Bridie McGinnity selected Business Leader of the Year
Local businesswoman and Irish wife and mother extraordinaire Bridget (Bridie) McGinnity is being honored at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade festivities in Rochester.
Bridie has been selected as the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day Parade Business Leader of the Year.
She has spent the last four decades helping to run the family business, McGinnity’s Restaurant and Party House, 534 West Ridge Road. McGinnity’s will mark it’s 40th anniversary in business in 2015, making it the oldest Irish pub in Rochester.
“It’s a great honor,” Bridie says of the recognition, and notes there are a lot of other business people out there who might have been chosen, “I feel very privileged,” she says.
Born the daughter of Irish immigrants, Bridie grew up on a farm in Mendon, NY. She met her husband, Seamus McGinnity, in the late 1950s in Rochester, shortly after he arrived in this country from Monaghan, Ireland.
In 1975, Bridie and Seamus fulfilled his dream of opening a small business when they purchased a building and transformed it into McGinnity’s Restaurant and Party House.
“McGinnity’s began as a small pub, offering daily lunches and weekend dinners and, of course, Irish entertainment and a bit of the craic!” Bridie’s daughter Maggie Fitzgibbon wrote in her letter of nomination.
Bridie has always been an intricate part of the workings at McGinnity’s – opening daily, taking care of day-to-day needs, preparing food, beer and liquor orders, cooking and banking.
Seamus and Bridie’s four children – Maggie, Jim, John and Kevin – all helped out in the bar and kitchen (the boys with construction projects) over the years and McGinnity’s grew with the addition of two party rooms and renovations to the main bar area. The grandchildren have also taken their turns helping-out.
“Mom was raised by immigrant Irish parents who instilled in her and her siblings a sense of hard work and dedication to the family, and she married a man who believed in that same ethic,” Maggie, Jim, John and Kevin say. “Together our mom and dad raised us with those same beliefs.”
Although some of her grandchildren live out of town, “I’m fortunate that all the kids live close-by. They are all in Monroe County,” Bridie explains about her children. She notes the business is mainly a weekend business, which can be hard on family life, but many family activities have taken place at the pub over the years. “We have had weddings and showers and stag parties here,” she says.
After Seamus was diagnosed with untreatable cancer in 2005, Bridie took care of all his needs including, “… drawing fluid from his lung and making endless trips to doctors and the hospital,” Maggie wrote.
Seamus lost his battle in 2007, and Bridie’s children say she had many difficult decisions to make, “…(whether) to keep her house, where to live, and the most difficult … should she keep operating the family business, McGinnity’s? After careful consideration and input from the family, she made those difficult decisions with self-assurance and willingness to move forward with her life.”
Maggie, Jim, John and Kevin say they are very proud of what their mother has accomplished on her own over the last ten years and how she partnered with their dad for almost 50 years. “Seamus had a saying, ‘keep the wheel turning,’ to keep moving forward and make progress in life. Mom overcame so many challenges and continues to ‘keep the wheel turning,’” they say.
“At 76 years old, she still manages McGinnity’s and goes to work each day,” Maggie notes in her nomination. “She completes all of the ordering, does the bookkeeping – including payroll, taxes, and all the other time consuming behind-the-scenes work needed to run a successful business.”
Bridie gives much of the credit for the success of her business to her staff – a group of six or seven who have totaled up a century of experience. “It’s to their credit that they stayed so long,” Bridie says, and notes the staff continues to do an amazing job every day, “They are so great to work with,” she adds.
She notes another important aspect of McGinnity’s success is that so much of the work was done “in-house.” “My husband did the repairs and remodeling, we didn’t need a serviceman. I worked in the day and he was here every night. We’ve always been here,” she explains.
In 2010, Bridie applied for and received a grant from the City of Rochester to remodel the exterior of McGinnity’s. She made all the decisions during the construction process, meeting with contractors, architects and construction workers.
She says the business has had to adjust over the years with the loss of Kodak employees and competition from fast food chain restaurants at the nearby Rt. 390 interchange, but McGinnity’s has, “made other arrangements to make it work.” There are now dart leagues and a poker club which meets on Thursday. Irish dancers – both youngsters and adults – meet at McGinnity’s on Mondays and Wednesdays.
“There are a lot of things going on week after week,” Bridie says and observes that there is still a lot of traffic on Ridge Road.
She is grateful to be in good health and looks forward to many more years in business. “I’ve still got some more miles,” she says enthusiastically, “I don’t feel like giving up.”
