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Meet Spencer Golish of 4one4 Pub & Pizza in Tempe

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Spencer Golish.

Spencer, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It’s a pretty funny story actually. The place on Mill that I was hosting karaoke at closed without telling me. So I showed up for work and the doors were locked. I walked up and down Mill looking for a karaoke night possibility. I found 4one4 after about 7 other stops. I met the manager and he said “oh you do the karaoke? Ok if I make money you make money.” So I started out as the karaoke DJ at this place. Got 2 nights, then 3 nights, then 5, finally got all 7 nights going for karaoke. Had a full-time day job and was running my karaoke business at night.

Obviously was extremely busy at this point but was saving money. I felt the management wasn’t doing that great of a job as the owners weren’t around. I was able to meet the owners over time, I asked to go into partnership with them on their next business and after some deliberation, they said well why don’t you just buy 4one4. So I did. Since then I’ve had to learn the restaurant and bar business pretty much from the ground up. It’s been quite a crazy ride this far and I continue to learn more about pizza, the bar business, and running a restaurant every day. I hope to continue to learn more and perhaps open another one in the future.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There have been so many challenges thus far. I bought 4one4 in the summer of 2015. When I first started I used all my money to put the down payment on the business, so I had to operate in the summer(slow time) with pretty much no money. I had no dough mixer so I had to totally redesign my kitchen to make space for adding one. Lost my pizza oven in the first year. Got burned by trying to buy used pizza ovens from a shady maintenance guy. Had drivers cars towed? Had electrical issues, equipment issues, plumbing issues aplenty. Had to earn the trust of my employees who thought they knew more about running a restaurant than I do.

The restaurant business is rife with constant challenges to overcome. Been a crazy couple of years. Things have been smoothing out now that I have more experience in dealing with setbacks. The future will tell. And I look forward to it.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We have the best karaoke in the state of Arizona hands down, and it’s nightly 365 days a year. We also serve and deliver awesome pizza and wings until 4 am daily. We home make all our sauce, dough, pesto. Have cauliflower crust pizza for the gluten-free folks and nightly drink specials. What sets us apart is our karaoke, and the feeling people get when they come regularly to 4one4. We have a tight-knit family like atmosphere from our customers and our employees. We are all family here. Join us anytime.

What were you like growing up?
I’m a native born Arizonan. Grew up a huge athlete and played every sport under the Az sun. Football, skiing, hunting, fishing, swimming, volleyball I love it all. Enjoy reading and school as well. Music and food have always been huge passions of mine. Have been in original and cover bands for most of my adult life. Been cooking as a hobby for the last 10 years or so.

Went to community college here, got my associate degree in business, but then got caught up in drug addiction for most of my 20’s. Have worked a myriad of jobs from serving to construction. Left to San Diego for about 10 years, finally got clean. Struggled to find my place but never gave up my music or food dreams. Started a karaoke/DJ company in SD. After a few more years in SD came back home to AZ and reunited with friends and family here. Was able to restart my karaoke company here, found 4one4 then the rest is history… 😉

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Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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