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High Achievers . . . Restaurants That Cook Some restaurants have continued to thrive despite several years of what the pundits are calling "the Great Recession." These operators have figured out the formula to remain favorite "hotspots," on the leading edge of achievement, no matter where the economy stands. Every city and town has its dining hotspots. Some restaurants are trendy for a while, only to fade into the background and some of these eventually disappear altogether. The real trick is to build momentum and remain relevant. This staying power is what moves a restaurant into the ranks of "high achievers." These restaurants are the ones that will likely be around in five years, ten years, some much longer. Here's how some great RFS customers remain relevant. by Mary Daggett Blue Moon Keeps on Shining Once upon a time near La Crosse, Wisconsin-1924 to be precise-the Blue Moon Tea Room was established in what was formerly the mansion of a wealthy businessman. There wasn't any tea in those teapots, however. It was bootleg whiskey and bathtub gin and other prohibited liquid refreshment. Now, all these years later, this establishment has become the totally respectable Blue Moon Saloon & Roadhouse, one of the oldest operating restaurants in La Crosse County. "We are right across the street from the giant sunfish," said Owner Barry Nimtz, referring to a monument adorning the city park in Onalaska, the La Crosse suburb in which they operate. Blue Moon suffered a kitchen fire in 2009, and it took five months to repair the damage. In the meantime, the Nimtz family took over another restaurant, Huck Finn's on the Water in La Crosse, a family dining operation that's open for lunch and dinner.
Weathering the Economic Storm It's no secret that our industry has experienced a veritable economic hurricane this past year. According to many experts, we're still in the eye of the storm, and won't see any distinct clear skies until sometime in 2011. All is not doom and gloom, however. Many operators are thriving right now, due to smart business acumen, the ability to adjust to the current economic climate, advantageous use of reduced construction and rental costs and other strategies that appear in this story and others in this issue. by Mary Daggett During the last half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was a bustling, lucrative copper mining center. The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company was one of the major companies in the entire nation, run by Boston mining barons. Its competitor, the Quincy Mine, was founded with investments also coming from Massachusetts, hence the name “Quincy”, after the Massachusetts city of the same name. In 1908, Robert Grasseschi’s great-grandfather died in the Quincy Mine. “He was electrocuted far underground,” said Grasseschi. “The Michigan mines cut as far as two miles down into the earth. The temperatures reached as high as 93 degrees at the bottom of the mineshafts.” When Grasseschi bought a restaurant in 2000, he named it Quincy’s Restaurant & Lounge, in honor of the mine, which was on the South Shore of Lake Superior near today’s town of Hancock. The restaurant is in nearby Dollar Bay, about five miles away.