College Entrepreneur

by Katie Fantazzi | photos by Ashley Kruythoff

It's Saturday night in Athens and university students across the city flock downtown to visit their favorite bars. During the fall they're decked out in their gameday best, celebrating another Bulldog victory. Some let loose after a stressful week of tests and term papers. Others are downtown socializing with friends or meeting new people. And of course, many students are there just to drink excessive amounts of alcohol.

But if you ever go to the bar at 120 E. Washington St., you'll find a college student working at the front door, behind the bar, in the bathrooms and everywhere in between. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, this 21-year-old shows off his dimples while he pours $1 tequila shots and chats with customers.

Meet Chase Dalton: Owner of Chaser's Tiki Bar and Lounge.

Dalton, a junior from Alpharetta, became an entrepreneur when his family purchased the former Silver Britches Bar in May 2004, just two days after hearing that the space was for sale. Dalton says he and his dad, Doug, had looked into buying other bars in Athens earlier in the year, such as the old Hollister's, but had never finalized a deal. Although the idea had been brewing for several months, they were both a little anxious when they realized their dream could become a reality.

"We looked at each other like, 'Are we crazy?'" Dalton recalls. "And we said, 'Yeah, we're crazy.'"

Life only got crazier for Dalton and his family.

"During the summer I was here at 10:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night for 35 days straight," says Dalton.

For those 35 days Dalton cleaned the bar, talked with distributors, applied for a liquor license, painted, renovated the bathroom, bought new stools, knocked down a wall, researched consumer preferences, cleaned some more, hired Airbrush Atlanta to paint a surfing bulldog on the wall, applied for an occupational license, interviewed potential employees, kept cleaning, installed new coolers and draft boxes, applied for a health license and built a tiki hut.

"The whole place was disgusting," says Dalton. "I was afraid cockroaches would come crawling out of the tap. It hadn't been changed in 13 years."

After a long summer of remodeling and negotiating business contracts, the bar was ready for business. Chaser's opened on August 8, 2004 - just in time for the thousands of UGA students returning for fall semester.

After all of his hard work, Dalton's adrenaline was pumping the day Chaser's opened. He spent most of the day greeting customers and introducing them to his business.

"So much of business is selling yourself," says Dalton.

His dad, Doug, was working behind the bar that day. When he began to make a margarita with the blender he had brought from home, his son tapped him on the shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Dalton asked his dad.

Dalton then pointed out to his dad that there were frozen drink machines in the bar that made five different flavors - including margaritas.

Dalton runs all of the bar's operations, but luckily, he gets some help from his father, who is an entrepreneur himself. Doug sold his real-estate business and now acts as a mentor for his son, helping him learn about business aspects such as payroll, accounting and insurance.

"Everything is new to Chase," says Doug. "That's a big challenge for him. He's absorbing everything I've absorbed for the past 25 years."

On any given Friday or Saturday night, it's likely that you'll find the entire Dalton family working at Chaser's.

Dalton's father, Doug, works as a bartender. He works fast on busy nights, and even has his own set of regular customers. College students sometimes yell, "Hey, Chase's Dad, can I get a Miller Lite?"

"The goal is not to get rich," says Doug. "It's to have fun. That's the goal - a great atmosphere for the kids."

Dalton's mother, Alison, does anything she can to help out. She stocks coolers, cleans the counters and serves drinks.

One busy night Alison started serving $1 tequila shots to customers. Dalton looked over and saw his mom pouring the tequila into 3-ounce paper cups - the equivalent of two shots.

"I said no wonder people were puking everywhere that night," says Dalton.

Alison, who is the assistant principal at Parkview High School, brings in her own crowd when she works at the bar. Many of her former students come in to drink a few beers and hang out with their beloved assistant principal.

And yes, Dalton even puts his 15-year-old brother, Connor, to work. During home football game weekends, Connor comes to Athens and works as the barback, stocking beer bottles, bringing in kegs and refilling the ice.

"Chase is a great brother," says Doug. "He'll make sure Connor makes a few dollars when he's barbacking."

Dalton works full time at the bar, but he also goes to school full time. An advertising and pre-business major, Dalton is taking 12 hours of classes at UGA this fall.

When asked about his grades, Dalton winces, but says he thinks he's making about a 3.5 at the middle of the semester.

Not bad for someone who works 60 to 70 hours a week.

Running a business while going to school has taught Dalton a lot about time management. He has class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and then he goes straight to Chaser's to open up the bar. He's usually the last person at the bar, and doesn't get home until 4 a.m.

On Mondays and Wednesdays Dalton has someone close the bar for him, which allows him to study for any tests he might have on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He closes the bar the other four nights of the week.

But, of course, exceptions do exist.

When Dalton's Monday-night closer couldn't make it to work one night, Dalton had to close the bar himself.

"I didn't get home until 4," says Dalton. "And I had a midterm at 9:30."

Despite working late, Dalton performed well on all of his midterms that week and made high Bs.

With such a hectic schedule, Dalton has very little personal time. He claims that he only sees his girlfriend, Erin Mullineax, when she works at the bar.

Mullineax, a sophomore at UGA, met Dalton in high school and they have been dating for the past three years. She says they don't get to see each other as much as they would like, but they enjoy the time they do have together.

"Things have changed," says Mullineax. "But I wouldn't say it's put a big strain on our relationship. It's just a new perspective."

While Dalton has sacrificed some of his extracurricular activities, he still manages to play UGA club rugby once in awhile. He hasn't been to practice in six months, but played in a recent game and even scored.

Somehow, Dalton manages to do it all.

"He seems like Superman, doesnŐt he?" says his girlfriend, Mullineax.

Dalton's success stems from a strong work ethic that his parents instilled in him as a child. His parents believe that you have to work for what you want in life, and Dalton is not afraid to do that.

Dalton started working in the restaurant business when he was 15 years old. His first job was working in the kitchen at Macaroni Grill. Two years later, he changed jobs and worked as a barback for Garrison's, a five-star restaurant. When he turned 18, Garrison's taught him how to bartend at their martini bar. Dalton then switched jobs, and began working as a server and a bartender at the Mexican restaurant, Rio Bravo, where he learned to how to make a mean margarita. Then, during his sophomore year in college, he worked at the Ramsey Center, and bartended at Applebee's when he was home for holiday breaks.

"If you want it, you have to work for it," says his dad, Doug.

Dalton certainly does work for it. He wants to pursue a career in advertising and plans on continuing his education by attending a portfolio school in Atlanta.

As for the bar, Dalton can take classes on Mondays and Wednesdays in Atlanta, and be in Athens to work at Chaser's on the weekends. Plus, his younger brother, Connor, hopes to be a student at UGA in three years and will help run the business.

But for now, Dalton just wakes up every morning thinking about what he's going to do for the bar in the next two weeks. Every day he works on selling his bar. He advertises in the Flagpole, sponsors the crossword puzzle in The Red & Black and places ads on local radio stations. When he's working, he's constantly networking with customers, hoping that each person will bring back 50 of their friends.

"My bar is new," says Dalton. "I can't force people downtown. But I can have the wildest, craziest thing that night to draw people in."

On a Saturday night in Athens, when college students are making their way downtown, Dalton wants them to come to Chaser's. He wants Bulldog fans to celebrate a victory in his bar. He wants to see students get a little crazy after they've had a hard week of tests and term papers. He wants people to meet their friends at Chaser's to chat over a couple of drinks.

Dalton will continue to work hard until his bar is everybody's bar.