Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Stow is closed for good as owner retires

Popular Stow family pub restaurant Beef ‘O’ Brady’s closed its doors for the final time Sept. 9 after nearly 12 years as owner Bob Frangos looks forward to retirement.

Frangos, 69, said he was very sorry to see the restaurant closed and had tried to sell it on multiple occasions, but the California-based landlords would not agree on lease terms with potential new owners.

“We decided it was time to retire three years ago and I have tried to sell it several times — three times as a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s and twice to people who wanted the contents for a new venue,” Frangos said of the establishment, located at 3732 Darrow Road in Stow. “It was still very successful, but the landlord wanted more per month than the potential owners were willing to pay. That is the gist of what has been going on.

“My partner, Dave Heffelman, and I decided three years ago that our lease was up now and our agreement with Beef was up, and we are done, we do not want to go any further. If we cannot sell it and our landlord won’t give anyone a lease, that is where we are and that made our decision.”

Frangos expressed frustration at the way it all ended.

“I don’t understand it,” he said. “I have brought five people to them and I have a sixth who is trying to negotiate, but I don’t think it will happen.”

He said he is looking forward to retirement but was delighted with the business he had built in Stow.

“I turn 70 in a few months, and I am ready to retire,” he said. “It is time to relax a little and put my feet up. I will still be staying in the area, and I vacation for five or six weeks a year.

“It has been a great ride for us,” Frangos continued. “We owned three Beef ‘O’ Brady’s franchises. We started about 15 years ago with one in Brimfield. I still own one in Wadsworth, but we have a buyer and expect to sell it in the next few weeks, and then we opened Stow. It has been a great run, and I hate to see it close.”

The chain has its roots in Florida when the first Beef ‘O’Brady’s was opened in 1985 by Jim Mellody, who wanted a family friendly restaurant and neighborhood pub mixed with Irish dishes. Today, the brand has about 150 locations around the country.

Frangos said he got to know Mellody in the early 1990s during vacations to Florida.

“He said we should open one,” Frangos said. “We started looking seriously at it in 2006 and opened the first one in 2008. What drew us is that it was family oriented — a family sports pub rather than just a bar.”

Although the Stow venue was the third to open under Frangos, he said he had always wanted to have a Stow location.

“We wanted Stow to be our first, but we could not find any open space,” he said. “I have been a member of the Stow-Munroe Falls Chamber of Commerce for maybe 14 years; [Stow] is where we wanted our first store. There were just no properties that suited us.

“When we did find the location, it [checked] a lot of boxes. It is a great anchor, great visuals from both Darrow Road and Graham Road, and plenty of parking.”

He praised his staff — all of whom have secured new jobs — and said: “My general manager, Michael Zukas, started as a cook on the day we opened and worked his way up. He did a fabulous job and would come in at any time if something happened. He lives in Stow, went to Stow schools and would be there in a minute.

“And my bartenders were great. Lauren Jones worked with me for nearly eight years, starting as a 16-year-old hostess, and Brittney Kessel was with me for five years as the day bartender, doing a fabulous job. They brought in a lot of people as they were so well liked.

“Most of our regulars came in Thursday and Friday [Sept. 8 and Sept. 9], people that have been coming in for many years, and we had a lot of fun. A lot of former employees came in, too, which was a nice thing.”

Frangos said the last two years through the pandemic have been difficult.

“It is a tough market out there at the moment,” he said. “Running the business was never a problem mentally until Covid, but it was a strain wondering what we had, who would be coming to work, and who wouldn’t. Luckily, we had another store so we could move people around, but you just keep going.”

He praised Stow Mayor John Pribonic for his support of businesses during the pandemic.

“Stow has one of the best mayors you could find,” Frangos said. “He helped the restaurants in Stow with the Monday Meals initiative, which he spearheaded. That was appreciated a lot.”

Closing the doors for the last time Sept. 9 was a bittersweet moment for Frangos.

“I am a people person,” he said. “I have loved just getting to know people.”