Arthur Deibler on What a Day Running Three Businesses Actually Looks Like

Arthur Deibler owns Prima Pizzeria and Lucky Horse Tavern, both in Valley View, Pennsylvania, and runs Bullpen Fitness and Recreation. He lives in Hegins, Pennsylvania. In this conversation, he walks through what a normal day looks like when three very different businesses all need attention before lunch.

What Does a Normal Day Look Like for You?

There isn't one normal day, honestly. Some mornings start at the fitness facility, checking equipment and talking to whoever's coaching that day. Other mornings I'm at the pizzeria before it opens, making sure deliveries came in right. The order changes, but the routine is the same: show up, walk the floor, talk to the people working, then go to the next place.

How Do You Split Time Between the Pizzeria, the Tavern, and the Gym?

It's not an even split. A restaurant and a bar need you most during service hours, nights and weekends especially. A fitness facility has its own rhythm, early mornings and evenings when people come in before or after work. I try to be wherever the pressure is that day. Some weeks that means I'm at Bullpen more. Other weeks the tavern needs more of my attention, maybe a staffing gap or a supplier issue. You learn to read which business needs you most right now instead of sticking to a fixed schedule.

What Happens Before Any of These Places Even Open?

That's when most of the real work happens, actually. Before Prima Pizzeria opens, somebody has to check inventory and make sure prep is on track. Before Lucky Horse Tavern opens, you're looking at what didn't get restocked the night before. Before Bullpen opens, you're checking that equipment is working and the space is clean. None of that happens in front of customers. By the time doors open, the work that mattered most is already done.

What's a Task People Assume Is Simple That Isn't?

Scheduling. People think you just write names in boxes. Between a restaurant, a bar, and a fitness facility, you've got different staff needs, different busy periods, and different skill sets. Someone who's great behind a bar isn't necessarily someone you'd put on the fitness floor. Getting the right person in the right place, at the right time, across three businesses, takes more thought than it looks like from outside.

How Do You Keep Track of Three Different Operations at Once?

I check in person. I don't run any of these from behind a desk. If I want to know how the pizzeria's doing, I walk through it. If I want to know how Bullpen's doing, I talk to the people using it that day. Numbers tell you part of the story, but walking the floor tells you the rest. You notice things in person you'd never catch on a report, like a piece of equipment that's starting to wear down or a shift that's short-staffed.

What Changes on Weekends Compared to Weekdays?

Weekends are heavier on the tavern and pizzeria side, people are out, there's more traffic, more orders. Weekdays tend to lean more toward the fitness facility, people coming in before or after work on a routine. So my weekends usually mean more time at the restaurant and bar, and weekdays mean more time at Bullpen. It balances out, but the week doesn't look the same from one day to the next.

What Surprised You About Running a Fitness Facility Compared to Food Service?

In food service, the relationship with a customer is usually short. They come in, they eat, they leave happy or they don't. At a fitness facility, you see the same people three, four times a week, sometimes for months or years. You get to know their routines, their goals, what's going on in their lives. That changes how you think about the space. It's less about one good meal and more about whether someone keeps showing up.

Why Not Just Hire More Management and Step Back?

I could run things that way, and plenty of owners do. But I'd rather know what's actually happening in each place than get a summary of it. Running three different kinds of businesses teaches you things you wouldn't learn running just one. Something I pick up fixing a problem at the tavern ends up useful at Bullpen, and the other way around too. I don't think I'd trade that for more free time.

What Took You Longest to Get Right?

Honestly, pacing myself. Early on I wanted to be everywhere at once, fixing every small thing myself. You can't do that across three businesses without burning out. I had to learn to trust the people working each place and only step in where I was actually needed. That took longer to figure out than any of the operational stuff.

What Does a Good Day Look Like to You Now?

A good day is one where I didn't have to put out a fire, where each place ran the way it's supposed to without me standing over it. That doesn't mean I wasn't there. It means the work I did earlier, the scheduling, the hiring, the setup, held up under a normal day. That's the goal every time: build it well enough that it runs even when you step away for a minute.