While most seniors order their drinks on the weekends, senior Taylor Sondrol is busy making them.

Sondrol, a fifth year senior in event management, helps run The Bar on Wheeler Street with her mother, Cheryl.

“Typically, bartenders and owners are male,” Cheryl said. “I don’t know of very many women who run bars. I think it’s a good position for women to be in.”

Taylor is The Bar’s manager. She said she is able to apply what she is learning in her classes to the position she holds at The Bar.

“How can I use this in my current job now? How can I use this technique? How can I make better customer service?” Taylor said of the questions she asks herself during class.

Taylor spends her time at the bar making schedules and leading her team from what she learned in class. She has had two prime examples in her life: her parents, Danny and Cheryl Sondrol.

“They are great role models,” Taylor said of her parents. “They’ve owned businesses their whole adult lives.”

The bar business is nothing foreign to the Sondrols.

Cheryl and Danny were both born in Ames, Iowa. Cheryl’s mother, Mary Maitland, owned a number of bars in both Ames and New York, where they lived for a number of years.

They moved back to Ames after Cheryl’s mother and stepfather divorced. Upon their return to Ames, Cheryl and her mother decided to open New York West, a local night club.

“When I walked in, I didn’t even know how to pour a beer,” Cheryl said about running New York West with her mother.

As New York West developed from a discotec to a strip club, Maitland began visiting other local bars in the area. Checking out the competition is a crucial part of the bar business, Cheryl said.

This is when Maitland came across an Ames icon: Tip Top Lounge.

That is where Maitland met Danny Sondrol.

Danny purchased Tip Top Lounge in 1982 after being discharged from the Navy. At the time, he was 22 years old and was trying to run a bar that had already been established for several years.

“The first years were tough due to being young,” Danny said.

After Maitland met Danny, she suggested that Cheryl also meet him.

Danny began visiting New York West, where he began talking with Cheryl regularly. The two led similar lifestyles. They were both in the industry and both had late hours.

“He would come in to New York West to see what was going on, what our plans were for New York West,” Cheryl said about Danny’s visits to the club.

Danny decided to sell Tip Top Lounge in 1991 after a nine-year run. Danny then used his time to work at New York West alongside Cheryl and her mother. As Danny and Cheryl’s relationship progressed, they decided to marry.

Cheryl became pregnant with their daughter, Taylor, shortly after they married. Once Cheryl discovered that she was pregnant, she sold her share of New York West. In 1998, after a few years off, Danny and Cheryl decided to take on a new business endeavor together: The Meeting House.

“It took some convincing,” Danny said of Cheryl’s hesitation to open another bar.

In 2009, after 11 years of running The Meeting House, Cheryl and Danny received devastating news.

Cheryl had cancer.

As Cheryl began treatments, the Sondrols made the decision to sell The Meeting House on contract.

“It was too much on the family for my husband to be gone,” Cheryl said of Danny’s time spent at the bar.

After a yearlong battle, Cheryl won. She was cancer free.

“It’s a newly found life for anybody,” Danny said.

After celebrating the news that Cheryl was cancer-free, the owner of The Meeting House decided to walk away. Cheryl had to once again step back into the bar scene and run the business.

Once Cheryl began running The Meeting House again, she decided to change the name to The Bar.

The Bar got its name due to the fact that whenever somebody would ask where they were going, their response was always “to the bar,” Cheryl said.

The Bar is now run and operated by Cheryl and Taylor. The pair works together to provide excellent customer service, Cheryl said.

“We just have meeting after meeting after meeting about customer service,” Cheryl said.

Taylor takes pride in the team that she leads and is confident that its meetings are paying off.

“I can say that my bar has the best customer service, and they will always have a smile on their face,” Taylor said about The Bar.

Running a bar is a full time commitment. Cheryl said that she puts in more than 40 hours a week while Taylor said she puts in 15 to 20 hours per week.

“My only real day off is Sundays because we are not open on Sundays,” Cheryl said of her time commitment to The Bar.

It is evident that the mother-daughter duo is confident that the time they are investing into The Bar is worth it.

“We have it all,” Cheryl said. “It’s a neighborhood bar. I think we can appeal to anyone.”