Brothers Dan and Conor Sullivan named their Irish pub, Bumpa’s, after their late paternal grandfather, who one of their older cousins deemed “Bumpa.” A portrait of the patriarch hangs prominently in Bumpa’s, along with an entire wall of black and white images of guests past and present.
“We call it the wall of heroes,” Dan said. “Bumpa was our grandfather and just like so many grandfathers he had a lot of stories … The idea was to put this out in the community — if you enjoyed your time and felt comfortable here, you send us a photo and we’ll frame it.”
The pair said that you’d be surprised how many folks have a Bumpa in their lives. One family even bought a bunch of Bumpa’s branded T-shirts to wear to a family reunion one summer to surprise their own Bumpa. Naturally, that picture hangs proudly on the wall of heroes.
Before opening Bumpa’s, both Dan and Conor worked in the corporate world (Conor still works in sales), but they always knew they wanted to own a bar together. They credit a childhood of watching Cheers with that dream. Conor said that the vision was always Dan’s pet project, though.
“This is really Dan’s idea,” Conor said. “He always said, ‘We’ll open a bar.’ And we talked about it more and had more ideas. There were stapled menus on the backs of napkins. We got older and more serious and decided to do it.”
Family first
Even with Sam Malone proudly displayed on Bumpa’s wall of heroes, the pair admit that the reality of owning a bar is a touch more challenging than their beloved sitcom led them to believe. “I’ve been humbled by this business,” Dan said.
The challenges started before Bumpa’s even opened its doors when the brothers bought a historic property on Cumberland Street. “We had to do a huge retrofit to make it viable for the kind of business we wanted,” Conor said.
They rearranged the restaurant’s layout and added some natural light by uncovering the building’s original windows. They did such a good job restoring the place that the city awarded the building with a Carolopolis Award in 2021.
Another challenge? Opening during the year 2020. “We didn’t have to break any bad habits,” Dan said on the silver lining of starting from the baseline of an international pandemic. The brothers high fived remembering the dedication to spray bottles of sanitizer used all over the restaurant. They credit a strong staff, especially general manager Kory Schaaf with how smoothly things run at Bumpa’s.
Dealing with the personalities of employees is a far cry from the corporate world Dan and Conor are used to inhabiting. Dan said the biggest surprise of owning a restaurant is dealing with the folks who work there. “I think it’s the people, that being such a huge part of the job. I don’t think I was anticipating needing to be an ear for so many folks,” he said.
Camaraderie doesn’t stop with the employees, though. The convivial atmosphere extends to guests, too. “We want you to be comfortable here,” Dan said. “We do not churn and burn, we want you to be in here and relax. If you’re here for a couple hours, we’ll keep the beer flowing, don’t worry about it. We want [people] to feel like it’s their neighborhood bar.”
At the end of the day, if the employees, guests and brothers themselves are feeling good, things are running pretty smoothly at Bumpa’s.
“We’re not afraid of hard work,” Dan said. “But we also want to make sure that we still get to reap the rewards.” That means delegating tasks to others and spending as much time with their families as possible. Dan and Conor’s parents live nearby and they said that when everyone gets together, wives and kids included, things can get a little hectic — in the best way possible.
“Now that we’re all together it’s chaotic and fun and all that stuff,” Dan said. “But in Bumpa’s words, ‘it’s been beautiful.’”
“That was his word,” agreed Conor.
Have a great time at Bumpa’s this St. Patrick’s Day weekend at 5 Cumberland St. downtown. Enjoy a special menu and drink specials as well as live music and appearances from step dancers and bagpipe players.
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