during 33 years of ownership, the conversation lasted 33 seconds.
Instead, over the next 33 minutes, the names of friends started coming up. The names of family members started coming up. The names of past employees and current employees. The names of vendors.
I tried to remind them for clarity in this story, “Don’t you mean customers?”
Bob and Tracy looked across the table at each other and went silent. It was at that moment they realized the sale of the Beef Haus was bigger than “customers.” These were friends.
Tracy was fighting back emotion, so Bob spoke up.
“There are two women who come in the same time the same day because they know that’s exactly when Tracy has 30 minutes to spend with them,” Bob said. Almost at the same time, they reach for each other’s hand and give a squeeze.
Then the two start listing off more names. To list even one would be a disservice to the other 100.
“This has been about the people and relationships we built,” Bob said. “There was a family who came in here for years from Buffalo and they always brought their kid. The ‘kid’ is an adult now and started coming during hunting season. Now, he’s here 32 weeks out of the year. He texts me when they are coming in because they are like family.
“They live in Buffalo, yet when they walk in the door, everyone on the staff knows exactly what they want,” Bob added.
The lines are now blurred for me. Did the Insley’s invite me over for the final interview as a reporter or a friend? While some customers come in and the staff knows what they want, there were many times Bob would casually walk past the table and tell the waitress, “Get John the chicken special, he’ll like that.” Or “forcing” me to try Tracy’s recipe for Hawaiian barbecue wings that are finished with a couple flips on the grill after the fryer. I was “forced” to order those on my own for years and simply asked for “Tracy’s wing special.”
We started joking about some of the sports banquets held upstairs and out back. How Bob hosted the basketball team and football team with parents late into the night when a Section V title was won. Tracy stopped making her famous french onion soup to help the staff set up an impromptu chicken finger buffet.
When their children graduated from high school, the calls for those pop-up celebrations did not stop. Bob smiles. Sure, it might have been his one night off, but he was honored a new generation wanted to keep the tradition going. When the crowd came in a good 30 minutes after closing time, there was Bob in a white apron, giving the impression he worked all night when in reality, he just took the dog for a walk and was seconds away from sleeping!
Tracy realizes their ownership outlasted service clubs like the Exchange Club, who have a podium upstairs. The bridge club, the Rotary, Lionesses, Wellsville Business Professionals, the Investment Club, the wedding receptions and the funeral services.
Yes, the history. The Beef Haus, at 176 North Main Street in Wellsville, opened in 1978 with Tim Torrey and the Insley’s purchased it in 1991 (story on the history here). The Insley family still owns 178 North Main and Jeff Hyslip and Bob Insley will still run the 24-hour, seven-day-a week gym upstairs, JB’s Family Fitness.
Those facts fade away as the conversation goes back to people.
“While we are very happy and excited for our next adventure, we will greatly miss all of our loyal employees, guests and friends we have made,” Bob said. “Wellsville and Allegany County has been amazing, supporting us and we want to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to everyone for their support. We now wish new owner Timothy Slade all the success in the future.”
The Beef Haus is expected to re-open this week under the same name with familiar faces.
Bringing up employees is another emotional subject.
“A lot of people started out working here in college,” Tracy said. “They became professionals, teachers, nurses, they stop in or call and we talk about their families and their kids. It’s always fun to hear about their children, from school to sports.”
You can see Bob’s mind going to work as he sits and thinks. He was putting together a mental list of former employees and said “they are lawyers, teachers, nurses, physician assistants, entrepreneurs, restaurant managers, police officers, FBI and CIA officers … and that’s just to name a few.”
The radio ad for the Beef Haus over the years had a faint, familiar melody playing in the background. It was the theme from the TV series, Cheers. As Bob drove home from this interview, I am guessing he pulled that song up and played it.
When he pulled into his driveway, I got a text. Bob is texting me the lyrics to the song, which you can sum up with the line “you want to go where everybody knows your name.”
“In a small community, it’s vital to your success to have repeat guests … Wellsville is not a huge tourist center with a new group of potential customers coming into town like you would have in different vacation destinations,” Bob said. “We were very fortunate to have some of the best customers and work staff, and for that we are both very thankful.”
Tracy then brings up the one thing that threatened to close all restaurants in New York, the Covid pandemic. If there is one state that wrote the book on how not to handle the pandemic, it was New York.
“Dresser-Rand closing sent shockwaves through the community, but in reality, they were downsizing and closing for 30 years, ” Bob said. “Preheater was up and down, but nothing was like Covid.”
“We didn’t want to give up,” Tracy said. “We wanted to give people a place to get out of the house and come eat. The state said you could have customers at every other table. With the size of our restaurant, we were ok, but I felt bad for Texas Hot and Modern Diner, they do not have as many tables.”
Because the Inlsey’s owned the block, they were able to put outdoor seating across to buildings. It kept the restaurant open, and it gave residents some hope there was light at the end of this Covid tunnel.
Bob’s sister Deb then walks in and to the office like any other day.
But it’s not. It’s for good-byes.
When Bob worked at the Wellsville Country Club 36 years ago, he struck up a friendship with the truck delivery driver. Today, that man is a regional manager for Cisco foods. You would think by the way he walks in and sits at the back table in the corner he was family as well.
Pardon the Slade family if they get emotional turning the key to open the doors this week. The Beef Haus is a piece of a historic Main Street puzzle in Wellsville, and one that will continue to be supported by the community.
Listening to Bob and Tracy talk about their employees and remembering how warm they made everyone feel, the Cheers theme song suddenly can be turned back toward them. What if there was no Beef Haus, no employees, what if they closed during Covid? The statement as the song ends is our message to everyone who kept the Beef Haus going all these years, “we are always glad YOU came” and gave us a place where everyone knows our name.
