TEA, S.D. (KELO) – The Tea Steakhouse served its last customers at the end of 2021. But the building is back open under a new name. It’s now Boss’ Pizzeria and Sports Bar.

A lot of work was put into changing this former steakhouse into a sports bar.

“The chairs are from the steakhouse, they are comfortable and nostalgic and they just fit, this room is probably my favorite room,” general manager, Nyla Tornow said.

It’s definitely a transformation… from new flooring to adding around 20 TVs and putting their touch on the tables with local sports pictures.

“We cut them out and put them on the tables, along with the Tea Titans, it’s fun when people come in and they see their picture or see somebody that they know on a table, it’s a fun part of history, we want to show Tea that we are here for them and for this to be their place,” Tornow said.

The restaurant opened the last week of December.

“This is our banquet room, our event center, so we have weddings booked throughout the year, we have comedy about twice a week,” Tornow said.

While some staff members from the steakhouse are working here, owner Jeremy Seefeldt says making sure they’re fully staffed has been a challenge.

“It’s definitely in the 17 years that I’ve been in business, the hardest it’s ever been to make sure you’re staffed up but we’ve worked as a business with all the managers, making sure we are setting up interviews and constantly hiring, even when we feel like we are staffed up,” owner, Jeremy Seefeldt said.

He’s made adjustments to hopefully keep staff around longer.

“We raised our prices a little bit in December so I could pay my people more so I could attract people to work for us and they are people that people that work for us a little bit longer more, the customer base has not seemed to have a problem with it because that’s kind of the direction that we are going,” Seefeldt said.

Seefeldt says while staffing issues are something you have to deal with as a business owner, he just hopes for the best at this new location.

“I think in Tea my biggest hope is that it’s a community place to go, we’ve set it up as a local sports bar, it’s unique in that standpoint,” Seefeldt said.

At the Tea location, Seefeldt says they could use additional cooks, delivery drivers, and servers, but they’re always looking to hire at all locations.