New Owners at AC Tap

New owners who formed a partnership to buy AC Tap include (front, from left) Bibs Maloney, Leah Sadler, Merih Bayirli, Mike Sadler, and (back, from left) Chris Chayer and Syndal Mueller. Photo by Craig Sterrett.

Three couples with bar and restaurant experience who enjoy each other’s company finalized the purchase of the AC Tap on April 1.

Chris Chayer said he and his wife, Syndal, along with Elizabeth “Bibs” Maloney and her husband, Merih Bayirli, and Mike and Leah Sadler, have formed a partnership to take over the bar that Chris’s father-in-law operated for 22 years.

Chris said he and his wife will run the kitchen the same way Syndal’s parents, Steve and Tera Mueller, have since 2002 – which means the kitchen is open seven days a week until almost 2 am, and soup is cooked from scratch every day. He said they might make a few tweaks, but nothing major.

Chayer’s role won’t change much when the transition is completed, as he already serves as head chef for Mueller, his father-in-law. Syndal has plenty of experience in her dad’s kitchen, plus culinary school training and eight years as the Mr. Helsinki chef.

Bayirli brings six years of bar experience from the Sister Bay Bowl, and he said Mueller has taught him more about tavern work and details about the 90-year-old building that’s midway between Baileys Harbor and Sister Bay.

Maloney said she became friends with Leah while working together at Northern Haus, and Bayirli and Chris became close friends through a weekly Sister Bay bowling league.

The partners also got acquainted during frequent visits to the Tap for food, drinks and hanging out. 

“We’re all fans of the Tap,” Bibs said. “We grew to love it. It’s such a great local spot.” 

Bibs and Bayirli have experience in the front of the house. Leah Sadler, who works remotely in a full-time position in the pharmaceutical industry, said she has more than 20 years of bartending and restaurant experience. 

Leah said she’s ready to fill in at the bar or elsewhere, and help with business operations, and her husband, Mike, has a construction firm and wide-ranging skills to take care of the building.

“Every person in the group is bringing something different to the Tap management,” Chris said.

“It’s kind of a perfect partnership between three couples,” Leah said.

During casual visits last year, Maloney said Chris and Syndal would talk about how they had a chance to take over AC Tap, but the partnership idea did not pop up right away. Maloney said they wanted to keep the place going, but they didn’t want all of the responsibility.

“I didn’t actually expect an opportunity like this to come around,” Maloney said. “We were talking with Syndal and Chris, and it made sense the more we were talking. It just kind of fell into place.”

The AC Tap is bigger now than it was when Al Ohnesorg opened it in 1933, Mueller said, who added the logs for the log-cabin facade after taking over the business in 2002. Mueller plans to focus now on building wooden furniture.

Art Smith and Carl Becker bought the business after World War II, then Carl’s wife ran it until 1985, followed by Rosie Leroy, Mueller recalled.