Alcohol sits on display inside the Bucksnort Pub in downtown Morton on Sunday.
Motorcycles are seen parked in the reflection of the Bucksnort Pub as it remains open Sunday afternoon in Morton.
The Bucksnort Pub is located at 198 Main Ave. in Morton.
Motorcycles are seen parked outside the Bucksnort Pub as it remains open Sunday afternoon in Morton.
Editor’s Note: The Chronicle is working to assist local businesses suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 virus spread and associated government orders to close or limit commerce. There will be a feature on a local business in each edition of The Chronicle and at chronline.com moving forward. To be considered, email reporter Eric Trent at etrent@chronline.com. Additionally, The Chronicle will continue to offer its coverage of the coronavirus and its effects across the community, state and nation free outside of our paywall at chronline.com.
MORTON — When Conrad Amos earned his associate's degree in small business management, he knew he wanted to be a small business owner, he just didn’t know what type of business.
Amos completed the degree with his GI Bill after serving four years in the U.S. Air Force from 2002-06. The 2002 Morton High School graduate had returned to his hometown in 2010 to visit some friends when he saw a building for sale on Main Avenue. Amos had known the place growing up as the popular Morton Tavern, and then later Shotgun Freddy’s.
“The opportunity presented itself, so I said, ‘Why not?’” Amos said.
Amos, who had zero bar or restaurant experience, opened his Bucksnort Pub two weeks before the annual Morton Loggers Jubilee, an event that draws thousands of out-of-town visitors to the area. It was a trial-by-fire and Amos was cast into the cauldron, soon becoming overwhelmed with customers. But he made it through and soon became an established pub downtown.
Business had gone well for the past decade until the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation in March.
March and April is when all the business licensing is due, such as liquor licenses, insurance, all the big once-a-year bills. Couple those bills with a drastic drop off in customers and revenue and Amos found himself in trouble, financially.
What made it even more frustrating was Bucksnort Pub was on a roll and peaking just before COVID-19 hit, registering record sales in January and February. That followed by record losses and a slew of yearly bills was tough to deal with. Amos wasn’t sure if he could continue on with his pub.
“Originally, it was devastating,” Amos said. “To the point where I was considering other options to repurpose the building.”
It was an immediate smack, as well, as customers nearly stopped ordering food altogether when a stay-at-home order was issued in March and all non-essential businesses closed. It also meant Amos could no longer sell alcohol for a couple weeks until restrictions on to-go and delivery of alcohol was allowed a couple weeks later.
Amos kept his two part-time employees on, hoping to be approved for the federal Paycheck Protection Program grant money. He was accepted, but soon exhausted the available funds allotted for his business.
That left Amos to run the pub entirely by himself, offering to-go and delivery orders for food, which helped a little. All it did was make sure Amos wasn’t losing as much money as before, but he was still operating at a deficit. Weekends were about the only times Amos could get customers, and most of that was through delivering pizzas and burgers.
“Everyone who worked at the hospitals and mills still had jobs to go to,” Amos said. “That’s when they’d have a backyard fire and relax instead of going out.”
Busy times at the Pub also changed, as Amos could no longer predict when orders would come in, for a while. He cut his operating hours by six total hours a day, going from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. to save on utilities. He would sit for hours at a time with nothing coming in, then would get a random food rush. Eventually, people began ordering near closing time and Amos would drop off food on his way home.
Luckily, the pub was able to stay open during these past five months since COVID-19 hit. Lewis County entered phase 2 of the state’s four-phase reopening plan on May 22, which allowed the pub to operate at 50 percent capacity of in-house dining, which was 23 people. Amos opened his pub immediately that day. Alcohol was able to be served with no bar seating, and a maximum of five customers were allowed to sit together at one table.
“Phase 2 really helped us out because people could come in and eat and we still kept our restaurant hours,” Amos said. “People were really happy and supportive; tipping a lot more than they would because they know every business in Morton has really struggled with this.”
The pub went back to normal operating hours, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday to Thursday; and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., Friday and Saturday, when the county moved into phase three on June 19.
Business is now back on track for Bucksnort Pub, but still not at the record-setting level it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the biggest losses this summer is the cancelation of the 78th annual Morton Loggers Jubilee, which takes place every mid-August. Local businesses are working on putting together a block party in downtown Morton on Main Avenue to make up for the lost event. There’s no official date set because it’s all contingent on whether Lewis County enters phase 4 by late August or early September. It will also be a partial fundraiser for the Morton-White Pass Athletic Association, which usually receives a huge money donation from the beer garden at the loggers jubilee.
“Involve all the local businesses, especially the ones who have been affected, like the restaurants,” Amos said. “It’s part fundraiser and part relief party for the small businesses. Just try to involve everybody, but it’s all up in the air.”
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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.
