The Barstool Fund - Kennedy's Irish Pub
Up next: Kennedy's Irish Pub (Waterford, MI)
Kennedy's Irish Pub opened on July 19th, 1972 by Bill and Cheryl Kennedy. Since then, Kennedy's has seen over four generations of family contribute to their success. Located in the heart of Waterford, Kennedy's has become a landmark inside of the community.
Reader Email
Good evening Barstool,
As I write this message, currently sitting inside my vacant restaurant/bar I can not thank Barstool enough especially Dave Portnoy. Dave truly is the only person to step up and actually do something for us small business owners. It truly gives me hope in our larger corporations such as barstool to help the little guy out. It was seeming near impossible to find help anywhere. With multiple failed attempts of trying to receiving a PPP loan and the countless times trying to register for a grant but never receiving one due to the high volume of businesses needing one.
We are small family Irish pub in Oakland County. The business was started by my grandparents Bill and Cheryl Kennedy in 1972. Cheryl still comes in 7 days a week( even during the pandemic/shut down) at 81 years old because that’s all she knows. It’s what she’s been doing for 48 years and doesn’t plan on stopping soon. The business is now managed and ran by her daughter Erin Kennedy who is 55 years old and has been working there since she was 18. Erin’s son who just graduated from Western Michigan chose to come back and help the family run the business. The business has seen 3 generations of family contribute to their success, but we have never been faced with this type of challenge. We currently have 21 employees 14 of them being full time. A large majority of our employees have been with us 25+ years and have stuck through the thick and thin. But, like we said we are a family business and we have an extended family with 21 members our employees.
We will use the money to help continue paying our payroll for our employees and also for our utilities and bills. We are struggling finding a way to do both. Luckily we are able to have a carry-out but it hasn’t panned out for us. We are having a hard time keeping our payroll rolling while paying the bills through December let alone January.
We’ve entered our second shutdown just shortly after November started and at this rate don’t see our governor opening anytime soon.
Barstool we really appreciate what you are doing whether you are able to help us or not. It’s truly people like you that give us little guys hope in the world.
Thank you,
Kennedys Irish Pub