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Remembering Pleasanton in 1981, before Hacienda and three other major business parks, it’s difficult to imagine a successful dive bar doing comedy shows in a strip shopping center.
That’s what Bob Rossi and his girlfriend at the time (now wife) saw when they checked out the Sunshine Saloon that sits on the backside of a building in the Pleasanton Shopping Center. He’d seen an ad in the San Francisco Chronicle that the business was for sale in the city of 40,000.
Rossi brought lots of restaurant experience to the table having opened more than 70 Victoria Stations during the restaurant’s heyday as well as an accounting master’s degree from the University of Santa Clara, where he was a classmate of late Alameda County judge Hugh Walker.
He made a deal and took control of what’s popularly known as “The Shine” in 1981. Now, 45 years later, Rossi, 80, is throwing a New Year’s Eve-style party on Sunday (Sept. 6) to celebrate the anniversary at the bar and grill on Santa Rita Road.
There have been a few pivots over the years, but Rossi’s attention to the bottom line (“I’m a black and white type of guy”) demonstrates his accounting background as well as his restaurant savvy.
He started learning the business when he got a job waiting tables at a steak and lobster restaurant while at Santa Clara and became the general manager in six months. After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he had served six months on active duty in the Army (Vietnam War) and then spent another eight years in the Reserves.
After the Pleasanton deal closed, a cable television salesperson pitched their options and it turned out to be perfect marketing for a suburban comedy club.
“We paid like 50 cents an ad for ESPN, CNN and other cable channels, but we only wanted 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. – our perfect target audience,” he said. No other advertiser was remotely interested in those time slots, thus the cheap, cheap rate. He was investing $1,000 a month and the result was lines out the door for the comedy shows at 9 p.m. when the suburban Pleasanton folks were largely already in bed.
That worked for more than 10 years, but the crowd was coming from well beyond the local market and then televised sitcoms took the comedians to Los Angeles and left few for him to book.
“It was great money, but it was becoming a night club,” he said, and that didn’t fit Pleasanton and he wanted the restaurant element.
With the bar succeeding, he wanted to add a kitchen, but the lease didn’t allow one as long as a tiny restaurant across the shopping center was in business.
That store finally closed in 1991 and he told then-mayor Ken Mercer he wanted to add a kitchen. Mercer directed him to the building department, and after a quick sketch, he had an approval in about 15 minutes with a referral to the inspector who helped guide him through the construction process.
The quality and value of the food menu has been consistent, to say nothing of many employees who have been there for years. Rossi pointed out that his rib eye steak goes for $23.95 while the chain steakhouse his family went to in Brentwood wanted $42.
When he added breakfast, which is served all day, that came with a $7 drink credit (originally it would buy a well cocktail) before prices crept up. Now a $9 Bloody Mary is $2 with the credit. He frankly says he uses the food to sell beverages. Food and beverage are about equal in the revenue stream, a mix that results in comfort for the owner.
Two other major changes were adding the 30-plus screens to make it a sports bar – that was a real struggle in the pre-cable days trying to get a broadcast signal on a roof antenna that continued once they had two satellite dishes that they were trying to maneuver. Now, it’s a piece of cake.
His other addition was working with the jewelry store owner south of him to take over that adjacent room. When Rossi approached him, it turned out he wanted to leave and Rossi worked it out with landlord Hank Cupples for an unheard of 20-year lease. Typically, they are five years with renewal options.
Rossi said Cupples questioned the duration thinking of protecting him, but he wanted the long term. Cupples’ descendants still own the building in what Rossi describes as a great partnership with his business.
Rossi had wanted to add outdoor dining, but got nowhere with the city until the COVID lockdown hit. He literally had 500 pounds of corned beef cooking when he learned about the impending lockdown. He pivoted and managed to sell more than 400 St. Patrick’s Day meals to go.
When the short-term shutdown ordered by President Donald Trump extended into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s nearly year-long lockdown, the city of Pleasanton tried to help Main Street restaurants with outdoor dining parklets. That opened the door for Sunshine and others to join the party.
Rossi received some pushback initially about six parking places until he suggested taking out a grassy median area and installing parking there. The city bought that approach and he was able to build and open the partially covered patio that added about 25% to the seating.
In both dealings with the city, he noted that they dealt fairly with him and expeditiously once the door was open.
Chatting about his approach to business, he stressed providing good value with his food, encouraging beverage purchases with the credit and paying all of the bills as they came up. He related how his father would open bills the day they arrived in the mail, write the checks, put stamps on the envelopes and mail them that day. He has maintained that approach so sleeps well at night knowing he doesn’t owe anyone.
He’s just finished a four-plus year stint as a director and treasurer of the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce. When he moved into the treasurer’s role, he saw trends that he didn’t like and recommended changes to the board that led to Yianna Theodorou taking over as CEO/president. Rossi was quite pleased with her appointment and believes he left the organization fiscally stable.
After 45 years in the same location, Rossi sleeps well in his Livermore home, knowing he has a quality business that treats customers and employees well.
The Sunshine Saloon may be the longest-operating hospitality establishment in the city with 45 years of the same ownership, rivaled only by Gay 90s Pizza which opened in 1959.
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