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Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2012 > January > 11 > Entry
New owner to transform Kettering sports bar into restaurant-pub
KETTERING — The Monkeez Sports Bar that opened nearly a year ago in the former Sports Deck at 3808 Wilmington Pike has closed, and a new owner is preparing to open a restaurant-pub called Buckin’ Donkey Grille at that location.
New owner Sean McKown of Kettering is painting and renovating the structure and said he hopes to open by late January or early February with a new menu and focus.
“I want families to feel comfortable here,” McKown said. “I’m concentrating on being more of a restaurant than a corner bar.”
But Buckin’ Donkey won’t entirely abandon its sports-bar roots: Pittsburgh native McKown said the pub will be a “Steelers Bar” during NFL season Sundays.
McKown has 23 years experience working at several bars and restaurants in the Miami Valley and in Arizona, including Dayton-area establishments Oregon Express, Harrigan’s, LC Wing Co. and Barleycorn’s. He said he has been looking to open his own place for several years. The Buckin’ Donkey menu will include daily specials at both lunch and dinner, along with burgers, sandwiches, Cajun dishes, seafood, vegetarian options and salads. The restaurant will open at 10 a.m. and will serve breakfast all day, McKown said.
“This is the first place that is officially mine — my concept, my menu, my food,” he said. His goal is to open additional Buckin’ Donkey locations “after a couple of years,” McKown said.
Michael Robbe, who owned Monkeez at the location, said the sale “was not a reflection of the business failing. We had wonderful customers, and we were well-supported.” But McKown approached him and “made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Robbe said. He still owns the Monkeez brand and is “certainly interested in exploring options” to reopen elsewhere,” he said.
Buckin’ Donkey will seat about 90 people, with seating for an additional 50 on a patio. McKown said the new pub will employ up to 20 people.
A Facebook page and web page are on the way, McKown said. For more information, call the Buckin’ Donkey Grille at (937) 723-7888.
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