T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY JR and Michelle Kennedy stand in front of their future office space for The Golden Lion Group at 404 6th St. Ste. B in Grundy Center. In addition to the commodity brokerage business, they also plan to run a 1920s themed speakeasy bar called Gatsbees on the upper level with the intention of opening this spring.

GRUNDY CENTER — JR Kennedy needed a break.

The longtime Wellsburg resident and 2008 Grundy Center High School graduate had accomplished a lot in the first decade or so of his professional career, obtaining his pilot’s license at 18, leading his family’s company, Snittjer Grain, through the construction of a massive new elevator on Highway 14 just south of the intersection with Highway 175, getting elected to the city council in his home community at the ripe age of 29 and doing stints both as a Wellsburg volunteer fireman and a member of the Timothy Christian school board.

But around September of last year, he and his wife Michelle decided to hit pause and focus on their family. They sold off Snittjer to Landus Cooperative in August, and JR took time to assess what his passions were. Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t fully leave agriculture behind and quickly found an opportunity to help with a commodities brokerage in need of assistance.

Still, Kennedy, ever the go-getter, needed more to do, and at the beginning of 2024, he launched his own company, The Golden Lion Group, which he described as a “big umbrella” for all of his entrepreneurial ideas although the focus is currently on commodities brokerage. There are more announcements to come on other endeavors, but Kennedy isn’t quite ready to make them public just yet.

“After reading and just kind of seeing what people want and (defining) my vision as a businessperson and making everyone come to work and be passionate about it, it’s gotta be restructured away from the C-Suite type stuff and into teams and leading,” he said. “That old way of doing things, there’s gonna be some (of it) around, but it’s gonna turn into a dinosaur.”

He and Michelle are currently in the process of renovating an office space on 6th Street in Grundy Center next to Reliable 1 Solar Energy, but in the back, they’ve got something unique planned for the community: a 1920s themed speakeasy called Gatsbee’s, a slight change in spelling from the titular character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel.

“We came to look at this building. We’d been wanting to do a speakeasy, and we came upstairs. And it just hit, our whole vision,” JR said.

The main front area downstairs will serve as the office area for JR’s day job — “the moneymaker,” as Michelle described it — while he hopes to provide a one of a kind experience on the upper level. Michelle, a fellow GCHS graduate, did marketing for Snittjer and ran the scale as needed, and she plans to work hand in hand with her husband on the new venture, running the office and serving as a support while he “does his thing.”

“The timing was perfect. We were kind of at a standstill, and this building came open and it was able to put all of our dreams into one building. It was just kind of a no brainer,” she said.

Some special themed nights are already planned, like men’s night at the bar on Tuesdays when women’s golf league is happening at the Town and Country and vice versa on Wednesdays.

“(We’re) just trying to have another opportunity for people to get out and socialize after COVID,” JR said. “We want to be part of the community and use what’s already there. We’re gonna have your wines, your mixed drinks. We’ll have a Busch Light for somebody who’s just not into that, but go use Scotty’s and the bowling alley. We’re doing more of an experience. We’re gonna have the cocktails, the outfit, hopefully the bartenders kind of play (up) the ’20s theme, full in on the experience.”

As it stands now, there are no plans to have set hours at Gatsbees, but the Kennedys plan to notify patrons via either social media or word of mouth and draw customers from as far as Marshalltown, Waterloo, Iowa Falls and even Des Moines. They’ve already received inquiries about being open for class reunions during the annual Felix Grundy Days Festival, and JR said they’ll “definitely” have Gatsbees roaring then.

In addition to ag, Kennedy also wants to help aspiring business owners get their ideas off the ground in whatever way he can and encourage investment in smaller communities like Grundy Center and Wellsburg.

“My whole thing in life is like ‘Don’t chase the dollar,’ you know. Just do things to help people. Have fun, help people, and things will fall into place usually,” he said. “Life’s not all about just living paycheck to paycheck. You’ve gotta go find some passion and enjoy what you’re doing, and this is my way of doing it.”

The Kennedys aim to have Gatsbee’s open by the spring, and they’re working through some of the legal and regulatory hurdles at this point. To follow the progress and keep up on the latest news, follow The Golden Lion Group at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555241120653 and Gatsbees at https://www.facebook.com/gatsbees.bar or its website https://gatsbees.bar/. The building is located at 404 6th St. Ste. B in Grundy Center.