Serving The City: ‘I Don’t Know What Else I Would Do’

SARTELL -- For the people who have made a career working in the bar and restaurant industry taking orders for pickup and delivery isn't exactly what they signed up for.

Penny Hoops is the General Manager at the Blue Line Sports Bar and Grill in Sartell. She says it's the people who have kept her in the industry for so long.

I love, love, love being around people, I love talking, I can't even put into words what kind of a family all of this has become.

Hoops got her start in high school working at a golf course and then went to work at a bowling alley when she moved to Alexandria for hotel restaurant management. Locally she's worked at the 400 Club, Outback Steakhouse, Coyote Moon Grill, as well as at the Blue Line.

I keep thinking I'm getting old I need to figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up, but I don't know what else I want to do besides this.

Hoops also spent time working in the foodservice department in the school and says she's never worked a job that didn't have something to do with food.

She says when she's hiring new people it's easy to tell who shares that same passion. She says it takes talent and skill to bartend and serve.

Not just anybody can be a server or a bartender, you have to be able to multitask, you have to be able to think on your feet, and more than anything you have to have compassion and understanding, and caring for somebody else.

Hoops what she loves about the industry is the sense of community and bigger family that it has.

She says it's hard to be in the empty bar right now because winter is usually their busiest time of the year. She says the feedback they get from their customers is that they can't wait to be back inside the restaurant as well.

If you know someone who works full-time in the bar and restaurant industry that should be featured in our "Serving the City" series let us know.