Former cheerleader fights trends, perceptions to launch new business
Cincinnati.com
November 23, 2010
Cheerleaders are known for doing somersaults, having team spirit and for being “peppy.” They’re not usually known for their business acumen.
For Traci Napier, who is launching a new business in the midst of one of the toughest recessions in American history, the two go hand-in-hand.
Napier, formerly a Ben-Gals cheerleader and now coach (you can see her on the sidelines at every home game), will be combining her outgoing personality with her dream of being her own boss when she opens Traci’s Sports Lounge & Grill, at 784 Loveland-Miamiville Road in Loveland, Friday, Dec. 10.
The path to success has not been without its pitfalls.
Napier, 37, graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1995 and began working as an administrative assistant for a local company.
Over the next 15 years, Napier said she worked hard and prospered, all the while working part-time with the Ben-Gals.
In 2010, her company succumbed to the recession and went out of business, leaving Napier facing an uncertain future.
With few job prospects available, she decided to make her own job by starting a small business.
She was unsure which direction to take until she remembered something her old boss always said.
“I heard him complain countless times that he couldn’t understand why sports bars used cheap furniture and paid so little attention to the location and height of TVs,” she said.
He used to complain constantly that his neck hurt from TVs mounted too high, Napier said.
With that, Napier’s idea was born: open a sports lounge with lots of extremely comfortable chairs and barstools with ergonomic footrests and lots of TVs placed for easy, unobstructed viewing, no matter where you’re sitting.
She had a dream and a plan, but finding and financing a location would prove to be a bigger challenge.
It seemed that extending a lease to a young, single woman with little business experience was considered a risk in these uncertain times, but her perseverance, and a lot of negotiating, led to a lease in August.
Traci’s Sports Lounge & Grill will feature 12 carefully placed, flat-screen TVs, oversized padded bar stools and comfy chairs throughout 4,000-square feet.
“We designed this for everyone – from the serious fan who wants to watch the big game to someone who wants to enjoy drinks with friends,” Napier said. “On top of that you can see four low-hanging flat screen TVs from every seat in the house.”
Traci’s Sports Lounge & Grill offers more than 65 varieties of beers, a full bar and appetizers and full meals.
In a demonstration of optimism that has been the hallmark of Napier’s career, both as cheerleader and entrepreneur, she is already making expansion plans for additional locations of the Traci’s Sports Lounge & Grill concept.
