Another year, another dollar:
Celebrating foodservice anniversaries
Whether it’s one year or 30, a business’ anniversary is an important one. Sure, it’s acknowledgment that another year has passed, that the business has weathered a fluctuating economy, changing tastes and, well, sometimes just lousy weather.
But an anniversary is also a time for reflection, a chance for reinvention, or a decision to stay the course. Foodservice News takes a look at a few of the notables—young, old and in-between—and the lessons they have learned since opening day.
Listings complied by FSN Editor Mike Mitchelson and Staff Writer Danielle McFarland.
Lyon’s Pub: 25 Years
“I’ve always been in the business,” said Chris Rodgers, owner of Lyon’s Pub, located on Sixth Street in downtown Minneapolis. He worked in high school and college in kitchens, beginning as many do—washing dishes. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a mechanical engineering degree, but a culinary interest had developed during that time—during his summers off, he cooked at a resort in Colorado, and, after graduating college, was set to go to the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
But then Steve Lyon, who opened the pub in 1984, offered Rodgers a minority partnership in the bar during the later part of the decade. Rodgers soon bought out Lyon. So there he was, in his 20s, and the owner of a hopping bar in downtown Minneapolis. “That’s could be a dream situation, or easily go down the wrong path,” Rodgers deadpanned. He kept it on the right path, obviously, adding on to the bar in 1989. “And getting married helped,” he said.
Lyon’s Pub occupies an interesting place in Minneapolis: to the immediate east, upscale restaurants Ike’s and Murray’s Steakhouse (“Murray’s has been like the big brother,” Lyon said) in the business district setting. Yet Lyon’s storefront stands out for its neighborhood pub façade, a theme that carries over inside, with a large center-island bar, wood paneled walls and turn-of-the century (20th century, that is) feel. The 20-year-old addition is seamless. “We wanted a Chicago bar-style feel, a neighborhood feel,” Rodgers said.
Although there’s no real “neighborhood” in the immediate area. Which is why Rodgers made a decision to create his own, by going after the “locals” that reside in the office buildings from 9 to 5. “It’s the people down here working every day,” he said. “They come in, and start getting to know each other.”
That’s a different focus than the 1980s, when cash, credit and booze flowed easily downtown, and Lyon’s could count on more nightlife. “It was wild in the 1980s—just nuts,” Rodgers said. “But now it’s a different environment.”
Changes in attitudes and expense account limits put an end to freewheeling spending through the ’90s, and the current decade has had its fill of economic uncertainty. But Lyon’s adapted along the way, by taking an approach less like the warehouse district eateries to the west, which continue to operate a nightclub-like business pattern of happy hours and ladies nights. Lyon’s Pub does have a happy hour, but its attention and specials are directed at those working downtown, and attracting them with a quality lunch menu filled with staples and daily specials. “Lunch is the service to our customers, and maybe they will come back (after work) and have a cocktail,” Rodgers said.
Most of the business Lyon’s will do in day is done by 7 p.m., he added, a focus that’s paid off in these stingier times. Not only is a hospitality business competing with others downtown for consumer dollars, “you’re competing for their dollars with just parking,” he said. “Ten, 12 bucks (for ramp parking)? Suddenly coming downtown for a beer isn’t attractive.”
While he’s not working the kitchen, the ethic of good food made in-house is firmly entrenched. Signature items include chicken wings, burgers, handcut fries, a pulled-pork sandwich and a variety of salads. Daily lunch specials include more home-cooked comfort foods (the day I visited was house-made lasagna with a Caesar salad). “We’re not the flashiest place,” he said. “It’s about being consistent, and (providing) good service.”
With housing developments to the west, light rail transit and the new Twins stadium opening, Rodgers said he’ll take added business if it’s there. But he’s already carved out his niche. Lyon’s has its regulars, and they still have evening events with music and dancing that pull in a crowd. His core staff has been with him for more than 20 years, and they, more than him, are responsible for the pub’s success. “People come here to see my staff, not to see me,” Rodgers said. “It’s not about me, it’s about the staff, and they develop the best customers in the world.”
Lyon’s Pub
16 South Sixth St.
Minneapolis
612-333-6612
—Mike Mitchelson
Wellstead of Rogers: 10 Years
One could say that Wellstead of Rogers, an assisted living and memory care center in Rogers, Minn., was founded ten years ago by Tom Wiskow in part for personal reasons. Wiskow’s parents suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and one of them became the facility’s first resident, said Gina Artisensi-Skime, banquet sales and marketing director for Wellstead’s Crown Room.
Wiskow sold the facility to Five Star Senior Living, a company with more than 200 assisted living and memory care properties in the country, but not before constructing the Crown Room, with a capacity of 350, about four years ago, which sits between and connects the two residential care facilities. Wiskow’s vision was to have an area where “everyone could come together and celebrate,” Artisensi- Skime said.
Weddings, anniversaries and continuing education seminars were initially intended for Wellstead residents and their extended families (and still are), but Wiskow quickly realized it could be a serious revenue generator for the facility. His realization continues to be correct, with weekends in the vaulted banquet area booked through the rest of the year.
The banquet facility required an executive chef, Eric Simpson, a veteran of some of the state’s finest golf and country clubs, to handle the demands—from the casual to upscale: Simpson serves the daily meals for the 50 residents as well as six-course dinners for the banquet events. Simpson and his staff prepare a continental breakfast, lunch and dinner for the residents. “It’s a very mashed potato, meat and gravy crowd,” Simpson said. “It’s simple food, but cooked from scratch. …We watch our salt and portion sizes, but otherwise, there are no restrictions. We try to give them a restaurant experience every night.”
Simpson anticipates a more demanding diner when the baby boomers begin retiring and populating the assisted living apartments, and with his country club background and the demands of the Crown Room, he is well versed in fine dining and ethnic cuisines.
The memory care facility has about 90 residents, its nine wings dedicated to a resident’s specific stages in the Alzheimer’s progression. Early-stage residents have few dining restrictions, but others have very specific dining demands. Chewing and swallowing are often challenging for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients in advanced stages. Pureed and thickened liquid diets are not uncommon, as are diabetic considerations, said Sue Tackaberry, food and beverage manager for Wellstead, who is also in charge of the meal programs for the memory care facility.
Dining is a therapeutic opportunity for memory care residents: Meals are served family-style for those who are able to take advantage of the interaction and decision making required. Presentation is vital, Tackaberry said, right down to the garnish. “A resident might say they don’t like fish, but when they see the plate (attractively presented) they are curious to try,” she said.
The attention paid to foodservice is part of a Bridge to Rediscovery program incorporated at Wellstead that encompasses every area of the facility: activities, maintenance and foodservice. All Wellstead employees are encouraged to interact with residents—even ask if they would like to help where appropriate—in an effort get them involved and feel valuable. “This isn’t a place (the residents) come to die,” Simpson said. “This is a place they come to live and enjoy the final years.”
For more information about Wellstead and its Bridge to Rediscovery program as it relates to foodservice, read the March 2010 issue of Foodservice News highlighting assisted living, memory care and other healthcare foodservice topics.
Wellstead of Rogers
20500 Diamond Lake Road
Rogers
763-428-8181
—Mike Mitchelson
Restaurant Max: 1 Year
What to do with an old bank? Open a restaurant.
Westin Hotels revamped the historic Farmers & Mechanics Bank building in downtown Minneapolis, and opened the restaurant, B.A.N.K., in the old lobby. Morrissey Hospitality, which operates the St. Paul Hotel, St. Paul Grill, Pazzaluna and Tria, followed suit in downtown Minneapolis with the Hotel Minneapolis, and within the former Midland Bank opened Restaurant Max in 2008, earning favorable reviews not only for its upscale American cuisine, but for the dining room’s design, which mixed the classic architecture of the former bank with contemporary lighting and design to create the unique space.
Entering its second year, Restaurant Max aims to enter the top tier of upscale dining with a new chef who has a major résumé and critical acclaim. And he’s a native Minnesotan to boot.
Kevin Kathman left Cold Spring, Minn. when he was 18 to embark on a transient lifestyle that adheres well to kitchen careers. He took a number of odd jobs cooking, and eventually landed at the New England Culinary Insitute in Vermont. Kathman’s major education came in 1994, however, when he applied for a three-month internship at Thomas Keller’s Yountville, Calif. restaurant French Laundry—the year the restaurant opened. He wound up staying three years, learning skills from Keller while the celebrated chef was still a daily presence in the kitchen.
Kathman left to open his own acclaimed restaurant, Blend, in La Quinta, Calif. In December of 2007, Kathman’s wife, Kori (who was Blend’s pastry chef) passed away. Kathman finished out the lease on the restaurant and moved back to Minnesota to “put the pieces back together,” he said. “I spent six months golfing, not doing a heck of a lot, and then found out about Morrissey Hospitality.”
He was hired initially to run the River Centre’s foodservice operations, but the Restaurant Max/Hotel Minneapolis opportunity came up, and he was offered the position in September. Kathman will take the menu further along the course that’s been set, but with “better quality,” he said. “The food will be approachable, not pretentious, but with the expectations of a restaurant in this paradigm,” adding that he needs to figure out exactly where upscale dining expectations are in the Twin Cities, particularly given the economic climate and collapse of several fine-dining restaurants, “I don’t know where that bar is right now,” he said.
A new menu will be released this month. How would Kathman describe his cooking? “Contemporary, fun, whimsical, but really approachable,” he said. “ I have to establish trust, and not make mistakes. There’s a lot of pressure.”
Restaurant Max
214 Fourth St. S.
Minneapolis
612-340-0303
—Mike Mitchelson
Stub & Herb’s: 70 Years
The T-shirt says it all: “Stub & Herbs: Your grandpa drank here.”
This anchor bar to the University of Minnesota campus opened 70 years ago, and has known only three owners. Stub and Herb (really!), the original owners, opened the doors in 1939. The bar was later sold to Sue Jeffers, who ran the bar for the next 30 years.
Toward the end of her ownership, Jeffers belly-flopped into politics and ran against (and lost to) Tim Pawlenty in the Republican primary for governor in 2006. By that time, a Gopher football stadium was in the works, the site a short walk from Stub & Herb’s. Three young commercial real estate investors acquired properties on the same block, including the Stadium Village Mall. They approached their neighbor, Jeffers, about her property.
Brothers Josh and Justin Zavadil and Ryan Oberlander were interested in owning the whole block. Jeffers sold them the property in 2007. So, each investor pushing 30 years of age with backgrounds in finance and real estate find themselves in the precarious position of running a bar and restaurant.
It was decided that Josh Zavadil would primarily run Stub & Herb’s. Why? As Zavadil recalls, it was because he wasn’t married. Some of their initial changes to improve the bar were to narrow the menu and improve the pub feel. “We decided we would have a really good burger and handcut fries,” said Zavadil. “We also went to having 32 taps—all American beers. We try and do 16 Minnesota micros and 16 American craft—no large breweries.”
Zavadil was forced into a crash course in owning and managing a restaurant. “Basically what I did was spend 18 hours a day here, and tried to figure it out as good as I could. It’s still a seven-day-a-week affair, and I’m keeping a close eye on it.” Now the former financial analyst speaks like a seasoned restaurateur: “Consistency is key,” he said. “There’s so many problems that arise every day… being a 100 year-old building, I mean, something falls off the ceiling every day. …I’ve always dealt with people, but when somebody’s mad about their food you have to get face to face, gently caress them and figure out a way to make it right. It’s a lot of putting out of small fires.”
Stub & Herb’s is the closest bar to the new TCF Bank Stadium, and it’s in constant preparation for the more than 50 university basketball, hockey, and football game days throughout the season, including an outside beer garden for each home football game with live entertainment and DJs.
The property also came with a building next door—an abandoned Milio’s Subs restaurant. The owners plan to renovate the space and expand Stub & Herb’s for overflow on game days and private parties—and possibly name it the Gopher Den. “We’re lucky to have the location we do, and on the sporting days we could go double capacity,” Zavadil said, smiling. “The restaurant can make the payments to support the land. When we first took it over we thought we’d tear it down and build something else, but we’ve become attached to it…just by being here everyday. If you’re around something for that long you just fall in love with it; you don’t have a choice.”
Stub & Herb’s
227 Oak St.
Minneapolis
612-379-0555
—Danielle McFarland
A&W Restaurants: 90 Years
It’s been 90 years since the first A&W opened its doors. The company pioneered the drive-in service—a car pulls into a stall, places an order and has food delivered to the driver’s window—a feature that helped popularize the brand through the goldenage of automobiles, rock & roll and the infamous root-beer float.
But drive-through changed the fast food landscape, and for three decades, A&W didn’t build a drive-in concept. But Minnesota A&W franchisees Patrick and Patti Nickleson changed that in August, by building the first new drive-in A&W in the country in 30 years in Inver Grove Heights, Minn. (Called the 3-D concept, diners can “Drive-In, Dine-In or Drive-Thru.”)
Patrick Nickleson didn’t get into the business thinking he would help revitalize a classic brand, but, by simply following his instincts, he might be an example the chain could follow. His experience as a chef gave him his common sense approach to hospitality. “I’ve been in the food industry since I was 15,” Nickleson said. “I’m 47 now.”
He cooked for Hyatt Hotels and various catering companies, fine dining to sandwiches. He was the executive chef for the Festival Foods grocery chain before he became an A&W franchisee in 2000. Nickleson was conducting a salmon cooking demonstration one Sunday afternoon and an elderly couple came up afterward “to entice me to buy their A&W,” Nickleson said. “We didn’t know each other. Just out of the blue.”
He said, “no thank you,” but, a few personal events occurred and a month later, Nickleson found himself still thinking about the offer. The restaurant was located in Little Canada, and was a seasonal store—only open eight months per year. He contacted the couple and purchased the restaurant on contract for deed. “And nine years later I have four stores.” (The other two are located in Pine Island and Coon Rapids.)
The walls of the new store are lined with old 45 records, album covers, and a 1950s-style mural. Diners often point to one of the records and say, “I remember when I was 16…” Nickleson said.
The nostalgic décor, done by Patti Nickleson, was not officially sanctioned, by “corporate,” but “We were rebels,” Nickleson said. But personalizing the store makes good sense, since it’s a brand with which several generations have memories—many of them floating in A&W root beer, which is still mixed in-house. It’s a rich concoction that tastes markedly different from the retail version. Aficionados purchase the soft drink in 1.5 gallon growlers, as if purchasing beer from a craft brewer.
It’s A&W’s history that made Nickleson appreciate the brand, and push a bit against corporate boundaries to emphasize that history. He’s a veteran of foodservice, after all. “Owning a franchise is still work, it’s still a restaurant,” he said. “Fundamentals make it work—and go with any (restaurant venture). If you’re not fully committed, it doesn’t work.” He said guests dining in sometimes find it odd that he and his staff will, as in a full service restaurant, ask how their food is. “If it’s not right, we correct it.”
A&W
9061 Buchanan Trail
Inver Grove Heights
651-552-7701
—Mike Mitchelson
American Fish & Seafood, Inc.: 80 Years
Max Bailick opened a grocery store in Northeast Minneapolis in 1929, and began importing and processing Canadian freshwater fish off the train from Winnipeg. Soon, he had accounts delivering fish to local outfits like Minneapolis Club and Curtis Hotel.
After World War II, U.S. consumption went up, transportation improved, and global distribution was a real possibility. Bailick got into wholesaling products and his fish-delivery business took off. In the meantime, Bailick’s son, Lowell “Butch” Bailick, started showing up after school at age 14 to break down and burn wooden shipping boxes. Butch worked his way up, and eventually Max turned the company over to him in the mid- 1960s.
Butch, with the vision to expand the business further, hired marketing wiz Larry Braufman in 1971. The two men, who have a combined 80 years at American Fish & Seafood Inc., worked to expand the company into what is now one of the largest Minnesota-based fish and seafood purveyors in the state.
These days, American Fish has more than 60 employees; many of them have been with the company for more than two decades. Their active accounts span from Minnesota and the five state area, to Las Vegas. Butch and Braufman attribute much of their success to knowing their supplier. “The product has always been the real trick,” Butch and Braufman said. “People in the food industry, particularly in the fish industry, can play games with weights and additives in products that change the product or the price point, and we don’t get involved with those people. We know the suppliers who are honest and legitimate. There are a few [chefs] out there, in our opinion, shopping for a price instead of a product. We try to steer them in the right direction. We pride ourselves in the fact that we believe in quality and service coming before price.”
American Fish pays for regular Federal inspections. “And that’s costly,” insists Bailick, “not only for the fact of paying for it, but it’s a standard they hold you to that costs more to operate your business.” In keeping with the times, American Fish is keen on the latest developments in aquiculture and sustainability. Approximately 25 percent of what the company sells is farm raised. “We’re really involved with sustainability,” Braufman said. “We belong to the GAA (Global Aquiculture Alliance). We follow the Monterey Bay Aquarium (Seafood Watch guidelines) because certain customers are demanding that…they’re sustainable.”
American Fish is also involved with many hotel and restaurant associations, and created the Upper Midwest Hospitality Show’s chefs competition. “We support the industry, said Bailick, “and we hope the industry will continue to support us—it’s a partnership.”
American Fish & Seafood
5501 Opportunity Ct.
Minnetonka
952-935-3474
—Danielle McFarland
Green Mill: 35 Years (plus)
The Green Mill. It’s not just pizza and beer anymore. But most people know those changes have occurred over the 35 years since Chris Bangs and Larry Cardoni have owned the company, and with 50 margaritas on the menu, well, it’s pretty obvious.
What started as a 3.2 beer joint on Hamline Avenue in St. Paul has grown into a 35-unit chain with a vast menu. There’s also the retail side of the business: its regular, thin and crispy crust frozen pizzas are carried by area Cub, Rainbow and Kowalski’s grocery stores; and it’s looking to develop its soups for retail. One thing the company prides itself on (besides the award-winning, Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza) is how each restaurant doesn’t feel like it’s part of a chain. There are at least two reasons for that. The first, franchise owners are required to prepare the Green Mill menu entirely in-house. Those items include baking their own bread, pizza crusts, salad dressings, soups and, from leftover bread, their own croutons. “It’s very hands on, we try to do everything from scratch, there’s a lot of labor dedicated to prepping, and that’s what makes us different,” said Mary Jule Erickson, Green Mill’s CFO. “In the summer, try to use local and fresh ingredients, and because of who we are, we can make a Sysco source it for us.”
The menu is extensive by design to draw more customers, which adds to its convenience and bevy of regulars, she added. That menu is under near-constant review by the ownership and Green Mill’s corporate chef, Pete Weldon. The second reason is restaurant design—or the lack thereof: “We don’t have a cookie-cutter floor plan,” Erickson said. “We go into an existing building, and conform to what’s there. …(and I think) we don’t feel like a chain because of that.”
A third reason might be the “family” attitude within the company. Erickson has worked for Green Mill for 26 years, and Cathy Burnevik, the GM of the Hennepin Avenue Green Mill, is also of the “decades of service” rank. Burnevik said that several on her staff have been with the restaurant for about a decade or more, and there are similar stories at other locations.
Green Mill looks to continue growing its chain in the Midwest, but has no national ambitions—at least not yet. Instead, the company continues to perfect all its available options for potential franchisees, including a brisk take-out and delivery business. “For example, when the (Iraq) war started, people stayed home more, our deliveries went up,” Erickson said. “We have something for every segment.”
Green Mill: www.greenmill.com.
—Mike Mitchelson
Edina Grill: 10 Years
When the Edina Grill opened in 1999, it was part of a foundation that has built one of the Twin Cities most successful restaurant companies, the Blue Plate Restaurant Company. The company’s co-owners came together by way of Perth, Australia and Minneapolis.
David Burley is the Perth part of the equation—it’s his hometown. He had lessons early on in the restaurant and hospitality business-his father owned and operated hotels in there. Burley moved to the Bahamas in his 20s and ran an Australian pub before living in Hawaii for a stint. Burley said he was looking for a change, so he shifted climates and moved to Minneapolis “for a traveling adventure.”
He met Stephanie Shimp in 1990 while working at the Nicollet Island Inn. The two, who were both servers at the time, hit it off (well enough to eventually marry) and shaped a vision to own a breakfast joint. The Highland Grill opened its doors March 2, 1993. Burley and Shimp ran the restaurant, Shimp served and Burley cooked. “It was me and her and one employee,” Burley said. “We didn’t take a day off for right around a year.”
When that day came, Burley recalled he and Shimp sitting in their car in front of the restaurant. “I thought, ‘Wow this is cool, the restaurant’s making money and we’re not there.’” Burley and Shimp slowly added to their concept’s offerings, eventually dinner every day but Sunday, then beer and wine. The couple then opened the Edina Grill near 50th and France. Burley and Shimp kept with their “blue plate” concept serving breakfast and other fare all cooked from scratch. The menu was inventive yet approachable and Edina Grill gained a name for itself as having good food for a good value, and the turkey burger became an award-winning menu staple.
Business was steady in both locations, so Burley and Shimp looked for another body for support. Stephanie’s brother, Luke, was looking to settle down from his racing days with NASCAR, and was brought on as a partner and CFO. And while Burley and Stephanie’s marriage didn’t survive, their partnership (and friendship) did, and the company kept adding and improving upon their restaurants.
In addition to the Highland and Edina grills, there is the Longfellow Grill in Minneapolis; Three Squares in Maple Grove and Groveland Tap in St. Paul. The Edina Grill was moved to a new location in 2007. Although the new place was less than a block away it was more spacious and dapper. Burley remembers the change, “We got a do over! Anytime you get a do over it’s like, wow, what would you do in a perfect world?”
The restaurant’s new kitchen allows a broader menu. A separate bar offers full liquor. Prices have held the line, however: The most expensive menu item is $14.95. “We’ve under-promised and over-delivered on our food,” Burley said. That over delivery is highlighted in weekly specials, such as the Minnesota duck loin with sautéed asparagus and gnocchi in roasted pepper cream sauce. “We give a lot of quality and interesting cuisine for not a lot of money.”
Edina Grill
5028 France Ave.
Edina
952-927-7933
—Danielle McFarland
