During a troubling time for restaurants across the province, Hamilton-based sandwich shop “Rustic Reuben” has stepped up to support the Hamilton Honey Badgers.Since the beginning of the pandemic, approximately 10,000 restaurants have shut down in Ontario, and the Honey Badgers have been challenged to find restaurant partners – until now.

Rustic Reuben, located at 180 James Street South in downtown Hamilton, specializes in corned beef sandwich delicacies. The owners, Tracy and Dan

Brisco, are sports fanatics.

Along with their love of sports, the Brisco’s are passionate about their hometown of Hamilton.

“We want to support our city, and we want something positive that our city can look forward to,” said Tracy Brisco. “That’s all it comes down to for us, and what better thing to look forward to than the upcoming Honey Badgers season.”

The Briscos will provide gameday meals for Honey Badgers staff and training camp lunches for players and coaches. They’ve even gone as far as providing lunches for international players who are fulfilling the required 14 days of quarantining before camp begins. CEBL players are paid on a per-game basis, which means Honey Badgers players do not earn income during training camp.The organization seeks to provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner through exchanges with that provide partner restaurants with promotional exposure in exchange for meals or groceries.

“These arrangements are typical with professional leagues around the world, and they’re important to providing a positive experience for our players,” said

Hamilton team president John Lashway. “Dan and Tracy of Rustic Reuben have been very generous with their support, especially given the challenges of the pandemic that have hit the restaurant business and our business exceptionally hard. The food at Rustic Reuben is exceptional, and also having their

encouragement and support means much as we continue to launch this franchise. We thank them very much for their enthusiastic support.”

“For us, we’re here, we are in Hamilton,” said Tracy. “It’s important for us to be supporting our local teams and to get people within Hamilton to watch our local teams.”

Rustic Reuben hasn’t gone completely unscathed through the pandemic, but for the most part, the restaurant is doing well. The Brisco’s launched Rustic Reuben in July 2019, just eight months before the pandemic began to rage throughout the country. The restaurant is run entirely by the Brisco family. All three of Dan and Tracy’s children, as well as their extended family, play an important role in the operation.

“In our restaurant right now, it's all family. We're all chipping in to make this work,and every single one of us are sports fans,” said Tracy.

Running the family business isn’t Brisco’s only job; she works as a construction manager for Effort Trust, a Hamilton-based company. When the pandemic hit,she was able to perform her Effort Trust work from the restaurant while Dan and family ran the establishment.

“If they ever needed me, I could hop in, but I still had to do my own job at the same time,” she said.

 The family faced other hurdles, though. Brisco’s brother, one of the central employees, was forced to stay home and take care of his two little kids, leaving

the restaurant shorthanded.

But the Brisco’s strived and kept at it to make things work.

“It worked out really well for us to stay open,” said Brisco.

Through it all, one thing remained true to the Brisco family: their love and passion for sports.

“Everything revolves around sports,” said Brisco. “We constantly go to sports games whether it’s the Hamilton Tiger Cats, Hamilton Bulldogs, or the Toronto

Raptors – it’s a family thing for us.”

Rustic Reuben has also served as a place for the nearby senior community to socialize. Several senior-oriented buildings surround the restaurant.

“We realized the senior residents needed someplace where they can actually see somebody else, so we would have them come in even just to order half a

Reuben sandwich,” said Tracy. “They were getting the little bit of interaction with other people that they weren’t getting normally anymore.”

One thing’s for sure, the Brisco’s are big on giving back to the community that gives to them. Rustic Reuben has become a popular destination for the

discerning sandwich lover across Hamilton.

“Our doors are still open, and we can feed the Honey Badgers,” said Tracy. “We are very fortunate to be able to do so.”

And the Honey Badgers are fortunate to have a tremendous partner like Rustic Reuben helping to replenish the calories they burn on the basketball court.