Trio’s perseverance paying off

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Kevin Clark of Highland, the brewmaster and part owner of Bulldog Brewing Co. in downtown Whiting, stirs a batch of honey-nut brown beer. The pub and eatery opened about three months ago. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media

IF YOU GO

What: Bulldog Brewing Co.

Where: 1401 119th St., Whiting

Pub hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday

Kitchen hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily

More information: Call (219) 655-5284 or visit the website www.bulldogbrewingco.com.

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Updated: January 31, 2012 12:36PM

There are some new kids on the block in downtown Whiting, and they’re becoming quite popular.

Bob Fausto, Jeff Kochis and Kevin Clark opened the Bulldog Brewing Co. three months ago and have been busy ever since.

“We’d been talking about going into business for years and, in June 2008, we were seriously discussing the idea,” Fausto said. “The economy was still good then, so we told ourselves that if we were going to do it, we might as well do it now.”

But it took three years from inception to opening the new venture.

After creating a business plan, they needed to find a location and secure financing.

They decided to put down roots in one of two Whiting locations — the old Illiana Hotel lobby off Indianapolis Boulevard or a downtown building on 119th Street that once housed an insurance agency. The former was available for lease from a private owner; the latter was available for sale from the city of Whiting. The downtown structure won.

“As soon as we walked in and saw the exposed brickwork and exposed ceiling, I knew this was exactly what we had in mind,” Fausto said. “So, we put our resources together and bought the building.”

The three men felt that purchasing a building outright would be a good base to leverage for additional financing for equipment and renovations.

Visits to four lending institutions proved disheartening, but they persevered and trimmed their budget to less than 50 percent of the original amount.

“This was our dream, and we didn’t want to give up,” Clark said.

The fifth visit to secure funding proved successful.

The next step was renovating the building and buying equipment.

Since none of the three business owners quit their other jobs, the project took 2½ years to complete.

Kochis, of Hammond, is a firefighter in the city. Clark, of Highland, and Fausto, of Portage, work for a local steel company.

“One of the challenges of having this new business is sacrificing family time,” Kochis said. “But we feel we need to be at the business on a regular basis.”

Besides various beers on tap, the food menu includes pastas, sauces and soups made fresh daily, and various specials.

Seasoned chef Taytiana Sanchez of East Chicago came to Bulldog Brewing from a large Chicago hotel. She runs the kitchen and is happy to be part of the new business venture.

Sanchez also is expanding her creativity by using Bulldog’s beers in her cooking.

Answering to three supervisors has not been daunting.

“This job is more fun than I expected,” Sanchez said. “I thought it would be hard with three bosses, but they truly cooperate with us and get very involved.”

A full-service bar is available to those wanting beverages other than the freshly brewed beers.

Clark, the brewmaster of the group, brings years of experience. But his co-owners pitch in on occasion, he said.

The trio works wherever needed — in the kitchen, cleaning, whatever it takes, Fausto said.

Future plans include entering beer competitions and participating at various events as a vendor.

As for the name of the new business, “It’s not a dog — it’s an attitude,” Fausto said, with a smile. “The more banks that told us ‘no,’ the more determined we were to continue forward.”

Kochis agreed.

“This (name) describes us,” he said. “We’re three blue-collar guys who never say die. The refusals from the banks just gave us more motivation to succeed.”