Paul Hackbarth says he is the definition of a serial entrepreneur. At age 13, he started a company called Sound By Design, which was a DJ service for events such as weddings and school events. By the time he was in college, he used the money he made from that business to begin acquiring real estate around the school. By the time he finished college, Sound By Design was doing on average some 700 weddings per year — 14 to 18 every Saturday night.
He launched Camp Bar in 2012 and began taking the earnings from real estate and Sound By Design and investing it into Camp Bar and Hackbarth Hospitality Group. Everything was rolling, until the pandemic hit.
“COVID was a was a really hard time for us,” Hackbarth said at the Milwaukee Smart Business Dealmakers Conference. “But I was able to get Sound By Design, which obviously thrived on weddings and social gatherings and things like that, same with Camp Bar, and was able to get Sound By Design through that time, along with Camp Bar, with the help of the bank.”
COVID put him in really tough place. No events could take place and bars weren't allowed to operate. He had put a lot of money into buying and remodeling Deer Camp and expected big crowds for the Milwaukee Bucks playoff run. Then 12 days later, he was told they had to shut their doors.
With the help of their bank, they used PPP to keep the company alive.
“I'm proud that we did it the right way,” he says. “We kept all of our employees. So, the unique part was when we were allowed to reopen, we were ready to rock. So, we used that funding correctly. But really, the bank was there for us. But also having the real estate — I would call that my quiet businesses, the real estate — we also had that as leverage, which was really great.”
After the pandemic, he passed Sound By Design to his brother in law to run, and who is now expanding it.
Camp Bar is also expanding, adding additional locations and growing its footprint to include the Wisconsin State Fair Park. He’s also added three event venues and continued his trend of using one business to fund the next.
And there were more chances to keep the growth going. He says he had an opportunity to open another Camp location out west, an area where he believes the business would have done really well. That deal was a week from closing, but some things happened and it fell apart.
“That was difficult,” he says. “In the long run, it was the right decision. In the short-term, it was a really hard decision.”
He says he was glad to have his bank’s support through the deal, understanding that it costs the bank time and resources. And because it wasn’t the right decision, they supported him.
“And that to me meant the world because I feel like I'm letting the bank down because this was going to be in my mind a great deal,” he says. “But at the end, it just wasn't right. And they said, ‘Don't worry, something else will come up.’ But to have that support, and the support of their teams around them, that was very helpful.”
Through the past few years, he says he’s learned that it's OK if something doesn't work out.
“I used to feel like if I didn't chase an opportunity that I was failing,” Hackbarth says. “I'm the one guy that everybody calls when a bar is for sale, or when a restaurant is for sale. But it's OK to say no. And as cheesy as it sounds, trust your heart. And on the last deal, that was heartbreaking. In the long run, it was probably the best thing at that time. And I know that that opportunity will come back again. And it's just a matter of timing.”
