Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Nov. 10, 2017
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
HUBERTUS — The building at 3723 Hubertus Road, which houses
Sloppy Joe’s Saloon and Spoon, was meant to be a restaurant.
What wasn’t intended was for Joe Hennes and later his wife,
Ellen, to own it.
“I just wanted to renovate a little piece of our little
downtown in Hubertus, the way it was,” Joe said.
In 2001, Joe’s inspiration to do something came after
reading “Richfield Remembers The Past.” He grew up on the family farm about a
mile away from the presentday Sloppy Joe’s. At that time, Joe said the building
was dilapidated and an eyesore.
“In that book, it showed a beautiful building,” Joe said.
“This was a hustling and bustling little downtown area of Hubertus. I looked at
it (in 2001) and it was embarrassing.”
Soon after that, he crossed paths with the owner of the
building and had an engaging conversation.
Eventually, Joe bought the building, doing so in late 2002,
and became part of the renovation work for someone who wanted to lease the
building and turn it into a restaurant. A few months later, the person who had
the lease had to back out and Joe couldn’t do the same. He didn’t want to.
“I knew I was about to become a restaurant owner,” Joe said.
He wasn’t ready for the change as he was a guidance counselor
at Brookfield East High School and was in education for 22 years. His only
restaurant experience was working at Jerry’s Old Town Inn in Germantown when he
was 16.
But, he couldn’t back out. The building, the eyesore, meant
too much to him.
“You kind of fall in love with the journey of getting
there,” Joe said. “Once you see it come to life, you’re looking through it with
new eyes. You look at it as you could be the operator of a nice, family-style
restaurant I thought could be a value within our community.”
Joe opened the doors to Sloppy Joe’s in 2003.
The development of Sloppy Joe’s, Joe said, is a credit to
Johnny Meleski from Johnny Manhattan’s, which is across the street.
“He helped set me up for success,” Joe said.
As Sloppy Joe’s gained exposure, notoriety, Joe decided it
was time to step up the offerings.
“I’ve made a strong initiative to do real, authentic
barbecue,” Joe said.
To do so, nearly four years ago, Joe purchased a smoker that
sits outside near the patio. Not only can passing motorists see and smell
what’s cooking, Joe said people have told him they can smell it from miles
away.
Figuratively, the smell has drifted well beyond Washington
County.
“Sloppy Joe’s has the best barbecue and fish fry in the whole
county,” said Bill Perkins of Green Bay. “My wife and I have gone there from
Green Bay just to get us some great food.”
To learn about the ins and outs of serving smoked barbecue,
Joe got help from a friend who also cooked barbecue and competed in the world
championship in Tennessee. Joe went with the friend one year to help out.
“Since that time, we’ve made investments in attending
regular barbecue classes and seminars, and taking our staff to that,” Joe said.
“People can really see the difference between somebody who’s trying to do
brisket, barbecue ribs and turkey and chicken compared to someone’s who doing a
really good job at it.”
Joe said it’s been humbling to see people rave about their
barbecue offerings, including visitors from Texas and Tennessee that have said
they’re blown away by Sloppy Joe’s barbecue taste.
The No. 1 seller at the restaurant is the beef brisket. Joe
and his wife got the idea to bring the taste of barbecue north to Sloppy Joe’s
after several vacations to the Smoky Mountains.
“I’ve always loved barbecue,” Joe said, adding being around
some of the authentic places down south piqued the desire more.
“I think this is a place that real people expect real food,”
Joe said, adding food off the smoker is impossible to fake.
“We cook it with hickory wood and then we finish it with
apple wood,” he said.
Nothing is frozen at Sloppy Joe’s. Well, the ice cream is.
“It’s just different,” Ellen said. “A lot of people call
(Sloppy Joe’s) their Cheers because everybody knows their name.”
The establishment has become a hit for Green Bay Packers
players, too.
“In the time we’ve been here, we’ve had about 15-20
different Packers players from the Lombardi era to the 1996 Super Bowl
champions,” Joe said.
Among them are William Henderson, Fuzzy Thurston, Antonio
Freeman and Gilbert Brown.
When that started to happen, that was Joe’s realization
Sloppy Joe’s was on the map, which was impressive considering Hubertus is not
listed as an option destination on the signs on Interstate 41.
“It’s certainly an eye opener when all of the sudden my
phone rings on a Friday night and it’s Sean Jones, who is a Super Bowl
champion,” Joe said. “He calls and said he’s heard from several other teammates
what a great stop this is when they fly into Milwaukee and they’re on their way
to Green Bay. So he wanted to make sure I was here because he wanted to stop
by.”
Also among that group is Joe’s favorite player: Jerry
Kramer.
“We’ve gotten to be friends with him since that time,” Joe
said.
The restaurant’s slogan is “Where strangers become friends
and where friends become family.” Many things have happened that validate that
with, for example, pictures scattered throughout the restaurant, including of
Joe’s great-great-grandfather.
“Sloppy Joe’s has an incredible selection and the specials
are always delicious,” said Cari Landowski of Campbellsport. “The service is
impeccable and Sloppy Joe’s truly cares about the customer experience. The
owners and the chef put in their best effort day in and day out.”
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