It’s hard for any business to thrive without support from the community. To say that Mac & Bob’s has been a staple in Salem for almost four decades would be an understatement.

Bob Rotanz and Joe Dishaw have been the faces behind Mac & Bob’s since 1981. While Joe handles the kitchen staff and food, Bob watches over the restaurant and the service staff. All other responsibilities are divided between the co-owners and management team.

“I opened Mac & Bob’s with my first partner and classmate Mac back in August 1980. Mac left in October for New York to pursue a career in finance,” Rotanz said. “I ran the pub until April of 1981 by myself until I went down the street to our current location. This is when Joe Dishaw bought in and became my business partner.”

On Wednesday, September 19, the two gentlemen announced to their employees that they were filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Former employee Matthew Jonathan Snider, 38, filed a lawsuit against the restaurant in April alleging Mac & Bob’s illegally forced him to share tips with dishwashers.

Snider hired attorney Drew Herrmann out of Fort Worth, Texas, to represent him. Todd Leeson, an employment attorney at Gentry Locke, represented Mac & Bob’s in the case. “In the class action suit, based on the calculations, if all of the 156 servers and bartenders over the last three years decided to join the suit, the dollar amount would have been, with penalties, over $825,000,” Rotanz said. “That’s without attorney fees for both parties, putting the total well over $1,000,000. That’s why we filed for bankruptcy.”

Added Bob, “The one misconception that I’d like to be very clear on is that we paid our dishwashers well above minimum wage. Once we realized that we needed to end the mandatory tipping, we raised their hourly wage by $3.” The federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 per hour, however. waiters and waitresses make up the difference with tips. After settling the case with Snider, Bob and Joe stopped requiring servers to share tips with dishwashers. Since filing for bankruptcy, Joe says the community has gone above and beyond to show their support.

A “GoFundMe” page was created earlier this month by Dr. Frank Cotter, a longtime friend of both Joe and Bob, to assist in recouping some of the legal costs. So far, over $148,000 has been raised. “Our ‘GoFundMe’ is currently in the top ten in the world. We were told that our attorney fees would be roughly $100,000. That’s a worse case scenario,” Bob said. “Once our attorney fees are paid off, any leftover money will go into a scholarship fund for our current employees.” Mac & Bob’s isn’t just a place to get great food. For Skylar Smith, it’s also where her family went when she was a teenager after every Salem High School Football game. It’s where she celebrated with friends and family after getting engaged. It’s also the first restaurant that she took her son to eat.

“Words can’t describe what this place means to me,” she said. “It’s just special.” Despite recently filing for bankruptcy, Mac & Bob’s will remain open. “Without community support, we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy our five expansions or anything else. There have been so many acts of kindness that I can’t even begin to list them.” Joe said. “I’d like to personally thank the people of Salem, the Roanoke Valley and the surrounding areas for all their positive words, hugs, letters and support of all kinds.”