WATCH: After Almost Getting Knoshed Alive, San Angelo Entrepreneurs Double Down on More Shenanigans

SAN ANGELO, TX — Derrick and Jeanna Hoffmann are among the best restaurant operators in San Angelo. Starting small, the couple took over the former Scores Sports Bar in the shopping center on the northeast corner of Sherwood Way and Arden Road back in 2007.

They changed the bar’s name to Shenanigans back then. Over the years the couple added a kitchen and doubled the square footage, growing its popularity and patronage over the years.

Today, Shenanigans is among the top grossing (in sales) bars and restaurants in the city.

WATCH: Derrick Hoffman on Shenanigans and starting a business in San Angelo:

Last year, the Hoffmans took a gamble to open a second restaurant in downtown San Angelo. They rented the former Sealy Flats location, 208 S. Oakes Street, and opened a hip dining experience called Knosh.

But the location in particular posed problems the couple could not overcome. It’s small and located on Oakes Street, a block removed from the thriving nightlife on Chadbourne Street. There was not enough foot traffic.

The space for inside seating is small, too. But outdoor seating in the “backyard” is plentiful. Having a majority of the seating outdoors in the West Texas climate is difficult to attract patrons on cold winter days as well as on very hot summer days.

The Hoffmans decided to close Knosh for good at the beginning of 2019. However, the landlords stepped in and offered to deal Derrick said he couldn’t refuse.

The landlords, the partners in the nightclub House of FiFi Dubois on Chadbourne, purchased the Sealy Flats from founder Rod Brigman several years ago and rebranded the location that includes the café where Knosh is, along with a historic flop house-turned-bed and breakfast, to “Flamingo Flats.” The appraisal district records report the LLC that owns the property is “One Leg to Stand On, LLC.”

That offer Derrick thought he had must have been rescinded when the landlords put the property up for sale last week. Derrick Hoffman was surprised since he had invested more into Knosh after the deal was struck about two months ago. He found out when a real estate agent posted his restaurant’s location for sale on Facebook.

The location has a troubled past for bars and restaurants. Learn more about that here:

• Why the Music Died at Sealy Flats
• Inside the Struggle to Keep Sealy Flats Alive
• Sealy Flats Begins Anew
• Downtown Barbecue Joint Calls it Quits
• As We Reported Nov. 8, Shenanigans Going Down at Sealy Flats
• Knosh Restaurant Reopening

The Knosh episode was a learning experience for the Hoffmanns. Derrick said he and Jeanna are redoubling their efforts on their successful Shenanigan’s Sports Bar and Restaurant.

“It’s not easy starting a business in San Angelo, especially a bar or a restaurant when you have what seems like a new one opening every month. And the corporations are coming in left and right,” Hoffmann said. “We’re going to focus on making [Shenanigans] bigger and better than what it is today.”

Manny Diaz contributed to this report.