Mac and Bob鈥檚, the landmark Salem watering hole and eatery launched by some former 麻花视频 College lacrosse players 45 years ago, has been sold to the owners of a restaurant group with 15 locations in four other states.
Owners Bob Rotanz, 69, Joe Dishaw, 68, and a silent partner, Tony Reyes, 69, on Wednesday signed the final documents turning over the business and its real estate at 316 E. Main St.
Keith Griswold, general manager of Mac and Bob鈥檚 (from left); former co-owner Bob Rotanz; Dave Magrogan, new co-owner and CEO of the Dave Magrogan Group; and former co-owner Joe Dishaw stand together at the Salem restaurant. After 45 years of growing the business from 10 seats to 330, Rotanz and Dishaw have sold the landmark to the East Coast-based restaurant group.
The new owners are Dave Magrogan and Jeff Larsen, two Floridians who operate or have investments in restaurants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida and North Carolina.
Magrogan鈥檚 a Pennsylvania native and chiropractor who left the profession for the restaurant industry years ago. He was present in Salem this week for the handover. Moving forward, patrons can expect minor improvements but no huge changes.
鈥淭he day after this transaction happens, nothing鈥檚 going to change,鈥 Magrogan said. 鈥淭his is about respecting the legacy and the iconic brand Bob and Joe built.鈥
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Mac and Bob鈥檚 new co-owner Dave Magrogan and CEO of the Dave Magrogan Group.
Magrogan likened Mac and Bob鈥檚 business model to that of a Greensboro restaurant 鈥 Rody鈥檚Tavern 鈥 that he and Larsen bought three years ago. Rody鈥檚 is a 鈥渟ports restaurant鈥 that has been in business for years.
鈥淪o, the model here is very similar,鈥 Magrogan said. 鈥淭o have a restaurant live, survive, thrive, and grow for 45 years is extremely rare, so you have to be humble to that.鈥
Rody鈥檚 founder 鈥渨as getting closer to 70 and decided he wanted to retire,鈥 Magrogan said. 鈥淲e say, 鈥榃ell, you created something great.鈥 So we bought it and we left it as is, and we made improvements along the way. And we kept the management team, and they became bigger and stronger leaders.鈥
Lunch goers at Mac and Bobs dine in the front sunroom on Tuesday. After growing their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
The deal for Mac and Bob鈥檚 consists of two main parts. One鈥檚 the building that houses the 9,000-square-foot restaurant. It鈥檚 in a prime location with expansive parking, across East Main Street from the 麻花视频 County Courts complex. Rotanz said the real estate sold for $3.2 million.
The other part is the business 鈥 Mac and Bob鈥檚 restaurant. That sold for an undisclosed price. The new owners plan on keeping the management team and employees who are there now.
鈥淎s an operator, you come in and you say, what have they done great? What do we need to keep doing?鈥 Magrogan said. 鈥淲hat do the guests love? What do the employees love? So our role right now is to make sure the guests are happy and the employees are happy.鈥
Mac and Bobs in Salem turned 45-years-old and offers American food including their famous calzones.
One of the things Mac and Bob鈥檚 patrons love are the calzones, basically a folded-over pizza that鈥檚 baked. It comes in two sizes. The regular is gargantuan, weighing in at 1 pound 10 ounces, not including a side of marinara sauce.
It sells for $16, as does the Boston Zone, a version with chicken tenders and hot sauce. A smaller though still hefty version, the Kendall Zone, sells for $14.50.
(Not only are the calzones the best-selling menu item, they鈥檙e also the most profitable.)
鈥淲e鈥檙e coming up on 1 million calzones sold since 1986,鈥 Rotanz said.
Opened with 10 stools in 1980
Rotanz grew up on Long Island. He was 12 when his dad, a New York City police detective, died in the line of duty. In high school, he was a standout lacrosse player and 麻花视频 College recruited him to play for the Maroons.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 general manager Keith Griswold (from left), and co-owners Bob Rotanz and Joe Dishaw are pictured in 1980 in the Salem restaurant that turned 45 years old this year. The photo hangs near the entryway of the restaurant.
There, he worked as a student dining hall manager, and graduated with an economics degree in 1978. After college, he started an insurance-sales job that didn鈥檛 pan out.
On Aug. 8, 1980, Rotanz and another ex-Maroons lacrosse player, Jim 鈥淢ac鈥 McEnerney, cobbled together $5,000 and opened a sandwich counter in 麻花视频 County鈥檚 administrative building. It was at Main Street and College Avenue, where The Rowland Hotel now stands.
Their rent was $600 per month, and after getting the place in shape and paying necessary deposits, they had less than $1,000 between them on opening day. Fortunately, business was brisk almost from the get-go.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 co-owners Bob Rotanz (from left) Joe Dishaw and, former general manager Keith Griswold talk about the Salem restaurant鈥檚 45-year history on Aug. 5, 2025.
They got their bread from Long Island, Rotanz recalled. 鈥淎nd we got good cold cuts, and we had a, you know 鈥 it was just deli food, but it was good deli food and students liked it.鈥
They had a decent lunch business, which picked up at happy hour 鈥 and exploded later at night. By 9 p.m. in Salem, no other place downtown sold beer. And back then, Virginia鈥檚 drinking age was 18, which meant every student on 麻花视频 College鈥檚 campus across the street was a potential customer.
鈥淐ome like, 10 o鈥檆lock at night, we became a college bar,鈥 Rotanz recalled. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 sell any wine, but we sold beer so fast that 鈥 we had coolers, but we didn鈥檛 need him. We鈥檇 just take cases of beer and put them behind the bartenders. They just opened them up, you know?鈥
That meant a lot of late nights, which wore out McEnerney, Rotanz said.
鈥淗e lasted two months. He left in October. He went back to New York, had a job with, Merrill Lynch. 鈥 I was by myself from October to April, when Joe (Dishaw) bought in.鈥
Dishaw was also a former Maroons lacrosse player, recruited from a different New York high school than Rotanz鈥檚. (The two met at a high school game against each other before they each moved south to Salem.)
Many future expansions
With Dishaw on board in 1981, the two partners bought a building just 100 or so feet east of their corner location. That cost $45,000, which a banker loaned to them on a handshake. It allowed for 36 seats and had a walk-in cooler (the first Mac and Bob鈥檚 had none).
In 1982, Mac and Bob鈥檚 expanded again to 90 seats.
But a lot of construction had to happen before the place could serve anyone. The restaurant had to close, and Rotanz and Dishaw were so strapped for cash at the time that they had to insist their general contractor employ them as construction helpers.
Otherwise, they wouldn鈥檛 have been able to eat.
In 1986, Mac and Bob鈥檚 expanded to 120 seats. That was also the year Virginia changed the drinking age to 21. At Mac and Bob鈥檚, that resulted in a new business focus 鈥 food.
By then, Dishaw had studied for 22 months at the Culinary Institute of America. He used the knowledge he gained there to design Mac and Bob鈥檚 kitchen. At 2,500 square feet, it might be the largest restaurant kitchen in the 麻花视频 Valley.
In 1992, Mac and Bob鈥檚 purchased a dilapidated boarding house next door, tore it down, and expanded again, to 220 seats. That鈥檚 when Rotanz and Dishsaw brought in Tony Reyes, another New Yorker and (ex-Maroons lacrosse player) as a silent minority partner. Reyes, whom Rotanz has known since age 12, lives in New York City.
In 2005, Mac and Bob鈥檚 embarked on another expansion, adding outdoor dining that brought the total number of seats to the current 330.
More recent challenges
Although Mac and Bob鈥檚 is the biggest restaurant in the 麻花视频 Valley, it鈥檚 had a number of challenges in recent years. One was the COVID 19 pandemic. That struck America in 2020 and killed other landmark restaurants, such as The 麻花视频r on Colonial Avenue in 麻花视频.
After growing their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
Another, hiccough, in the middle of the pandemic, was a fire caused by an electrical fixture on the restaurant鈥檚 roof that ignited some nearby rubber.
Fortunately, that blaze started at 9 a.m. one day when Dishaw was there, and saw the lobby ceiling filling with smoke.
鈥淚f that had happened in the middle of the night, when nobody was here, the whole place would鈥檝e gone up,鈥 Dishaw told me.
As a result, Mac and Bob鈥檚 closed for six weeks during the pandemic, while necessary repairs were made.
Perhaps the biggest challenge was an episode that became known as the 鈥渢ipping lawsuit.鈥 Seven years ago, that almost caused the end of Mac and Bob鈥檚.
For some 20 years prior, the restaurant had had a policy under which servers shared a small portion of their tips with dishwashers in the kitchen. In 2011, mandatory tip-sharing became illegal. But Rotanz and Dishaw were unaware of that newer rule, which came back to bite them in the summer of 2018.
A waiter they hired who understood labor law used it for a big payday. He hired a Texas lawyer who advertised as the 鈥減aycheck collector鈥 to sue Mac and Bob鈥檚 over the tips he was required to share. And he sought to bring the other servers into the lawsuit as well.
Lawsuits of that nature are eligible for double damages, and on top of that the restaurant would have also had to pay the servers $10.24 per hour for every hour they had worked.
The potential total payout was staggering 鈥 $1.16 million, not counting attorneys鈥 fees for either servers or Mac and Bob鈥檚. The restaurant was on the hook for all of it.
So Mac and Bob鈥檚 declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2018, and, unusually, announced the financial problems they faced in meetings with employees, a video on its website and in interviews Rotanz did with local media.
That news spread like wildfire on social media and the result was astounding.
Except for one other former employee, none of the past or then-current workers joined the lawsuit. That kept the settlements as small as possible.
And in a matter of days, loyal customers donated more than $147,000 to help out Mac and Bob鈥檚. The money raised enabled Rotanz and Dishaw to pay their employees and past employees what they had been shorted because of tip-sharing (without doubling the shorted tips or pay).
Of that sum, $138,000 was raised via a GoFundMe page set up by Dr. Frank Cotter, a close friend of Rotanz鈥檚. Another $9,000 came from cash and checks customers gave at the restaurant. And some former workers dropped by Mac and Bobs to volunteer.
Even some kids who ran a lemonade stand got into the fundraising act. They made a sign that said, 鈥淪ave the Calzone,鈥 and collected $111.84.
Reed Grochowski, Starke Griffith, Mason Gillespie and Marilyn Grochowski help set up a lemonade stand on Cleveland Avenue in Salem to support Mac and Bob鈥檚.
Two years later, Reed Grochowski, then 11; Mason Gillespie, 12; Starke Griffith, 12; and Marilyn Kate Grochowski, 7, wound up on TV when 鈥淭he Today Show鈥 filmed a segment on the community that saved its favorite restaurant, inside Mac and Bob鈥檚 dining room.
There are even rumors of a documentary film about those travails that might hit local screens later this year.
Stay tuned.
Photos and video: Landmark Salem restaurant Mac & Bob's changes ownership after 45 years
Keith Griswold, general manager of Mac and Bob鈥檚 (from left); former co-owner Bob Rotanz; Dave Magrogan, new co-owner and CEO of the Dave Magrogan Group; and former co-owner Joe Dishaw stand together at the Salem restaurant. After 45 years of growing the business from 10 seats to 330, Rotanz and Dishaw have sold the landmark to the East Coast-based restaurant group.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 co-owners Bob Rotanz (from left) Joe Dishaw and, former general manager Keith Griswold talk about the Salem restaurant鈥檚 45-year history on Aug. 5, 2025.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 general manager Keith Griswold (from left), and co-owners Bob Rotanz and Joe Dishaw are pictured in 1980 in the Salem restaurant that turned 45 years old this year. The photo hangs near the entryway of the restaurant.
Mac and Bobs in Salem turned 45-years-old and offers American food including their famous calzones.
After growing聽their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group. A photo hangs in the restaurant of the restaurant and pub building in 1981 when it had 36 seats.
Lunch goers at Mac and Bobs dine in the front sunroom on Tuesday. After growing聽their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 new co-owner Dave Magrogan and CEO of the Dave Magrogan Group, pictured on August 5, 2025.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 co-owner Bob Rotanz talks about the history of the 45-year-old Salem restaurant.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 co-owner Joe Dishaw talks about the history of the 45-year-old Salem restaurant.
After growing聽their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
After growing聽their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 general manager Keith Griswold (from left), and co-owners Bob Rotanz and Joe Dishaw, hold a portrait of the three of them from 1980 in the Salem restaurant that turned 45 years old this year. After growing聽their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac & Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
Mac and Bob鈥檚 new co-owner Dave Magrogan and CEO of the Dave Magrogan Group.
Lunch goers at Mac and Bobs dine in the front sunroom on Tuesday. After growing their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
After growing聽their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
After growing their restaurant from 10 seats to 330 over 45 years, the owners of Mac and Bobs have sold the landmark Salem restaurant to a small East Coast restaurant group.
