Today we’d like to introduce you to Joey Muckenthaler.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Joey. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The name Deacon Baldy’s comes from Mike Mims. Mike Mims (Deacon Baldy) was a Deacon at our Church and well-known community figure. He used to throw a fundraiser called “Deacon Baldy’s Beer & BBQ”. Basically, he would make a shit ton of ribs and he’d serve beer. He was like a second father to me and all our friends. Sadly he passed away a few years ago in a helicopter crash here in The Woodlands.
To understand Deacon Baldy’s you have to understand my group of friends and the Mims Family (The Owners). I grew up in The Woodlands and I’ve had pretty much the same group of friends since High School. We’ve probably spent months of our lives hanging out at each other’s houses over the years but we spent far and away the most time with Mike and Kate Mims’ house. They have a beautiful back patio where we go long into the night drinking beer and bourbon, smoking cigars, and just talking. Mike and Kate were always huge in hospitality so anytime you go there you’re family.
The earliest stages of Deacon Baldy’s was just a way for us to utilize frontage space on 1488, but it quickly evolved into a way to share the Hospitality and atmosphere of Mike and Kate’s with the community. Now that we all have kids it’s become somewhat of a challenge for us to do anything. You can’t exactly show up at a restaurant with 20 adults and 25 kids, which is why our place tries to be so family friendly. More often than not the kids running around are ours.
I was doing Youth Ministry in Houston when Kevin called me and asked me what he thought about making a food truck park, and I casually mentioned that if he’s going to make a venture into the food and beverage industry that he should build a craft beer bar because at the time the only option was Hop Scholar (which we love) but it was quite a bit away. Long story short the whole thing just kind of snowballed into the current design. We knew we wanted great food trucks and great beer. Cocktails entered the fray when we realized we liked Bourbon too much to not have the option to drink it, and the patio design was a natural choice with the atmosphere of the back patio that we wanted to recreate,
If the whole ordeal is starting to sound like a couple of friends saying “We should open a bar”, that’s pretty much what happened. What started as some spitballing about how to best utilize a piece of real estate ended up being a passion project for us to try to recreate the same environment that allowed our small group of friends to become a family, and hopefully allow others to do the same.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
God no. None of us had ever been in the Service Industry before. I mean I waited tables all through college but that hardly counts when you’re opening a bar. We sought as much advice as we could and did most of our learning on the fly through experience (mistakes). Looking back we probably caught more breaks than we deserved, and when I look back at our initial estimated cost to get this thing started I just shake my head and laugh.
We couldn’t break ground for 5 months because we had to wait for the water company to tie into the property and we couldn’t even submit plans to the county until that got done. We got our Health Inspection the day of our soft opening which probably took several years off my life. Shoutout to Ruben at Montgomery County Health Services, he’s among my favorite people.
Despite us not having walls, the fire code declared us an indoor building which means we had to have a fire suppression system… presumably in case the metal building bursts into flame from a keg being too pressurized.
One of the most difficult struggles thought was learning to work with and for your friends. I’ve known my business partner Kevin for almost 20 years and Harry for 7. Anytime you work with family you have to figure out a way to either adjust your work personalities or be able to separate work and play. Luckily it’s a struggle that only brought us closer. Wow, that was cheesy.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Deacon Baldy’s – what should we know?
Deacon Baldy’s is a Bar & Food Truck Park, but we only run the bar. We specialize in craft beer, craft cocktails, and personal service. The thing I’m most proud of though is our staff. We’ve become like a wonderfully dysfunctional family.
If I had to pick something that sets us apart from others it would be the culture that we have cultivated. We’re a family-friendly bar. You can come get one of our 40 draft beers or a great cocktail, pick up some incredible food, and all the while see how many toddlers or dogs you can dodge on the way back to your table. The whole thing feels like a family reunion gone totally out of control. We love it.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Kate Mims. Kate my boss and the whole reason this place was able to happen at all. She’s been amazing to work for, incredibly patient with us during the steep learning curve, and since she’s been a small business owner for some time, an invaluable resource to us. More than any of that thought her love and hospitality over the years taught us everything we needed to know about how to treat our customers.
Another big credit goes to our wives who lost a lot of time with their husbands the moment this place opened and have been incredibly supportive of the change.
The biggest credit though goes to our customers and this community. They’ve been unrelenting in their support and without them, we wouldn’t be here.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5447 FM 1488
Magnolia, TX 77354 - Website: www.deaconbaldys.com
- Phone: 281-650-2558
- Email: contact@deaconbaldys.com
- Instagram: Deacon Baldys Bar
- Facebook: Deacon Baldy’s
- Twitter: @deaconbaldys
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