Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

Behind every night of fun is an endless grind. Mo Tsimouris opens up about his past and struggles with owning one of the most popular college bars in town, and reveals the secret sauce behind his catchy social media marketing.

Photo by Ava Boorn

Story by Jack Warren

Mo Tsimouris, owner of Bellingham Bar and Grill (BBG), serves your drink as you order your $2 double on Western Wednesday. The bar is known around town as a go-to hangout spot for of-age college students. 

Entrepreneurial, self-starting, and disciplined, 35-year-old BBG owner Mo Tsimouris still knows how to crack a joke with the younger generations while simultaneously pouring hours into creating a memorable bar experience.

Tsimouris grew up amid the social media explosion that occurred in the early 2010s. Due to this, he recognizes the importance of BBG’s online presence, as well as the opportunity platforms like Instagram can provide for connections. Tsimouris is always the star of his social media skits, and it’s a winning formula.

Behind Bellingham Bar and Grill’s social media presence is a team of talented individuals. “They put me in the right direction. I'll come up with some of the ideas, but most of them are their ideas, and I delegate a lot to them,” Tsimouris said. 

Dante Check, 27, is the marketing specialist Tsimouris credits as the right-hand man behind BBG's Instagram presence. Check got his start in video production and marketing at Western Washington University where he would rent cameras and film music videos for local artists. “Eventually, I was working with the Wild Buffalo to make concert edits,” he said.

Check’s natural tendency to consume content keeps him up to date with all things social media. “I do that through research and consuming, which is natural,” he said. Marketing newsletters also help Check stay in touch with the latest content strategies. 

The bond between Tsimouris and Check continues to grow, and they always have a blast filming every skit. “Mo's got such a young spirit. And his staff is so excited to be there. The internet presence is doing really well,” Check said. “I just feel like every single one that Mo and I do together just gets better and better,“ Check said. 

Check and Tsimouris’s video production skills have come a long way since the beginning of their relationship. Their earliest videos were instructional, showing BBG Instagram followers how to make specialty cocktails. Recently, they’ve upped their ante, producing top-tier comedy skits for their followers to enjoy.

In October 2023, BBG posted a skit to their Instagram featuring Tsimouris dressed up as a stereotypical “gym-bro,” poking fun at certain characters you may find in Bellingham’s nightlife scene. The videos are often random and unpredictable, making them stand out from social media posts by other local bars and restaurants.

The content-creation romance between Check and Tsimouris is set to take a temporary hiatus as Check pursues a career opportunity in Seattle. 

According to Tsimouris, he tries to film skits for the BBG Instagram as efficiently as possible, fitting it into his busy 15-hour workdays. “My time is very precious, so I'm all about efficiency, and we've really streamlined the process of filming those,” he said. The “supercar” skit was filmed in under an hour, according to him. 

Tsimouris took over his father’s old club, which used to be named Downtown Johnny’s. Changing laws and regulations forced his dad to take the space in a new direction, rebranding the club to Bellingham Bar and Grill. Tsimouris was invited to serve as a co-owner despite only being 21 at the time.

Before his break in the bar business, Tsimouris found success as a cell phone salesman early in college. “I learned a lot in that job that has helped me in the bar business,” he said, specifically referring to the high-pressure environment of sales.

“I learned very fast that you have to be very adaptable or you're not going to survive,” he said. All plans and strategies went out the window during the first year, forcing him to adapt to the unique work environment that running a bar entails. 

While thrown into the business at a young age, Tsimouris said he felt equipped for the challenge. “I was very prepared because my job in sales was very high pressure, and it was feast or famine,” he said. “You can't be 100% prepared, but I was able to tolerate all the uncertainty.” 

Over the course of multiple COVID-19 shutdowns, Tsimouris said the best decision he made was not giving up. “It was a very difficult time to be a business owner. A lot of businesses closed,” he noted. During the pandemic, BBG was only allowed to operate at a 25% seating capacity, making it extremely difficult to scrape by and putting Tsimouris’ will to the test. 

Tsimouris attributes the bar’s survival through times of adversity to his immense attention to detail. “As soon as you walk in the door, I want to make you feel good. Everything – the music, the environment, and the cocktail you're drinking. We put a lot of thought into that, and I feel like a lot of our competitors don't have the same attention to detail that we do,” he said.

Next time you are having a fun night at BBG, you can thank Mo for serving up a cocktail of diligence and commitment. “When people start saying to you ‘I could never live how you live’ or ‘that sounds way too difficult,’ you know you’re doing it right,” Tsimouris said.