Ken Jorgensen says he’s starting to get up there in years and is looking forward to watching his youngest son, Hunter, graduate from high school in a couple of years.
The local business icon celebrated his 60th birthday not too long ago and said he wants to slow down once the last of his children moves on to college. And the way he figures – the best way to slow down is to build something big.
After several years of concepts, designs and working with a myriad of people in business and government, The Fourth Jug finally opened its doors to the public this week. The sports bar, with an attached liquor store (The Jug Store, which opened in December) and a brick-oven pizzeria, had an after-hours opening recently and a couple of test openings before opening for good on Monday along East Highway 35 in Wayne.
Jorgensen, who also owns The Max sports bar in downtown Wayne, said that he’s been looking to slow down after regularly working 70 to 80 hours a week at his original sports bar.
“I can stay downtown and work and nothing changes, but the way I see it, the only way you can slow down is to get bigger,” he said. “I wanted a package store to run after Hunter graduates from high school in a couple of years, and now I might have the opportunity to slow down.”
The $3 million building project is something Jorgensen has been thinking about for a number of years, and he said he felt it was something the community needed to provide another draw and encourage people to keep their money in Wayne, rather than spending it in Norfolk, Sioux City or somewhere else.
“If the town didn’t need it, I wouldn’t have done it, but I had the chance to do it and I have some good people around me, so we did it,” he said.
And Jorgensen found two young would-be entrepreneurs who, he believes, would be able to buy both sports bars at some point down the road to run The Fourth Jug and turn it into a go-to place for area sports fans and families of all ages.
Kylie Koch and Brooke Vogt both cut their teeth in bar management while working for Jorgensen at The Max. Both were interested in the new project, and they share in the managerial duties of the new operation.
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