Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
After 45 years at the helm of one of Salem’s most iconic restaurants, Bob Rotanz is stepping away from Mac and Bob’s—but not without a deep sense of pride, gratitude and hope for its future.
Rotanz, who co-founded the restaurant in 1980 with fellow Roanoke College lacrosse teammate Jim “Mac” McEnerney, said the decision to sell came after a stretch of particularly challenging years and a long career in the demanding restaurant industry.
“Well, it will be 45 years ago on August 8 when we opened Mac and Bob’s,” Rotanz said. “That is a long time to run a restaurant. In the last several years, we had to file for bankruptcy. We came out of bankruptcy successfully and then the pandemic hit. While we were navigating the pandemic, we had a fire at the restaurant. It was a rough several years. Not to mention that Joe [Dishaw] and I are 70 years old. We feel it is time to retire.”
Dishaw, who joined as a partner in 1981, and Rotanz transformed Mac and Bob’s from a 10-stool sub shop across from Roanoke College into a 330-seat institution known across Southwest Virginia for its signature calzones, family-friendly atmosphere and deep community roots.
“We hoped to create a great neighborhood restaurant,” Rotanz said. “We are very proud to have become part of the Salem and Roanoke community.”
That community, he emphasized, is what sustained the restaurant through its most difficult moments—including a class action labor lawsuit that led to a 2018 bankruptcy filing.
“It was very scary because these attorneys were suing our business and Joe and I personally,” Rotanz said. “Our two attorneys, Andy Goldstein and Todd Leeson, did an unbelievable job helping us through this legal battle.”
The community rallied. A GoFundMe campaign launched by the father of an employee raised more than $100,000 in just days—at the time, it was the fourth fastest GoFundMe in the world.
“The signs up and down Main Street showing support for Mac and Bob’s, and of course just coming to the restaurant and spending money, helped us tremendously emotionally weather those storms,” Rotanz said.
Among the most meaningful memories for Rotanz is the business pivot that followed the raising of the legal drinking age in 1985. No longer able to rely on alcohol sales to college students, the restaurant had to adapt. Dishaw enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in New York to help transform Mac and Bob’s into a full-service restaurant.
“That transformation was the start of the restaurant we are today,” Rotanz said.
He also credits longtime general manager Keith Griswold—another Roanoke College lacrosse teammate—who retired in 2023 after 43 years with the business. “Keith was very much like me, and he helped create the ‘Mac and Bob’s culture,’” Rotanz said.
That culture extended to their families. Rotanz’s wife, Wendy, joined the business after leaving a teaching job at Carver Elementary and has handled payroll and bookkeeping for 35 years. All three of their daughters—Katie, Ryan and Maggie—worked at the restaurant over the years, as did Dishaw’s children.
“Our payroll is every two weeks so we had to work all of our vacations around the off payroll week,” Rotanz said. “I figured I worked over 1,200 weekends. I missed a lot of parties and weekend functions.”
The new owners, Dave Magrogan and Jeff Larsen, have been working closely with Rotanz for the past 10 months. They plan to keep the staff intact and preserve the character of the restaurant, he said.
“They own many restaurants and they know what they are doing,” Rotanz said. “I strongly feel that they will definitely keep the same spirit of Mac and Bob’s. I am being retained as a consultant so you will still see me down at the restaurant a lot.”
As he looks to the future, Rotanz said his partnership with Dishaw and Griswold worked so well for so long because of trust and shared values.
“I hope the three of us have demonstrated to our long-time employees how to run an honest, hard-working business that treats their employees and customers the correct way,” he said.
While retirement may eventually mean more travel and time away, Rotanz isn’t rushing off just yet.
“A long vacation is definitely in the picture for Wendy and me at some point,” he said. “But right now, I really want to help the new owners and our staff during the transition period and make Mac and Bob’s even more successful.”
