March 20, 2017

Meet Timmy Philip of Black Bear Tavern in Buckhead

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Timmy Philip.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Timmy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Black Bear Tavern has been in business for over 15 years and is the quintessential neighborhood bar in Atlanta. I bought the bar four years ago after I moved back to Atlanta from New York City. I am originally from Chicago my family and I moved to Atlanta in the early 90″s. I graduated from Georgia State in 2003 with a degree in Finance and started working in real estate finance. I got married in 2007 and moved to New York City and managed the finance division for a major retail company for 5 years. After my son was born we moved to Atlanta in 2011 and I bought a gas station. I did that for one year and realized it wasn’t for me so I sold it and helped my wife start her own dental practice. I worked with my wife for one year and realized the medical field wasn’t what I really wanted to do. So one night I was bored and googled bars for sale. I looked at a bunch of bars for sale but none of them panned out because they were failing bars. The broker I was using to look at bars knew the owner of Black Bear Tavern and put us together because the owner at the time had mentioned in conversation that he thought about selling Black Bear Tavern, When the previous owner and I met he told me he was originally from Illinois and Black Bear Tavern is a Chicago Bears bar right then and there I knew this was the place for me. I bought the bar in January 2014 and since I bought the bar I have been promoting Black Bear Tavern as not only having the best burger in town but also the best place to watch all the Chicago sports teams.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
In the last four years it’s been mostly a smooth road. There have been a few bumps in the road but I have an amazing staff and with them and the support of my family I have been able to overcome the bumps

Please tell us about Black Bear Tavern.
Black Bear Tavern is your quintessential neighborhood bar located in south Buckhead/north of Midtown. We pride ourselves on having the best burger in town and everyone who tries are burger will reassure the fact that we have the best burger in town. Outside of us having the best burger in town we pride ourselves on being the best place to watch all the Chicago sports teams. We are home of the Chicago Bears, Cubs, Blackhawks, Bulls, & White Soxs. We also serve authentic Chicago food items such as Italian Beefs, Italian Beef Combos, Chicago Dogs which are made with Vienna Beef & served on a poppy seed bun and beer braised brats. Black Bear Tavern gets festive for every Chicago sports team and we also serve the local Chicago beer both Old Style & Goose Island. There’s no other Chicago bar in Atlanta then Black Bear Tavern.

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