Dreaming of a summer day on the beach? With a cold drink, seafood, and Jimmy Buffett singing in the background? Well, we can’t bring a Michigan City summer to you right now, but we can bring you to Matey’s Restaurant, a summery, fun restaurant and bar that can uplift your cold January spirits.
Bryan Konieczny has been traveling to Michigan City every summer for years, visiting the beaches and lounging in the local restaurants. In 2011, he was overseeing an auto-body company, in which a location was established in the area. However, the company was bought out, leaving Konieczny and his business partner needing a new project. They found the restaurant, one they had eaten at plenty of times before, was about to close, since the owners were nearing their retirement age.
“We had experience in operating a business, and just after being out here in the summer and coming to Matey’s often…,” Konieczny said. “Then, we found out it was for sale and it is so fun being out here. We saw it as a real opportunity to improve the business the old owners had.”
Konieczny took over the establishment in July 2015, and since has made huge improvements and changes to the 20 plus-year-old restaurant.
The first big change was to upgrade the style and atmosphere by making it more of a fine dining and casual atmosphere inside the Chart Room.
“We are really trying to class the place up. We added a fine dining room, which is a non-smoking dining room, which is pretty nice,” he said. “We just plan to continue with remodels throughout the building.”
The dining room includes a new menu, featuring high quality steaks and seafood, as well as other main dishes such as pasta and chicken specialties, in addition to salads, soups, and appetizers.
Anyone who has been to Matey’s knows about the main attractions: the Tiki Bar, Sports Bar, and Crow’s Nest.
The sports bar always plays live sports in the relaxed atmosphere. Upstairs, the party gets hoppin’ out on the Tiki bar, where bands play and people truly believe they are sitting on the deck in a Florida Keys restaurant. Then, take it one step higher to the Crow’s Nest, the perfect place to watch the falling sunset over Lake Michigan.
Even in the colder months, the restaurant opens the bar for Halloween and New Year’s Eve parties.
“We want to make the Sports Bar nicer and want to expand the decks and make those nicer too,” Konieczny said. “Just around the whole building, there are a lot of opportunities to make things nice and class the place up. We want to tie in with what’s going on in Michigan City with the arts and just getting people in here, attract the tourism.”
The bar food menu will stay the same, he added. “They have everyone’s favorites, so we can’t really ditch that.”
Before managing the auto shop business and Matey’s, Konieczny had grown up in Plainfield, Illinois and served in the Air Force for four years. Konieczny worked on airplanes on an air force base while living in California, but was attracted to Michigan City’s community from day one.
“This is very close knit. Everybody knows everybody,” Konieczny said. “There’s a lot of people out here who want to truly help other people and I really like being a part of that as well.”
Konieczny is mainly in charge of the financial side of the restaurant, while his business partner, Mark Kehoskie manages the advertising, food, and equipment. Despite being a business owner and looking over 250 employees and 27 locations, Konieczny said owning a restaurant is tough. The food management, preparation, costs, the employees, and the onslaught of customers once the sun begins to appear again in May, is enough to keep the two guys busy.
Right now, the two have been working on just getting the word out that Matey’s is changing and changing for the better.
No longer are they just a cheeseburger and bar food kind of place, but a place to enjoy no matter the occasion, he said.
Though winter is slow, Konieczny said sometimes having that winter break is nice, because once summer hits…
“It is awesome in the summer. In the summer, it is insanely busy and we have to make sure we have everything ready to go,” he said. “It is crazy busy, just a whirlwind of people in and out of here.”
“You meet some really good people in the summer,” he added. “They are on vacation and having fun. Those are good people to be around.”
As summer 2017 approaches, the staff at Matey’s are already preparing for a season of fun. Billboards and other advertising are up throughout the region to help get the word out that Matey’s is once again the summer-loving place to be after a day at the beach.
As a beach-goer and summer enthusiast himself – an avid scuba diver and traveler - Konieczny understands how special the sunny season is. His aim for the restaurant to provide a little something for everyone: three floors, five bars, good food, and a summer experience unlike anything seen before, even if it is still January!
Check out the restaurant website: http://mateysbar.com/ and Facebook page for the new menu and the reopening of the Crew’s Nest for summer.