Tony Saker taking Sports Bar and Grill to new level

There is a new focus at Saker’s Sports Bar and Grill.
Tony Saker has been the owner the owner of the Events Center in Kasson for about 15 years, he said. About eight or ten years ago he opened the adjacent Sports Bar and Grill. Both have operated successfully, he said, but most people “thought of Events, not the restaurant.”
Both operations were closed during part of the pandemic, he said, and for a period of time the restaurant served take-out only.
Now as businesses continue to recover from those closings, Saker said it is time to separate the two entities and place increased emphasis on the restaurant part of the operation while still keeping Events operating as before.
Members of the Kasson Chamber of Commerce were recently at location for a ribbon cutting recognizing the changes.
The restaurant is now open six days a week, he said, closed on Mondays. It opens at 11 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 10 a.m. on Sundays when breakfast is served until 12 noon. Lunch is served Sundays from noon until closing at 3 p.m.
Saker has a long history with restaurants, he said, as his family ran restaurants in Mankato and he attended culinary school in New York.
He worked as a chef and executive chef at several restaurants before deciding to go into the business for himself. He purchased the Events Center and ultimately added the restaurant.
“I make everything from scratch,” he said of the food he serves. Steaks are cut on-site, he said, and all the bread is homemade, again from scratch, at the restaurant. It is the same with the desserts and the soups.
Preparing everything from scratch, he said, is time consuming but worth it
The soup served varies each day and there are specials every day of the week.
Saker added that the lunch soup and salad bar, which was a feature before the pandemic, is returning to the restaurant this week. One of his goals, he said, is to bring the lunch crowd back.
Business, he said, is improving but still is not back to pre-pandemic levels. People are going out to eat, he said, but not as often as before. Also, he added, customers got more used to getting take-out meals.
In addition to Saker, Elaine Walker is the general manager. He also has a second manager and four or five hourly employees. Staffing is a problem for most businesses, he said, and he hopes that when he can hire additional staff he can be open on Mondays and later on Sundays. There are an additional 10 or 15 people, he said, who are on-call to help out at the Event Center.
The Event Center can seat several hundred people, Saker said, and is equipped to do either buffets or plated dinners. Bookings for Event Center are open for the remainder of this year and 2024 for a variety of events including wedding receptions, business meetings, class reunions, weddings, graduation parties, and birthday parties.