Rumors Sports Bar & Grill Gets Warm Welcome from Sussex

"So far, so good. Very good."

That, in a nutshell, is how the owners of Sussex’s newest sports bar and restaurant are describing how their new business is going. Rumors Sports Bar and Grill opened its doors on June 30 at W232N6368 Waukesha Ave., a location that was formerly a Hardee’s restaurant.

Rumors had an official, four-day grand opening celebration starting Sept. 8 with the Green Bay Packers’ regular season opener. The event featured numerous giveaways, including a 50-inch HDTV. The bar also held a raffle with half of the proceeds going to the Sussex Food Pantry.

“It’s open and we’re doing great,” said Andrea Reece, who runs the sports bar with her husband, Tom. “I love being in Sussex, and I know it since I grew up in this area. It’s exciting to have a business here and meeting lots of new people that I just didn’t know in Sussex. It’s been a lot of fun having the bar and enjoying the area. It’s been a great summer so far.”

The couple actually lives in Soldotna, AK, which is about 145 miles south of Anchorage. However, their schedules allow them to travel often, and Andrea says she and her husband will be coming back to Sussex as much as they possibly can.

When asked what distinguishes Rumors from other sports bars in the area, Andrea points to the facility’s 25 flat-screen TVs, which feature the NFL Package, Big 10 college football, Major League Baseball, and all sports in between.

“We have 25 TVs now and we can show up to 11 different programs at once,” said Reece. “It’s not unusual to have the Packers and the Brewers being shown here at the same time. It brings a lot of people in, and you can’t sit somewhere and not see a TV and see it well.”

The food is traditional sports bar fare with burgers, sandwiches, appetizers, chicken wings and more. For the Packers season, Rumors features a Packers burger plus a custom burger for each week’s opponent.

Though some may question whether Sussex needed another sports bar, the village welcomed Rumors with open arms.

“I think it’s always great when you give people opportunities and choices for different venues in the community,” said Village Administrator Jeremy Smith. “From what I hear, it’s been a popular location and it’s been busy. We’ve always heard that people want more family restaurants and that’s something we always try to attract here. But it’s also a function of what people think will make good business sense to open. It seems that people are going to sports bar-type places with their families and friends, so it seems to me that’s the marketplace here right now.”

“The village of Sussex has been awesome and they’ve been really helpful,” said Reece. "Sussex has been 100 percent supportive of us and I think that’s wonderful.”

For more information, visit www.rumorssportsbarandgrill.com.