Flingers Pizza & Pub is a well known establishment in the Downtown Bloomington area. They are known for their delicious pizza and their late night hours that welcome the after hours crowd.

Patrick Fruin, Flingers Pizza & Pub owner, is a Bloomington–Normal veteran. He explained how he attended college at the University of Iowa and would work at Flingers on his winter and summer vacations. 

When Fruin was only 23 years old he purchased Flingers Pizza & Pub and has run a successful business since January 2007. 

“I think it is important for kids to realize that you can be an entrepreneur at [a] young age,” Fruin said.

Fruin explained how purchasing Flingers was quite a process. They went though 60 days of negotiations before settling on a final price but Fruin believes it was definitely worth it.

“It is nice to set the rules. It’s just nice to be able to call all the shots, you set your own schedule, you run things how you want, and you create things,” Fruin said.

Setting the rules is an advantage to running your own business, but there are definitely differences between being your own boss and working for the boss, he explained.

“You find out real quick that what you do affects others. As an owner if you are dragging on the job, you are affecting other people’s livelihoods. Other people count on you to get things done and grow your business so that you can grow their opportunity at that business, so it is a big shift in responsibility,” Fruin said. 

Brian Jarocki / Daily Vidette Photographer: Flingers Pizza & Pub, located in Downtown Bloomington next to some popular bars, is a go-to destination for eats and drinks. Owner Pat Fruin, a Bloomington-Normal native, keeps his business going strong.

Flingers’ employee, Lester Alcorn, appreciates the effort Fruin puts in and it shows throughout their positive work atmosphere. 

“It’s a good environment. I started in August and it’s a lot of fun. I like working with the people that I work with; I like all the employees,” Alcorn said. 

When it comes to running Flingers Pizza & Pub there are two different crowds — the 5 p.m. dinner crowd and the late night crowd.

“I prefer to actually work with the late night crowd. They’re a little more loose and you can talk to them a little more less formal than you would talk to the 5 p.m. dinner crowd,” Fruin said.

“It’s interesting because we always joke around because we have to do what we call ‘drunk-proofing,’ where we take things off the tables, we take down some pictures off the walls. We do it every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at about 10 or 11 p.m.” Fruin added.

Fruin explained because he is young he understands the after bar craze that comes in.

“I think I deal with it well because I was in college somewhat recently and I have been a part of that culture — so it is kind of easier to deal with it,” Fruin said. 

Fruin made multiple changes to Flingers and each of them have helped the business become successful. 

A more recent change Flingers has made is the addition of lunch. 

“We started doing lunch about seven or eight months ago and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are doing really good,” Fruin said. 

Fruin encouraged anyone who would like to run a business to go for it and gives a few words of wisdom. 

“I would recommend to try and buy an existing business that you think could be run better than it is,” Fruin said.