Chuck Smeriglio and Stephen Wipf’s friendship dates from earlier than their partnership in Copper Still Moonshine Grill. The two and their wives used to get together Saturday nights around a backyard fire pit, have some drinks and some fun — and talk.
They were general managers with an ownership stake in different locations of a local restaurant chain, and while Smeriglio considered it a great job, they still harbored a shared dream of opening their own place. It was a frequent topic of conversation and they even would put ideas into notebooks.
“And then one night our wives were like, ‘you know what, guys? Shut the F up with these stories. It’s the same stories every Saturday. You guys talk about it, you’re going to do this. Either do it or stop talking about it,’” Smeriglio said. “And we all laughed and joked.”
