Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Their secret to success is having passion for what they do and an immense amount of care for their restaurant and customers.
“I care about everything that goes on in my restaurant from my food to how my customers are treated,” Camplin said. “What I tell my servers and my bartenders is treat people how you want to be treated. That’s been my philosophy from day one.”
The seed was planted
When Camplin was a kid, he remembers going up north to visit family friends.
“They owned two restaurants,” Camplin said. “One was downtown — this little diner.”
He recalled all of the kids going to the diner to get something to eat, while the adults stayed back to play cards. Camplin thought it was “the greatest thing” that he could order spaghetti and didn’t have to pay.
From that point on, there was a seed planted that he would someday want to open his own restaurant.
From bar to restaurant
The 1981 Meadowdale High School graduate was working in Florida at a car dealership in his 20s. When he returned to Dayton, his friend got him a job as a bouncer at Sloopy’s.
After working his way up, he bought Sloopy’s in 1995 and owned it for 15 years.
At that time, the Camplins owned a house in the Oregon District that was the perfect place to throw parties. Camplin enjoyed cooking for their guests.
“(I) perfected my ribs over there, fried chicken, did all these different things,” Camplin said. “I brought all that stuff to the restaurant when we opened up in 2007.”
He recalled one of his suppliers at the bar telling him about a restaurant space that was available in Moraine.
Credit: Teesha McClam
Credit: Teesha McClam
“I met with the landlord and it just kind of all fell into place,” Camplin said.
Chappys Tap Room and Grille was located at 2733 W. Alex-Bell Road near Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in the building that now houses Chiapas Mexican Grill. It was named after Camplin’s late-grandfather Clarence C. Chappie.
An early pioneer of craft beer
“We were like one of the only places you could go and get all of this craft beer in Dayton,” Lori said.
Lori, a 1982 Northmont High School graduate, has been a Delta flight attendant for almost 30 years and helps out at the restaurant as needed.
Along with Boston’s Bistro & Pub that was once in downtown Dayton, Chappys Tap Room and Grille helped slake the region’s early thirst for craft beer. The restaurant featured 30 taps.
Lori recalled getting in exclusive beers and having four to five people deep waiting at the bar. She said they could go through a keg in an hour.
Back then, people came for the beer and then found out about the food, the owners said.
Chappys became widely popular with two to three hour waits on the weekends. Camplin said they were turning away 200 to 300 people a week for reservations because they couldn’t accommodate.
In 2015, they opened Chappys Social House at 7880 Washington Village Drive — doubling their space. They consolidated operations to the Washington Twp. restaurant in 2018.
A place for large parties
Chappys is known for being able to handle large parties.
Customers can book reservations for parties of 12 and under online. Bigger parties must fill out a form on their website. Camplin said they serve parties of 30, 40 and 50 people all the time.
Something that makes them stand out is that they do not require minimums. Customers can give them a rough estimate on how many people they are expecting. Once everyone arrives, they cook the food to order and only charge based on how many people show up.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Chappys features two party rooms — one that holds 40 people and another that holds 80. The entire restaurant holds almost 400 people.
Comfort food that grandma makes
“When you put good food out, people are happy,” Camplin said. “I love to feed people. I always have. My mom was the same.”
He recalled his mom making fried chicken in an electric skillet once a month. Fried chicken is something that he has always loved.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“I worked on a million recipes with that one,” Camplin said. “I would take a turkey fryer and go set up at peoples’ houses.”
Chappys’ fried chicken starts with fresh chicken that’s marinated for 24 hours. It’s hand battered and fried to order. He uses spices such as cayenne pepper in the seasoning, so the crust is a little spicier.
Other favorites on the menu include the ribs that are smoked for three hours and finished on the grill, beer battered chicken tenders, beer brined pork chops and Kentucky bourbon barrel salmon.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“This is like your backyard barbecue without the mess. You don’t have to clean it up,” Lori said. “It’s the food your grandma made you.”
Many of the recipes at Chappys started at their house in the Oregon District. Some of their sides like the cheesy mashed potato casserole came from friends.
“Those were a lot of the basis for our sides and our entrees,” Camplin said. “Some of them developed from there because what you can cook at a party for 10 people doesn’t necessarily translate to 300 people.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
At Chappys, everything is homemade. From the salad dressings to the sides, customers can expect fresh ingredients.
“We really put a lot of thought into everything we do,” Camplin said. “There’s a big passion here and we really care about what we do.”
Hard work pays off
“Owning a restaurant is hard work, and it is 24/7,” Lori said. “Something breaks, you’re over here to get it fixed. The alarm goes off, you’re over here. People don’t show up to work, you’re coming in to help out. It’s a lot of work when you want to do it right and do it the way we do it.”
Camplin recalled some wise words from Tim Heaney of Old Hickory Bar-B-Q. Heaney had told him he needed to have good servers and good carryout to be successful. That remains the focus today.
When asked how it feels to hit 10 years in Washington Twp., Camplin said, “I don’t think you realize it. It just happens.”
MORE DETAILS
Chappys Social House is open 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
For more information about Chappys Social House, visit chappyssocialhouse.com or the restaurant’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@chappyssocialhouse).
FOOD & DINING NEWS
Natalie Jones writes about food and dining in the Dayton region. Sign up for her free weekly email newsletter at daytondailynews.com and reach out to her at natalie.jones@coxinc.com.
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