GENEVA — It has been more than three decades since Stan Senack first set foot in the Inland Reef, yet he remembers it like it was yesterday.
“I turned 21 in 1991, when this bar opened,” he said. “I’ve literally been coming to this bar the entire time it’s been open. This has been my local bar for all that time.”
Over the years Senack developed a friendship with George VanDeMortel, who started the business. During that time, Senack — a contractor with a successful business of his own, White Springs Custom Carpentry — tried to plant a seed that would grow years later.
“About 10 years ago I started working on George about selling the bar,” Senack said with a smile. “I kept telling him, ‘When you are ready to retire, let me know.’”
So it seems fitting that when VanDeMortel decided to retire after 33 years of running the bar referred to by locals as “The Reef,” he sold it to Senack.
“I don’t know if George made any other phone calls except to me when he wanted to retire and sell it,” Senack said.
With the change in ownership comes a change in name. Senack, who started as the owner Aug. 2, has rebranded the bar as White Springs Tavern.
“I was kind of torn on changing the name. I went back and forth and back and forth, whether I wanted to keep ‘The Reef’ or do something different,” he said. “George owned the bar for so long — it was his identity. I thought after 33 years the bar needed a new identity to let people know it was a new place, a new bar, and new things were happening.”
VanDeMortel said the building on Hamilton Street was an alcohol and drug rehab facility before he turned it into a bar.
“It was a lot of hours and a lot of work,” VanDeMortel said of his more than three decades of ownership. “It was fun, but I’m 67 and it was time. Good luck to Stan.”
Senack, who grew up on his family’s dairy/cash crop farm in the Stanley area, is a 1988 Geneva High School graduate. He was a truck driver and worked other jobs before starting his contracting business more than 20 years ago.
“I even sold cars for a while, and there are some people who probably remember that,” he said with a laugh.
Senack, who lives in Phelps, said his wife, Ann, supported his purchase of the bar.
“She was behind me 100 percent when I told her George was ready to retire and I wanted to buy the bar,” he said.
While the business model, in general, will remain the same, Senack said he is putting in a fryer for chicken wings, fries, and other foods. He did some remodeling inside and outside, with more to come.
“We are going to keep pizzas and sandwiches. The sandwiches are a good seller,” he said. “Maybe we will do some specials for lunch.”
Senack has replaced many of VanDeMortel’s photos on the walls with some of his own, including White Springs memorabilia.
“I have more pictures to go up. We have enough pictures up now so the walls aren’t bare,” he said. “When I started White Springs Custom Carpentry I lived on White Springs Road. The White Springs area is a very nice area and the bar is in the area. We toyed with a lot of names and tossed them around. A couple of people were saying White Springs Bar, but that just didn’t sound right. I kind of liked White Springs Tavern. I asked a lot of my good friends and they all liked the name.”
Senack noted that all of VanDeMortel’s employees, some of whom have been at the bar for many years and Senack knew as a longtime patron, are staying. VanDeMortel also comes in each morning to clean the building, rotate stock, and take deliveries.
“George comes in every morning and takes care of business so I can go to work and do my contracting,” Senack said. “George said he can’t imagine waking up in the morning and having nothing to do. He is helping me figure out the inventory ... and we are growing the inventory. We are doing more business than we used to. I owe George a lot for staying on and helping me out.”
Senack said one reason for buying the bar was to plan for the years ahead.
“In the future I will be getting out of the contracting business and running the bar. This is kind of my retirement plan, as it was for George,” he said. “That is my plan, so I can ease into retirement and not be working quite so hard.”
