Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Heckel.
Hi Robert, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My wife Jennifer and I bought an old vacant building on the West side of Rapid City with really no clue on what we would do with it. With my wife being a former Hairstylist, I asked if she was interested in converting the building into a Salon, um no was her reaction she had been in the industry her whole life and wanted nothing to do with a salon. Well, I had always wanted to design a bar and that is how the idea formed. My background is very diverse. I have done everything from autobody to construction. I grew up building homes with my father and have always been a hands-on type of person. I spent 15 years in the Military 4 in the Marine Corps as a combat engineer and the rest was in the Army national guard as a Pilot. I owned a custom home building company for 12 years and realized I didn’t like building things for people anymore. I got into building our own vacation rentals and then started buying property. This is how we ended up with the location. I have always been a music and art guy. I grew up playing drums and then taught myself guitar in my 30s. I knew if I opened something it would have to be music and art-based never been a sports fan. I have been a fan of industrial architecture my entire life and my wife likes the Victorian era so we ended up meeting in the middle with a steampunk-inspired venue. This is the birth of the Iron Phnx I will say the name did come from my daughter; her name is Phoenix inspired from the mythological story of the bird rising from the ashes. We have created our own little nitch and unique place that like-minded locals love and tourist seek out.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
no def not. We started out with a bang and slowly went downhill. We have never run a bar or been in the service industry like this so it was all a learning curve. Hiring people in the bar industry has been a huge challenge we had a bunch of turnover due to many reasons, being too slow and then there are the human aspects of the bartenders either being an alcoholic that can’t work without drinking or coming in hungover to being late. Found out that a lot of the people in this industry have major personal issues and it’s hard finding the right people. We didn’t really know the secret sauce to get people in the door it took a while to gain traction. We tried so many different things to bring people in failing at most of them and losing lots of money along the way. But we eventually figured it out and have been doing great since. lot of it has to do with consistency like hours product and entertainment. Things like making sure all the cocktails are made the same from one bartender to another and not closing early because it seems dead. lot of hard lessons learned.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We own the a few different businesses but the one we are talking about here is the Iron Phnx. We now have two locations one in Rapid City SD and one in Spearfish SD. We are the only steampunk-inspired bar around and really the only not sports feel bar. We have art from locals decorating our walls as well as entertainment from local artists. We try to keep everything local music and art inspired. I have no desire to have bar signs and beer signs hanging around the place when you can have awesome local talent presented all over the place. I think it gives the place a community pride feeling. We also can host bigger shows such as concerts and other performing arts like comedy and burlesque. We have been putting out and really making a splash with our custom cocktails as well.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Depends on the location. Rapid City seems more diverse and tolerant of different entertainment and letting new things come into town. We have done everything from burlesque to belly dancing and drag shows as well as metal concerts to comedy. If you don’t like the entertainment for the night, they understand they don’t have to come that night and they return for other events. Our Spearfish location on the other hand has been and is still difficult. We really have not been accepted by the community quite yet we have went through some rough stuff and a few of the staff we let go have gotten their friends together to go a smearing campaign and bad review campaign. We are fighting the cancel culture in this smaller town that is hard. We have also had many different performers come through like in Rapid City everything from Belly dancing to Drag shows to rock concerts and so on. Like a true venue. Well, the town now thinks we are a gay bar and most refuse to come to the place. We are slowly gaining traction but it has been difficult trying to fit into this community. But we don’t quit.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.ironphnx.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ironphnx/ and https://www.instagram.com/ironphnxnorth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ironphnxrc
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG_7gEJZLiF1jg89DNfEBQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/iron-phnx-rapid-city and https://www.yelp.com/biz/iron-phnx-no-title
Image Credits
Josh Williams
Kevin Ryan
