   
Our Evolution:
Cowboy Sharkies, Inc. was unlocked Halloween of 2002. The brain
child of Robert & Deborah Johnson & Christopher
"Critter" Caughron. After extensive cleaning and remodeling,
Cowboy Sharkies' Sports Bar opened on November 15th, 2002 with
the restaurant side still masked off and undergoing a serious
face lift. The restaurant side opened on December 15th, 2002
after 6 long, long, long weeks of 24 hour days, falling asleep
behind a sander, skill sawing ceiling tiles, and several
stitches.
Our "soft" open went almost unnoticed by most
folks as we quietly screwed on the tap handles, lit the open
sign, and went about truly learning the restaurant business.
Due to the overwhelming patience of our guests and $2 ice cold
Jagermeister shots, we managed to break $4,000 per week in sales
in the early days--keep in mind that monthly rent alone was nearly twice
that.
Through blind ambition and determined
perseverance, not paying any of our taxes, and overwhelming
support of friends and family that helped for free for literally
years, we managed to ever so slowly build on our underfunded
foundation. We nearly doubled our first year climbing to $7,000
per week in sales. The restaurant was growing, our catering
business was developing a great reputation, karaoke kept our bar
full, and we were the ONLY sports bar in town. We were blessed
with some great college football and basketball seasons during
this period.
The following year we saw our biggest growth
period with the addition of No Limit Texas Hold'em, pre-casino,
and ever growing restaurant popularity. Our sports bar
maintained its steady stream of income highlighted by a few big
sporting events, including both OU and OSU making it to the
Sweet Sixteen. Our sales crept past $15,000 per week and our
future was certainly a little brighter, less the looming tax
penalties and interest. We got sidetracked for a few weeks as
we tempted our hand at the night club business in the red hot
Latin Dance arena--hello we aren't Latin and only Critter knows
how to dance. We got sidetracked again by incorporating saltwater fish
sales into our dining room.
Starting our fourth year, we
felt the ground firming beneath us and we were able to pay the
$100,000 in I.R.S. tax debt. Our confidence exceeded our bank
accounts as we tried to open our second location with promised
funds from two separate investors. This over enthusiastic
mistake would stay with us for over a year and a half as we
tried to find funds to completely launch the location. Over
$100,000 later, we pulled the plug on our "Downtown Event
Center," as neither investor came through with the promised
funds to complete the project. This would be our most
frustrating year due to these huge financial setbacks; however,
we would also be around to grow our reputation of the best food
for the buck, always something going on, and good people trying
their best to do good things. We would see our sales rise in
spite of us to over $20,000 per week in sales. We added comedy
to our diversity and maintained our Texas Hold'em Poker even
though the casinos gained permission to have it at their place.
We would also see a change in the smoking laws that allowed us
to be one of the few restaurants in Oklahoma that a guest
could eat a great meal and smoke at the same time in our
separate bar/smoking area.
Turning four was a big milestone for
us. Our challenges lay clearly before us with even more
obstacles behind us, our friends list on mySpace continues to
grow, and most folks in Tulsa now know that we have incredible
food, prices, and service in a comfortable atmosphere with over
1,000 gallons of saltwater coursing through our aquariums. We
would see many wonderful comedians, make many wonderful friends,
and build on our increasingly solid foundation. More
importantly, we would learn to focus on our business inside our
four walls and work to improve what we have control over. We
would also add Pizza to our menu offerings and
delivery--compliments our sports bar quite well and the pizza
turns out to be pretty awesome. The pizza division also allows
us to service our catering clients and restaurant clients more
often with better diversity. In the first half of this year, we
have managed to consistently maintain above $22,000 per week in
sales and even saw a month of $30,000 plus weeks.
Remember that we paid no taxes our first year or so, but had
caught up on our Federal I.R.S. taxes. State taxes are our only
outstanding obligation and we've worked out an agreement with
the folks up in O.K.C. to pay that off over the next several
months and we should be home free from our baggage that resulted
from being underfunded and stumbling over a few expensive
business lessons along the way. We have a great foundation,
thousands of success stories and testimonials, 13,000 members in
our email club, an ever evolving concept based on providing
great food, service, and atmosphere for exceedingly reasonable
prices, and phenomenal friends and family that we've made along
the way. TOP
Business Model: We like to think that we are
modeling ourselves after Southwest Airlines & Wal-mart. We
believe that these companies attempt to provide the best 'value'
in the marketplace. They are usually at the low end on price;
however, you always seem to get the most for your money. It
seems to us that these companies do great and even better than
their competition, when financial pressures (high gas prices)
dampen their respective industries.
TOP
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COWBOY
SHARKIES
