By Elissa Maudlin
INGALLS — When Clinton Hiatt — president of Taylor Inc. and owner of two Taylor’s Pub and Grill locations in Indianapolis — heard there was room for a business in Ingalls, his knee-jerk reaction was to say no.
It was 2021, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Kyle Davis, vice president, said the location was in the middle of nowhere.
However, after Hiatt dropped off his daughter at school one day, he drove to the location and said he passed by houses that “had nowhere to go.”
His conclusion was, “Son of a gun, somebody’s gonna do really, really well there.”
Later, Hiatt, Davis and Pablo Uribe — treasurer and vice president — decided the rewards were worth the risks; they took the space, and the plan for a new Taylor’s location in Ingalls was born.
They are currently set to open to the public on Monday, Sept. 12, Hiatt said.
Different from the two Indianapolis restaurants, the Ingalls location — named Taylor’s Bar and Table — will have a family area and 21+ area. They will serve pub food and have a bar.
“I think the community is asking for a place like this,” Davis said.
During construction, Hiatt said people have peeked their heads in and have rolled down their windows, saying they’re excited and asking when the restaurant will be open.
The Indianapolis Taylor’s Pub and Grill locations are in Greenbriar (open since 1995) and Nora (open since 1997).
” … Speaking to other people on that side of town, it’s amazing to us how often you bump into somebody and everyone seems to know Taylor’s … ” Hiatt said.
He’s heard people say things such as they had their first date with their spouse at Taylor’s or they used to watch ball games at Taylor’s. He said sometimes he and his team stop seeing the forest through the trees, and moments like those make them realize they are a staple on that side of town, he said.
The three men wanted to do something memorable for the Ingalls location, he said, since they could make something from scratch. He didn’t want a restaurant like everyone else’s.
“People are not coming in, really, for the food or for the drink,” Hiatt said, ” … They’re coming in for an atmosphere and they’re coming in for the people …”
For Taylor’s Bar and Table, the men wanted the vibe of the restaurant to be their product. Hiatt said people can feel when a group has a real connection and the respect employees have for one another then applies to guests, too.
Hiatt was 27 years old, “a child in the way of the world,” he said, when he became a partner mid-2001 and later became a majority partner and owner in 2004. He went to college for chemical engineering but learned it wasn’t what he wanted to do and worked as a bartender at a small club around the corner where he grew up. He was successful at it.
“I slipped, tripped and fell into this industry that, you know, can suck you in,” Hiatt said.
He said didn’t want to be a bartender long-term and wanted to offer more for others he cared about and who worked for him. That’s why he brought up Davis and Uribe into management roles.
Davis bartended at Indiana University in Bloomington, and his mother and stepfather were friends with Jim Taylor, the original owner of Taylor’s Pub and Grill. He worked as a bartender at Taylor’s until he went into management.
This was Uribe’s first job in the United States and he said it’s the American Dream for him. He said he hasn’t noticed how quickly time has passed.
“I think when you like it and when you enjoy it, you don’t feel the time, you don’t feel like you’re stuck … ” he said.
For Uribe, making a new location is challenging but exciting, and he believes there’s a responsibility when it comes to the people who work for them.
Compared to their other locations, Hiatt said they will double the amount of employees to between 30 and 35, and double the number of seats to 202. The Ingalls location is bigger than the other locations at 6,300 feet.
“We will now have a lot of employees working for us and … we treat people like a family,” Uribe said. “So we worry and care about them.”
For Hiatt, it all comes back down to family, and he wants to exemplify that Taylor’s is family.
“Every single day, our focus is the people around us,” he said. ” … If you take care of people, take care of the people around you … the money will [work out], the business side of it will work out.”
