Starr building
an Everett legacy
Restaurateur has carved a niche
for himself in adopted hometown

Snohomish County Business Journal/KIMBERLY HILDEN “These people genuinely love what they do,” Joel Starr (second from right) says of his “crew” at The Flying Pig Brewing Co. in Everett. Pictured with Starr are (from left) Susan Riley, Cory Mootz, Chris Miles and Amanda Pates-Jensen.

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Joel Starr wasn’t raised in Everett. He has no boyhood stories of shooting hoops at Forest Park or cruising Colby Avenue with his high school buddies. But when he opened The Flying Pig Brewing Co. in Everett nearly a decade ago with business partner Joe Johnson, he instinctively understood — and had genuine affection for — this former mill town on Port Gardner Bay.

“Everett is a very genuine town. You call a spade a spade in this town or you’re not going to make it,” said Starr, who, over the years, has become an integral part of the city’s business community and an active participant in its downtown revitalization.

Joel Starr: Off the Clock Recording artists he listens to: Jack Johnson, the Beatles, Dean Martin, Harry Connick Jr. and Natalie Cole. “I’m an old romantic guy,” Starr said of his musical taste. Where he goes online: Coastal Community Bank’s Web site, www.coastalbank.com, to check on his account. “I’m not a big Web guy; I don’t use it often,” Starr said. What he reads: “The Last Juror” by John Grisham was his most recent literary find.

Not one to “sit back and point a finger” at decisions being made, he relishes the ability to effect change as a member of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors. And, when Snohomish County government eyed moving its headquarters out of downtown in 2000, his voice was heard loud and clear as part of the grass-roots group Save Our County Seat.

He continued to stay involved with the group’s offshoot, the Downtown Everett Action Committee, as the city undertook the Hewitt Avenue renovation project and began planning for the Everett Events Center.

And he became a strong supporter of Naval Station Everett and the men and women serving there, hosting “Hail and Farewell” ceremonies for new officers arriving at the installation and retiring or reassigned officers leaving the area.

“I’m not a military guy, but I have an immense respect for who they are,” said Starr, who has been aboard a naval ship at sea as part of the U.S. Navy’s Distinguished Visitors Program.

With a restaurant located in the heart of Everett’s downtown and a family being raised not too far from there, Starr was definitely invested in his adopted city — which is why his decision to pick up and move was such a difficult one.

It was 2004, and he was frustrated with Washington state’s business environment.

“I have spent time trying to effect (change) in state government. Wage increases and taxation issues place a huge financial burden” on the bottom line, Starr said. He’d done the math and figured he could double his family’s income with the move to Idaho.

An offer already had been made on The Flying Pig, and he had put a bid on a building in Cour d’Alene, Idaho, to set up a new enterprise. It was ready, set, go time.

Except, he didn’t. What stopped him was a conversation he had with his wife, Kerri, during which they talked about how good Everett had been to them and the friends they’d made and would have to leave behind.

“It was a quality-of-life issue,” Starr said. “We’re not big-money people, ... so we decided to stay.”

With the decision made, Starr decided to take a fresh look at his business operation.

He knew The Flying Pig needed more seating, and he had dreamed of opening up another eatery for some time, but state law wouldn’t allow him, as a brewery owner, to hold a stake in a retail establishment not directly connected with the brewery. To open another restaurant, he’d have to open another on-site brewery, too.

The state “forced my hand,” but the end result was a win-win, Starr said. In 2005, he sold the brewery equipment at The Flying Pig, making room for about 40 more seats there and opening the door to a decades-old dream: developing and running a sports bar.

This past June, after months of renovation work, Starr realized that dream, opening Tailgater Joe’s on Hewitt Avenue with the help of business associates Dan Campbell and Johnson.

“Tailgater’s has been on my mind for better than 20 years, and I’ve been in this business for 30,” said Starr, who started in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher “at a little burger joint in downtown Spokane” while in his teens.

For Tailgater Joe’s, the self-described “sports nut” wanted to create an atmosphere in which adult fans could share in the excitement of the sporting events being shown on any of the 16 TV screens while playing pool or darts, noshing on “ballpark food” or just enjoying the company of friends.

As Starr puts it, visitors to Tailgater Joe’s should feel like they are at the game, “except the bathroom’s closer, and there’s no nosebleed section.”

The sports bar has been well received by the community that helped make The Flying Pig a success, Starr said. “As I would expect of Everett, people were very appreciative.”

But the work hours have been intense, and Starr credits his wife — who often can be found working at The Flying Pig — for her ongoing support.

“She’s more than a partner. If she doesn’t support me the way she does, none of it (succeeds),” he said during an interview at The Flying Pig. “... We’re partners here; we’re partners at home.”

At home with their 12-year-old son, Taylor; their 10-year-old daughter, Mackenzie; and the family pets — all 29 of them.

“My wife has 19 chinchillas; she’s a breeder. She has had a passion for these animals; they are the darnedest things,” Starr said, his tone half-amused, half-exasperated.

Along with the chinchillas, there are three sugar gliders (“It’s like a flying squirrel with bug eyes,” Starr said of the marsupials, which are native to Australia.), two dogs, four fish and one turtle.

All in all, “it’s a pretty happy family,” Starr said.

And a pretty happy life.