One of the founders of Sayre Hospitality Group, Sue’s journey in the hospitality industry started in 1981 when she left her 12-year career as a hairdresser and she and her husband Sam purchased the Golden Bear. A walk-up ice cream stand, the Golden Bear was located in Applecreek, Ohio, and kept Sue and Sam plenty busy as they also balanced life with their 5-year old daughter, Jennifer, and 2-year old son, Brian. In 1983, the Sayre’s purchased the building that now houses the SHG corporate offices, Sam’s Pizzas & Heroes and the Smithville culinary kitchen.

For the next two years, the Sayre’s balanced the demands of owning two business: the Golden Bear and Sam’s Pizzas & Heroes. During this time, the Smithville location housed a number of small businesses in addition to the pizza shop, including Village Market grocery store, a doll shop, tax business, mesotherapy services and an antique shop. The basement of the building, which now houses SHG’s company, Events Unlimited, was home to an upholstery company. In 1986, the Sayre’s made the decision to sell the Golden Bear and focus their business attention solely on Sam’s Pizza and Heroes.

At this time, owner of the Village Market offered limited catering and the Sayre’s found themselves drawn to the business and started offering small scale catering. The wedding reception of her son and daughter-in-law, Brian & Amber, was the first large scale catering event the Sayre’s completed. And it was from that point the catering business blossomed into what is today known as the Village Catering Company, one of the largest full-service, off-site catering company in Northeast Ohio.

When asked which part of her journey has been the most satisfying, Sue always responds with, “the people.” She finds comfort in the feeling of, “community” and family that is present not only with employees but with all the customers SHG has been fortunate to serve. Recalling September 2021 when her daughter Jennifer passed away, Sue remarked, “We were in the busy season of catering and people really stepped up to help us out.” She remembers family friends, church friends and employees really pitching in to keep the business going while the Sayre Family walked through the loss of Jennifer, just seven months after the loss of Sam, the family patriarch.

Beyond grateful for this journey, Sue knows the blessings are directly from God. In November of 2023, Sam’s Pizza, the cornerstone company of the Sayre Hospitality Group, will celebrate its 40^th anniversary. This is not lost on Sue as she reflects on all of the changes that have taken place in the hospitality and restaurant industry. “The fact there is so much more competition just in the pizza business alone and we are still here after 40 years, you just know that’s because of God’s direction.” She is proud of the way in which her family reflects the importance of giving back, including the creation of her granddaughter Emma’s non-profit organization, Faithful Hearts. The creation of a non-profit that seeks to provide financial support to worthy causes is admirable in itself but when the organization’s creation is the brainchild of a pre-teen, a family cannot help but be proud. And Sue Sayre is a proud grandmother and mother and a very grateful woman.