Published: Nov. 3, 2017
(West Bend, Wis.)
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
Wayne Kainz and his wife, Dana, wanted to open a restaurant
in downtown West Bend in 2004.
They didn’t think about opening a brewery with it.
“My wife is from West Bend and it was the downtown
association that asked us if we wanted to make it a brew pub,” Wayne said. “At
the time, we said, ‘Sure. We like beer. We’ll do it.’” What a decision that
turned out to be.
Going strong for 13 years now, Riverside Brewery &
Restaurant was one of the 10 restaurants within Washington County recommended
by Daily News readers in a recent informal poll.
“I picked Riverside Brewery because the staff is always friendly,
professional and helpful,” West Bend’s Ann Daley said. “And the food is
excellent.”
What a journey it has been for Wayne and Dana. It started in
the late 1990s when Wayne lived in Chicago for about seven years after college.
In 1998, Wayne’s brother married Dana’s sister. Dana was the
maid of honor and Wayne was the best man. That’s how they met.
“Three weeks after the wedding, I moved in with her from
Chicago,” Wayne said. “We got married two years later and we’re still married
now.”
Wayne was working with his dad’s construction business and
admitted it was something he didn’t want to do long term. So he decided to try
something different.
He applied for the daytime bartender position at Barley Pop
Pub in Germantown. He held that position for 10 months.
“The general manager came up to me and said, ‘I don’t want
to be general manager anymore. Do you want to switch?’” Wayne said.
Two weeks later, he was the establishment’s general manager.
“He obviously saw something in me,” Wayne said with a smile.
“(The owner) said, ‘You’ll be fine. Just don’t screw anything up.’” After four
years
in that position, Wayne and his wife thought about opening a
restaurant.
They wanted to for two reasons. One, Dana is a West Bend
native. Two, they believed the restaurant options were sparse in the early
2000s.
They Kainzes got the encouragement to open a downtown West
Bend restaurant from Kevin Schultz, owner of Mountain Outfitters, also in
downtown West Bend.
“He said, ‘You should open this in downtown,’” Wayne said.
The idea sounded great. But Wayne quickly recognized a
problem: minimal parking.
“But after we looked and we saw the river runs behind and
saw this building, we thought it was the perfect spot,” Wayne said.
The river added an element that could enhance the
restaurant’s atmosphere by way of patio seating. That was too good to pass up,
despite the concern of parking.
Still to this day, Wayne and Dana, who has worked for
Johnson & Johnson for more than 30 years as a sales rep, are glad they took
the risk, but also for the partnership with Westbury Bank across the street.
The bank agreed to leave its parking lot open for restaurant
customers.
“In our business plan and the bank agreed with us, it was
risky, but if we made the four main things that I look at is, made the food,
made the beer, made the service and the atmosphere above, way above average,
people will come,” Wayne said. “The community has been nothing but outstanding
to us for 13 years.
“It’s been a fantastic ride. We feel fortunate and blessed
that they’ve supported us.”
They also had the belief it would work.
“We just believed,” Wayne said. “My experience, her business
experience and we’re dreamers. We do take risks. We believed that we would make
it work for long term in our hearts.”
The ability to take a risk is a credit to his
father, Wayne said. He was a custom-home builder for more
than 40 years.
“After Vietnam, he basically opened his own business,” Wayne
said. “He took that risk and made a great family life for his six kids and my
mom.”
One of the key aspects Wayne believes that has helped the
restaurant over the years is consistency. And not just the consistency in the
food. Rather, it’s the consistency of the people making the food and bringing
it out to the customers.
About 50 people work at Riverside. Of that 50, 15 have been
with the restaurant for at least eight years — five are in the kitchen and 10
work in the front, or the house.
“They make it go,” Wayne said, adding it is rare, very rare
in the restaurant industry to have a veteran staff.
And Wayne, in a reflection with his wife, can’t help but
think of how it all came together.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Wayne said. “I go back
and say, ‘OK if my brother wouldn’t have met his wife because they are both
teachers, they don’t meet and get married and I don’t meet Dana and get married
and this doesn’t happen here.”
No comments:
Post a Comment