Dennis Wandkte Knows Hospitality

Gary Arndt: 00:00:05

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Respecting the Beer.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:08

My name is Gary Arnd with me again are the two Oakies who as in the days of your, put their stuff in a pickup truck, left the dust bowl, and came north for a better life.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:19

But with PhDs.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:22

The good doctors, Allison and Bobby Fleshman, and we got a very special guest today.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:28

He's a regular here at McFleshman's.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:30

He is a raconteur of Bonvan, a very interesting guy, and technically part owner of a brewery.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:38

So I guess that's what kind of gets him on the show.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:41

Please welcome Denny Wandtke

Gary Arndt: 00:00:43

How are you doing?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:00:44

Awesome, Gary.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:00:44

Good to see you.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:00:45

Good to see Allison Bobby, love being here.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:48

Thank you.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:49

Why don't you start out with how in the world you found this place?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:00:53

Well, it's an interesting story because I think Allison will, you know, will, um, join that.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:00:58

But my wife and I were down here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:00

We are 1% owners of a brewery in Amherst, Central Waters, and we are brewery fans.

Gary Arndt: 00:01:06

So you're in the top 1%.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:08

Yeah, I hope.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:09

I've been in a couple hundred breweries or upscale brew pubs, coast to coast.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:12

It was kind of our hobby.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:14

And we were in Appleton one day shopping and I said, I've heard of this brew pub.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:19

I read about it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:20

We turned around, we were heading back home.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:22

We were south of town.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:23

We lived north of Waupaca.. Turned around, came in, got here right at noon when they opened on a Saturday.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:31

And we walked into the bar and walked up and Joel was tending bar.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:36

You walked into the Joel Show?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:37

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:37

Walked Joel, the Joel Show.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:38

Yes.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:39

And I'm an IPA guy, but we walked in and Joel said to my wife and I, have you been here before?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:44

We said, no, we haven't.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:45

He said, do you know anything about craft beer?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:47

I said, I don't know anything about brewing it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:49

I listened to your guys' podcast and I'm lost.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:52

I know a lot about drinking it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:54

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:01:54

And he said, well, I'm gonna serve the best beer in Wisconsin, which turned out he's tied.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:01

He's, it's really good.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:01

But I said, well, with humility, the best beer in Wisconsin at that time on beer advocate was Black Gold outta Central Waters.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:09

And he said, you know, your beer, but I'm gonna serve you a 5 47, which is in my very small top of the hit parade beers right now.

Gary Arndt: 00:02:17

The moment you said, Joel, I could have told this whole story.

Gary Arndt: 00:02:19

Yes, I know that, but

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:22

I, I, we, we have a beer.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:25

We probably had two and, and, uh, didn't know Bobby and Allison.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:29

Allison was here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:29

Hm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:30

Joel had her meet us.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:31

She was kind enough to take us in the back, show us the brewing, thanked us, and we left.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:36

Yes.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:37

And I You take minute and listen.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:38

You can take it from there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:02:39

Okay.

Allison Fleshman: 00:02:39

Um, so I'm gonna go, uh, I'm trying to think of the best way to tell this story.

Allison Fleshman: 00:02:45

Um, so I'll, I'll pick up any, just,

Bobby Fleshman: 00:02:47

First of all, let's just say it's not because Gary or, uh, because Denny is an owner of another brewery.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:02:53

No, that's here.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:02:53

It's because of what you're about to say.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:02:55

Would you, would you let me talk that?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:02:56

No, I just said the introduction was such, yeah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:02:58

Build suspense, my dear.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:00

Anyway.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:01

So, um, okay, so at the time, and don't, Denny, do you remember this?

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:04

I had, I think I had just had laryngitis.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:06

I could barely talk.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:07

Mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:08

Um, and so Joel comes back and he says, Hey Allison, you're here.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:12

Could you give these, this couple a tour?

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:13

They're very interested in beer and they're just such great people.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:16

Give them a tour.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:17

And I was like, yeah, sure.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:18

And so Denny and his wife Cindy, I take them back to the production area and I show them, oh, this is the hot side, this is the cold side.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:24

This is where we brew the beer.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:25

And this is how the story of 5, 4, 7, and this is the story of how we got here.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:29

Um, and I've given this tour a dozen or so times and we got to talking.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:33

And, uh, Denny mentioned that he used to own a very popular, restaurant.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:39

And, uh, a tavern, pub, Public House.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:42

And it was like, oh, that's lovely.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:44

And I, but there was something about Denny's face.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:47

I knew I had talked to him before at some point in a past life, and I wasn't quite certain what it was.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:52

But we had a lovely conversation and there it sat, and then we parted ways.

Allison Fleshman: 00:03:57

We said thank you, and it was nice to meet you.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:00

And y'all went back to Waca and I went on my merry way.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:04

And then I'm gonna pause here and I'm gonna go back about 10 years.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:04:09

12.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:09

12.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:10

Yeah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:11

Bobby and I when we first moved to Wisconsin from Oklahoma, as Gary has mentioned, We just went and explored.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:18

We knew we wanted to open a brewery.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:19

The brewery was this idea in our heads.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:22

We didn't know what it was gonna be.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:23

Are we gonna do food?

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:24

Are we gonna do just a brewery?

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:26

What we don't know?

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:27

So we went and explored all of Wisconsin.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:29

Wisconsin has so many amazing places to offer, not just parks, but also restaurants and pubs and breweries.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:37

So we just went and explored, I have no idea where we were in the state.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:40

But we stumbled upon this wonderful little Irish pub called TD Dubs.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:45

Turns out it was kind of in Waca, right?

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:49

And so we went in.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:51

We had the most lovely meal and we had this great beer and the feel of this place, the dark.

Allison Fleshman: 00:04:58

I mean, I can remember even like the square pillars of the wood.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:02

There was just this intimacy and coziness of this place, and there was this man, the owner.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:07

It was very clear.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:08

The owner who greeted us, he walked around and you could tell this guy knew all of the regulars and those that weren't regulars.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:15

He walked to our table, he greeted us, and he just made us feel so warm and well.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:18

Okay.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:20

And Bobby and I left and we kept driving around the state of Wisconsin and we always remembered that one Irish place.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:26

And when we were building MLE men's, we thought, you know what?

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:30

Remember the Irish guy?

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:31

Remember the guy that runs that Irish pub?

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:33

That's what we're trying to build.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:35

And he was always in the back of our minds.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:38

Lo and behold.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:39

10 years later, I'm talking to this guy and I know I've seen him before and I was like, I don't remember.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:45

And so then I started doing some digging and I look up T dubs because that's the name of the restaurant that he had mentioned when we had met.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:53

And so I wish Denny and Cindy off on their merry way later that night.

Allison Fleshman: 00:05:57

I went and I'm like Googling and I'm trying to find it, and then I realize that was the Irish pub guy that we've built this entire place after?

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:08

I am in tears, I'm like grabbing at Bobby's shirt.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:11

Oh my God, you won't believe who I just met.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:12

Oh my God.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:13

I met the Irish guy, um, who, you're not Irish at all.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:16

I mean you a quarter.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:16

There you go.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:17

Um, but this, this

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:19

as the entire state is one quarter Irish.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:21

Yes.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:21

But you know what

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:22

they say?

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:22

Like, people won't remember what you say.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:24

They'll remember how they made you feel.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:27

Denny made us feel the most welcome and we have really built this space around that feeling.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:33

So first of all, thank, I don't think I've ever directly thank you for that.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:36

Um, but so I emailed Denny.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:39

Um, I had his contact information.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:40

I was like, Hey, I know we just met, but I have a story to tell you.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:43

And so I told him about realizing that we had met him many, many years prior and how much of an inspiration he was, and just the vision of T-Dubs and how much it influenced Mc Fleshman.

Allison Fleshman: 00:06:53

And it

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:53

wasn't just the wood and the beams.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:54

It was no.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:55

It was that service.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:58

I mean, the wood, the beam, and that feel was awesome.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:00

And it felt really intimate.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:01

I

Allison Fleshman: 00:07:01

You only talked to us for maybe two or three minutes.

Allison Fleshman: 00:07:03

It wasn't long.

Allison Fleshman: 00:07:04

You were so respectful of our time, but you greeted us and just made us feel so welcome.

Allison Fleshman: 00:07:09

And it, we, we were maybe not even six months into Wisconsin from our Oklahoma roots and, and everyone at that point, me more than you, Bobby, would it be like, where are you from?

Allison Fleshman: 00:07:19

You're not from Wisconsin.

Allison Fleshman: 00:07:20

Um, although now I say Wisconsin, a little bit more Wisconsin than I did back then,

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:23

You still with the y'all and the kinda get, kinda squeeze past you once

Gary Arndt: 00:07:28

Y'all, you know.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:29

Right.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:30

Y all, you know.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:32

Mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:07:33

Um, so fast forward to today.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:35

Long way of saying thank you for the inspiration.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:37

Such a long way.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:38

For sure.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:38

Thank you guys.

Gary Arndt: 00:07:39

Denny, she tells that story to everyone.

Gary Arndt: 00:07:42

First time I met her she was like, your podcast is what, you know, influence Mc Flesh Men's.

Gary Arndt: 00:07:47

And

Gary Arndt: 00:07:50

was, so, was the name of the pub actually T Dubs?

Gary Arndt: 00:07:53

Yes.

Gary Arndt: 00:07:53

Or is that short for something?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:07:54

No, it was T Dash Dubs public.

Gary Arndt: 00:07:56

Oh, okay.

Gary Arndt: 00:07:56

Mm-hmm.

Gary Arndt: 00:07:57

Because I, because it sounds like, you know, B dubs, like for Buffalo Wild Wings or something.

Gary Arndt: 00:08:02

Mm-hmm.

Gary Arndt: 00:08:02

I didn't know if it was short for dub or mm-hmm.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:04

So you never got to experience it?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:06

No.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:06

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:07

And also the food, we didn't even mention the quality of the food.

Allison Fleshman: 00:08:10

Oh, food was so good.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:10

Which is worth mentioning.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:11

Yes.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:12

And, and the, and the beer.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:13

Everything was so spot on.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:08:14

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:15

Thank you.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:16

I, you know, warms my heart.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:17

Uh, and I think what you guys have done here is like that.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:23

Okay, I come in and the first time to meet Joel meet you, now meet you, meet Gary.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:27

I was sat, came downstairs.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:28

I just sat down at the club pub club table and talked to everybody.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:32

And I live 32 miles from here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:34

If I come on a Wednesday night, I'm limited to two 5 47 because I have to drive home.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:40

But, so I think that's the key because.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:42

When people talk about Ai now I'm saying it's gonna open the world for people that can talk.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:48

Because people are sick of doing this.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:51

And so what we were able to do, my grandmother owned a tavern, sold it in 1960.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:08:56

My dad and and my uncle were World War II veterans, tended bar there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:00

My uncle ran John Kennedy's campaign and Central Wisconsin.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:04

Got to have dinner with Senator Kennedy when I was 10.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:07

I can barely remember it, but their thing was those taverns were this.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:13

It was where people gathered like they are downstairs right now, having conversations, playing cards, being with their loved ones, meeting new people.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:20

And so that's what I grew up with.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:23

And then I think we lost that.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:25

I was in a service, I studied nuclear chemical and biological warfare, studied the Russians.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:30

They weren't our friends then either and, and we kinda lost that.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:34

I came home and the taverns kind of went, uh.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:36

Too heavy of drinking, not as much conversation.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:40

And in the craft beer industry started to happen.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:43

And at that time, uh, that Central Waters came about.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:48

We were involved with that.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:49

Still are, I have two favorite pubs, McFleshman's and Central Waters.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:52

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:53

And, and brew, uh, breweries.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:09:55

And so we, I had a chance to start into be a small investor in a, in T-Dubs.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:00

And we had Pauly and I, and we had two other partners, which.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:03

Weren't good.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:04

And we, we moved them out and then it took us about two years to put a team together.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:09

And I think you two know that it takes time.

Allison Fleshman: 00:10:12

It does take time.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:12

But we started to draw the people as you are, that are like you.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:17

And when you came into our place, it was, uh, any one of our 12 weight staff.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:23

Any one of our three bartenders, our chef was self-trained and we could do white linen food at a very high level if you wanted us to, but we did pub food, I think pretty well.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:33

But Jake would come out, he was a young guy.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:35

He'd come out and visit with everybody, and that's the difference.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:39

My wife and I were out at a, uh, supper club west of, uh, at or Waupaca the other night, and we walked in the door.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:46

I hadn't been there in five years.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:48

And the owner came out and said, we really loved your place.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:51

And I had three couples come up to me and thank us for creating a place.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:55

It wasn't all me.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:57

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:10:58

It was our whole team was respectful and I will kind of end this was saying like right now downstairs, I don't think that you guys understand as much as you should.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:10

And you, Gary, about my family listens to the podcasts.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:14

Everything everywhere daily about how you impact people's lives.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:18

Okay?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:18

It's the beer.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:19

You, I mean, you're making world class beer, okay?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:21

And I can tell you a lot of places that don't, you don't like it when I tell you that, but that's all right.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:25

It's just the truth.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:26

But the idea is you, you have people that this is home and they're gonna talk to somebody and good on you.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:11:33

Okay?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:33

Oh my gosh.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:34

Beer and conversation.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:35

That's, that's what we do.

Gary Arndt: 00:11:37

Let me pose a question to all three of you, what you're described, the, the experience you had there.

Gary Arndt: 00:11:43

Is rare.

Gary Arndt: 00:11:44

It does not happen in most places.

Gary Arndt: 00:11:47

Yet it would seem like it would be a very common sensical thing to do to have that level of service.

Gary Arndt: 00:11:55

Why do you think it's so rare in the service industry to provide that kind of service?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:02

We had a huge advantage, I think, over most breweries in that we were a restaurant.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:07

We were a public house.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:08

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:09

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:09

So we had 12 staff.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:11

Working the room all the time, and as you guys have learned here, you have tables that where somebody has lost a spouse.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:18

They're older, they have, this is their place, or their kids moved away.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:22

This is their place, or they're new in town, and we had those people that you could tell if you've been in it a while, they wanted you to sit at their table.

Allison Fleshman: 00:12:31

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:31

You have other people, you could sense it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:33

You just were 15 feet away.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:34

You gave 'em two thumbs up, they gave you two thumbs up, and you moved.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:38

And I think that that's what you've been able to do here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:41

'cause I've been here a fair amount and it's 32 miles one way.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:45

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:45

And I've never lacked for people to talk to.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:48

And everybody's interesting.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:50

I think that's what our nation needs and I think that's what the breweries provide.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:55

And when I like Gary, I talked to you.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:12:57

I was just in Steven's Point at one of the oldest pubs there stopped.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:01

I had to ask for a menu at the bar.

Allison Fleshman: 00:13:03

Hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:03

And I had, you know, three young bartenders leaning against the back bar and I counted 'em.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:07

There were 16 people at the bar and we had to ask for everything.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:11

And there's too much of that.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:12

And I will, uh, preface that by saying I grew up in the era of the professional bartender.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:18

I'm 76.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:19

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:20

So when I went out, when I went to any one of the four or five bars in our area, this is the same guy was there all the time.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:27

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:27

And he read the Wall Street Journal.

Gary Arndt: 00:13:29

And, and by bartender you're not talking about like the modern day.

Gary Arndt: 00:13:32

Mixologists?

Gary Arndt: 00:13:33

Nope.

Gary Arndt: 00:13:33

Cocktail maker?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:34

Nope.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:34

This is Gary And Old Fashioned then was a shot in a beer.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:38

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:38

The beer was in one.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:39

The both from The Simpsons.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:40

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:41

Well, and you were talking about guys that were well read.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:44

I mean, they read the Wall Street Journal.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:46

They read the sports section.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:47

They read, I mean, they would, the, the, the legendary bar.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:51

I went to Lloyd's in Manawa which I was 16.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:54

I mean, we had two farmers that came in.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:13:56

One who never left the county in one's passion was the kings and queens of Europe.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:14:01

And the other's passion was the capitalist system that we run here and they could talk for hours.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:14:06

I mean, they were PhDs in what they did.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:14:09

Wow.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:14:09

And probably didn't get outta high school.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:14:11

Okay.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:11

The guy whose book you're talking about?

Allison Fleshman: 00:14:13

Yeah, I will.

Allison Fleshman: 00:14:13

Gudara.

Allison Fleshman: 00:14:14

Is that

Gary Arndt: 00:14:14

his will?

Gary Arndt: 00:14:14

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:15

Will Gudara.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:15

So I was listening to an interview.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:17

Did you hear the story about the hotdog?

Gary Arndt: 00:14:18

Mm-hmm.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:18

Yes.

Allison Fleshman: 00:14:19

Yes.

Allison Fleshman: 00:14:19

Please tell the story.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:20

Okay.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:20

So he runs a, a Michelin three star restaurant.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:24

One of the servers overhears them saying it was their last night in New York.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:27

The one thing we didn't get to do is have a real New York City hotdog on the street.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:31

So the server brings us to the back room.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:34

They rush out, they buy a hotdog off the street, bring it in.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:39

Do their Michelin three star stuff to it.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:41

It's not just a plain hotdog.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:43

And then they come out and say, we heard this.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:46

We'd like to present this to you.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:47

And then this is a scene in The Bear where they do the same thing in Chicago, but with pizza.

Allison Fleshman: 00:14:50

Ah, okay.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:51

But I was thinking of that because I've seen that here many times.

Gary Arndt: 00:14:57

You don't even realize you're doing it.

Allison Fleshman: 00:14:59

I'm giving Gary a weird face right now, asking him to explain more.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:02

I remember sitting at the bar and I was saying like, I had never had a barrel age beer.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:08

And I thought it was bullshit.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:09

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:09

Like it's just marketing.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:11

Right?

Gary Arndt: 00:15:11

And Bobby didn't say a word.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:13

He just poured me one of the beers and he said, try it.

Allison Fleshman: 00:15:18

Which one was it?

Allison Fleshman: 00:15:19

Imperial?

Gary Arndt: 00:15:20

No, I think it was like a, uh, not that I'm questioning now box.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:25

I'm giving him Dagger.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:25

Stouts.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:26

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:26

But I tried it.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:28

Mm-hmm.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:29

And I was shocked because.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:31

If I didn't know better, I would've sworn that you had taken a shot of bourbon and put it in like it was clearly that infused by it.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:38

And I was, I did not think that that was possible.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:40

And I remember several times where we've been sitting at the bar saying like, okay, did, did the glasses really make a difference?

Gary Arndt: 00:15:47

And so we conducted an experiment right on the spot where we tried 5 47 in different shaped glasses.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:54

Yep.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:55

Or, or just, just stuff like this.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:56

And I don't like, I don't think you guys are thinking of it in this term, that's just science.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:16:01

I love how our beer nerdism is grouped in with a Michelin three star conversation because that's all we are.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:07

Well, whether it's even on a Saturday where you get a lot of people who maybe this is their first time there, they come in with their little passport book and get the stamp.

Allison Fleshman: 00:16:14

Yeah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:16:14

I love the passport book.

Allison Fleshman: 00:16:15

Oh my gosh.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:15

And Joel, or who's ever behind, uh, the bar.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:20

They, they, they see the menu and they're kind of overwhelmed and they don't know what to get.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:25

And so they just start pouring samples.

Allison Fleshman: 00:16:26

Yep.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:27

And it's like, here you go.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:28

Try this.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:28

Here you go.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:28

Try this.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:16:29

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:16:29

And it's 1 5 47 a sample after the next, right?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:16:32

Yeah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:16:33

5%.

Allison Fleshman: 00:16:34

1, 5, 4, 7, 2. And,

Gary Arndt: 00:16:35

and a lot of people, you know, or even just explaining, well, we got cask beers and you may have never had a ca beer because nobody serves ca beers or explaining what a knife.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:45

And so it, it, or the Luker ca it's that level of.

Gary Arndt: 00:16:49

You know, and, and, and when you're give, giving someone a sample of something or you're not worried about whether or not you're making a sale on that thing, you're just trying to, to give a good experience.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:02

That's so funny.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:03

And the end result is you are gonna make more money.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:07

You're just playing the long game.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:09

Oh my gosh.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:09

Well, and one of my favorite things is when a customer will come in and they're like, like, there's only a group of them and it's about four or five.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:17

And you can tell when it's four or five that they haven't gotten together in a while.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:21

'cause four or five schedules all at once.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:22

That takes a while and.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:25

There's always one of them that's like, no, I don't drink beer.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:27

And they'll step, step back.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:28

That's the person I'm like, oh no, seriously, I will find you a beer.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:31

You don't even think that it tastes like beer, but we have a beer that doesn't taste like beer, even though our slogan is beer flavored beer.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:37

Mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:38

We also have non-beer, flavored beer.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:40

, That's a beer.

Allison Fleshman: 00:17:41

And it's like the wine drinker or the person that's like, Hmm, I don't really know.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:17:47

We would like people outside of the sphere of beer.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:17:49

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:17:49

To try beer.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:50

But you make beers that what, what people think of as beer is Miller Light.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:55

Right?

Gary Arndt: 00:17:55

True.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:55

That is what most people have.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:57

And then some variation of that.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:59

It's all the same.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:59

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:59

Coors Light, Michelob Ultra, whatever.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:01

It's all that kind of lagger.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:03

That's all they've ever had.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:18:04

They're models of, of efficiencies.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:18:06

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:06

Maybe they've had a Guinness or an IPA.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:09

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:10

And that's it.

David: 00:18:10

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:11

So if you were to pour them a gosa go team mm-hmm.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:15

They don't, one, they don't, they've never heard of it.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:18

True.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:19

And it tastes like something that they don't associate with beer.

Allison Fleshman: 00:18:21

It's so zest and refreshing.

Allison Fleshman: 00:18:23

Right?

Allison Fleshman: 00:18:23

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:23

Well, I think you're spot on, Gary, you want to have a place that people feel warm and, and want to come back.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:28

When you create a place, I come in here and I come in at odd times and there's people here and they're visiting and they see what's going on.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:36

And that's your base, you know?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:37

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:38

And what I, my wife and I always.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:41

Like Bobby, my Bobby and I both married above our station in life.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:45

Gary, just so you know that, uh, that's why I'm not married.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:47

Can we can?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:18:49

No, let's edit that piece out so Allison can't hold it over.

Allison Fleshman: 00:18:53

Oh, our listeners know.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:54

Yes, yes.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:55

But the idea was, you know, to create a place for people to come to.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:59

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:18:59

And uh, my wife and I always joke and say, if we come to your place, restaurant par or whatever, and you care that we're there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:07

You can be pretty mediocre and we'll be back.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:10

If you don't care that we're there, you better have a James Beard nominated chef, or we're not coming back.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:15

Right.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:15

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:15

Right.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:16

And there's too many other opportunities out there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:19

So from what I can see, you guys are certainly on the right path.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:24

, Allison Fleshman: well, speaking of that path I have to, I, it has to be said that, um, Denny has become so much more than just like a mentor as well.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:33

Um, there have been times when we reach out to him and we're like, oh my gosh, this is so hard.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:38

Business is hard.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:40

Especially the hospitality business as things come up and tariffs come up and like changes in market demand come up and like all of these things that he has been such a, like a, a safe space for us to go and look at.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:52

Like we can look him in the eye and he can read our eyes and know like, yeah, it's hard.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:57

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:19:57

And he is like, I'm here for you.

Gary Arndt: 00:19:58

I would never do your business.

Gary Arndt: 00:20:00

Oh, flat out.

Gary Arndt: 00:20:01

It is.

Gary Arndt: 00:20:01

I would, I would, it's hard.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:03

It's,

Gary Arndt: 00:20:03

it's really hard.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:04

It's ha I have cried myself to sleep numerous times, even in the past few months, but a couple years you get tenure.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:09

That's the other thing, the actual gig down the street.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:12

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:12

Uh, Denny's humble though.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:13

I I say he's one of our, our mentors and he, he would say we should get better mentors.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:20:19

That's exactly, that's exactly the truth.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:21

But I appreciate the open and honest and candid conversations we can have.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:24

And not only that, just the wealth experience.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:26

Because like it, no one trains you for this type of job.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:31

And yet like, and I think it's the connection in talking with people and learning and listening from stories that you can really like figure out how best to navigate the terrain as it changes beneath your feet.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:43

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:43

And people try to try to, to untangle who I am, what makes me do.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:47

Oh, good luck, y'all

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:49

Build homes and then do physics, and then open a brewery.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:52

I've been, I've been married to 'em for 19 years tomorrow, actually.

Allison Fleshman: 00:20:55

Uh

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:55

uh, yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:55

And our kid is six and a half today.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:57

I know.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:57

For what that's worth.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:20:58

Uh.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:21:00

, Allison Fleshman: And that's married 19 years.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:21:01

Yep, exactly.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:21:03

But I hit challenges head on that.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:21:06

That's really in summary, who I am.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:21:07

If, if I see a goal, I'll learn whatever I need to learn to get through the challenges that gimme between here where I am and where that goal is.

Allison Fleshman: 00:21:14

But surely, Denny, you've, I mean.

Allison Fleshman: 00:21:16

Well, I think the challenges you've faced, oh,

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:18

I started six businesses in my life.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:20

I was the middle, I was a, and they were all successful at at some level.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:24

I mean, I was a middle of the tracks kid.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:27

My forks weren't wealthy.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:28

I got outta service with no money, got divorced young, raised two boys on my own, lived in a double used double wide mobile home on the same property that I own, a little log cabin with my wife.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:38

So yeah, it's been the fight.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:40

But I've always enjoyed this and I think the advantage that you have is that you are wonderful people, but set that aside.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:48

You're hard workers.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:50

You have skill sets.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:51

We closed T Dubs for COVID.

Allison Fleshman: 00:21:53

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:21:54

When Paul and I, you know, I have an environmental company which makes me a living and my partner owned a huge Dairy Queen, which made him a living.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:02

So we were profitable, but not hugely.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:04

'cause we, you know, we were absentee, we were there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:07

But I think when we tried to reopen.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:10

We had six kitchen staff, including an outstanding young chef.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:14

We got one back and it wasn't him.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:16

We had three great bartenders, Joel level bartenders.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:19

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:20

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:21

We got one back.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:22

We had 12 wait staff.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:23

We got two back and.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:25

Yeah, crazy enough, the government sent us $314,000 to reopen, and Paul and I are not rich guys.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:32

I'm 76, I'm still running my company.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:34

I'm healthy.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:35

I, you know, I'm fine, but we could not put it back together with our A team.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:40

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:41

And our clientele, or our accountant said, you know, just spend the money.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:45

You can keep it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:47

See, 'cause we didn't have your guys' skills.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:49

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:49

We didn't have your knowledge about what you're doing.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:53

You know, making liquid every day.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:55

You, you, I can work the floor, but somebody still has to put good food out there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:58

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:59

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:22:59

And so we, uh, we could not put our, A team back together and we sent the money back.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:05

We said we don't steal.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:07

Wow.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:07

And we're not rich guys, but we're not.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:09

So we and our account said, you guys are flipping crazy.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:11

All you gotta do is spend it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:13

Well, we're not gonna do that.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:14

That's the hard part of this industry.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:16

'cause we had a huge, we had 50 staff.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:20

Between dishwashers and part-time waitresses, but because of, of people like YouTube that came in, we had full-time registered nurses that used to be waitresses in college that would give us two, you know, two nights a week because we love it here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:36

It's so fun.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:37

And we make money and we can send a kid to college.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:39

And, and, uh, and we also had three waiters, which was a far different thing.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:44

I don't know.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:45

In, in Appleton.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:46

Is there any place that has three waiters right now?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:23:50

Two of 'em skilled in, in San Francisco and la and so our waitstaff capacity was at a pretty high level, which, you know, I got a million stories, but you, you, you guys should be writing them down.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:03

Okay.

Allison Fleshman: 00:24:03

That's a good point.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:04

Because, you know, I, I tell 'em, and, uh.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:07

In my living, I, I have to go to San Francisco and work a show every three years in the automobile environmental business.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:15

The company I work with, uh, I'm not a, I'm a distributor, takes me to a, a dining place called Tadish Grill and a white linen place.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:23

Get a chapino there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:24

I'm working our pub.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:27

Friday night fish fry and with humility we had the best fish fry in the state and I'm still looking for one to match it and I could describe it for your readers, but they'll be, you know, you know.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:36

But so I wait on this table, 12 people and it's was small.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:39

We seat 54 in the dining room and they're loving it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:43

And I bust some tables and I ask 'em, you've all been here before.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:46

None of us have been here before.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:48

Where are you from?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:49

California.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:49

What are you doing here?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:50

A family reunion.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:51

Where are you from in California?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:52

San Francisco.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:53

I said it's one of my favorite cities.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:55

I work a show there every three years.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:24:56

This guy looks at me and said, so what do you know about San Francisco?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:00

I said, I know that Thaddius Grill is the oldest continuous business.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:03

Started in 1848 and I had a great gapino there three months ago.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:07

The whole table gets quiet.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:09

This guy looks at me and says, I'm the executive chef at Tads Grove.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:13

No.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:13

What are the odds?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:14

You've told me that story before?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:16

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:17

That's amazing.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:17

Isn't that amazing?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:17

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:18

And so he sent us back their white linen menu.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:20

We had the best time at T-Dubs and, oh my God, again.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:23

Well, you touch people and that's, that's what we do.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:25

And I think the email title, when I emailed you mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:28

Um, 'cause you gave me your card and I think serendipity was the, was the subject line.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:34

Oh, it's, I still read it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:35

It still, my god, it still makes my heart.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:36

Oh my God.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:25:36

I like, I, you know,

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:37

oh my God, we need to frame it and put it in the mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:39

In the tap room downstairs.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:41

Um, because again, like it, and it's that connection with people in the sharing of stories and we don't know why we share what stories we share.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:48

Although, Gary, you have way too many stories to share.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:50

I'm just gonna say that because, you know, in this one time, in this way, I've lived a lot of life.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:53

I did blah, blah, blah, blah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:55

Um, but I think that it's the meaningful moments.

Allison Fleshman: 00:25:58

And it's that meaningful moment that we wanna share with people.

Allison Fleshman: 00:26:01

'cause it means so much to us.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:02

Well, how mu how often are people, they just need a kind comment.

Allison Fleshman: 00:26:06

Yes.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:07

Or they just need somebody to encourage 'em when they're down and out because all I hear is not, they hear too much negative.

Allison Fleshman: 00:26:12

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:13

you know, when we were at the Alchemist.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:15

When it was in Waterbury before the hurricane hit it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:18

Mm. And as you know, they make Heady Topper

Bobby Fleshman: 00:26:21

The originator arguably of the entire hazy IPA trend.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:25

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:25

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:25

And Paul and I are sitting at the bar and we thought they made it there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:29

We're sure they did, but great atmosphere, having a Heady Topper and they say, what would you like to eat?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:35

What would you have?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:36

He said, recommend the porter chicken.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:39

They took four pound free range chickens, halved them.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:43

Somehow seared them in a casting cast iron skillet and their porter beer, porcini mushrooms and onions, put the cast iron into the oven till it was done and put the whole thing on polenta.

Allison Fleshman: 00:26:53

Wow.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:53

Oh my God.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:55

And we used to do that at T-Dubs once a month.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:26:57

And it, if we made 30 of 'em, they were gone in 30 minutes.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:01

But what you all, what we all learn by going to those places, you also learn how not to do it.

Allison Fleshman: 00:27:08

Oh, that's fair.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:09

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:09

And when, when, when we go out.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:12

Um, a plug as you've told you about our friend, uh, Heather Mullins at Nolton House Distillery.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:17

We were there Saturday night.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:19

Um, she's making, uh, you know, gin and vodka at the level of your beers.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:25

I mean, it's really, really good.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:27

But you learn, you watch the professionals in the wait staffing business.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:31

Just the little things they do that makes their life easier mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:35

Makes it easier for the kitchen, makes it easier for everybody involved.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:40

As an example, Heather and Luke at, they run a, on Sunday mornings, a uh, farmer's market at their distillery music, and they're packed.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:50

They learn very quickly as you guys have like Mile of Music, you're gonna get overrun.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:55

Oh, okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:55

Well, they got overrun.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:56

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:56

So we were there Saturday night, took my bride on a date.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:27:59

She sat down with us.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:00

I said, how you handling it?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:02

We looked at the menu because they have a, a kitchen and we cut out the three longest prep dishes.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:08

For that time we looked at our cocktails.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:10

'cause they're all muddled, you know, I mean, they're two time gold medal winner at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:16

We cut all those out.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:18

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:18

So she made a liqueur like you're, you're brewing to meet those needs.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:23

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:23

Well that's, that's how you help customers.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:26

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:27

Now she took the lead time down from two hours to 30 minutes.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:30

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:30

And, and you guys get it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:32

A lot of places don't get it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:28:34

Right.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:34

Well, and that's where it's, um, Bobby and I are, uh, this is kind of a weird side tangent, but you're used to it, all the listeners now.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:43

Um, but we have gone to so many Tom Petty and the heartbreaker shows.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:49

, And it was always interesting to hear the people behind us, 'cause they'd always say, oh, he didn't play this or he didn't play that.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:55

, And I'm not kidding.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:56

I've been to 34 shows.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:57

You went to 48, I think.

Allison Fleshman: 00:28:59

Our last count a lot.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:00

Yeah, a lot anyway.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:02

, But you can't, you can't play all the greatest hits at a concert and play the new stuff.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:06

And so as we're dealing with the Mile of Music menu, we are actually, so we have 18 taps in our tap room and we have decided, because it's more important to make sure that we can get the 600 people per hour through the door, that we are doubling up on the taps.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:21

And so tap one and two are both 5, 4, 7, tap three and four are both our State Street Light lager.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:27

Um, and so we're gonna reduce our menu significantly, but just because it's the experience, it's important and the experience is not the beer during Mile of Music, it's the music.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:37

And so we're trying to, like, we adjust the space to make sure that we can meet the desire of the customer.

Gary Arndt: 00:29:44

In the words of Mao Say Tongue, quantity has a quality all its own.

Gary Arndt: 00:29:48

Oh

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:48

my God.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:49

Right.

Gary Arndt: 00:29:49

I don't know if he actually said that, but I'll quote,

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:52

but it's hard and it's stressful too because then it's like who, you know, kill your darlings.

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:56

Like, which ones are we gonna kill today?

Gary Arndt: 00:29:58

No, but for something like that, you have to, I think you

Allison Fleshman: 00:29:59

have to.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:00

Yeah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:00

Um, it is a different, and this is where it's frustrating because people will, you know, come up to us, oh, make flesh mens, I come to you from my of music.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:06

Like, then you haven't been to the pub, you haven't act, I mean, you have been.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:09

But you haven't been, 'cause there's two if the listen two different flavors.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:12

But if the listen are,

Bobby Fleshman: 00:30:12

are, are tuning in on this 5 47 will have two lines.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:30:16

That's true.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:30:16

So that, that one's good.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:30:17

Yeah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:18

Three, actually four.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:19

And, and by

Bobby Fleshman: 00:30:19

listener I mean Joel

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:20

four.

Allison Fleshman: 00:30:21

It's all this will

Bobby Fleshman: 00:30:21

come out after.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:30:22

Okay.

David: 00:30:23

Yeah, that's true.

David: 00:30:24

That's good.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:24

I think where you're, you, you have to figure it out though.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:27

We, uh, when we were at T-Dubs, we had.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:30

Uh, really, really good fish fry, but part of it was roasted local red potatoes, small ones, and we had to keep up.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:38

So we would take sheet pans and rub 'em with olive oil, bake 'em till they were done, put 'em in the cooler in our, you guys, our kitchen.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:45

You could see it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:45

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:46

And it was very small.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:47

So then when that fish fry came in, you had already done small roasted reds.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:30:51

We would have 'em put 'em on a searing hot grill and clarified butter upside down, crisp up those potato edges and that, and on the plate and Oh my gosh.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:00

But if you tried to do that from scratch, you had no time.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:03

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:03

I mean, we had to get 'em out there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:04

So those are the little things you learn painfully sometimes.

Allison Fleshman: 00:31:08

Mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:31:09

Mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:31:09

And the little they add up, it really does.

Allison Fleshman: 00:31:12

People don't know why they're frustrated, but when they're at waiting that extra five minutes or two minutes, or even 30 seconds, especially when they're getting their beer on their own, like walking to the the taproom bar, it can make a huge difference.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:24

So, but I would, I would ask you guys this is that, you know, Paul and I talked on the way down here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:29

I told 'em I was coming.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:30

He was the only partner at T-Dubs, a really knowledgeable beer guy.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:33

Great human being into 200 places we were at.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:37

We remember four or five.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:39

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:40

When I send people here, they remember and they come back and I send them because they're, you know, they love everything.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:45

Love the liquid, but they love the people in the building.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:47

And shouldn't we remember more than that?

Allison Fleshman: 00:31:50

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:51

And it's crazy 'cause obviously we remember American Flatbread and the Alchemist and Bell's this hard to beat.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:31:57

I mean, uh, as you guys know, I was camped on the two hearted 1975 before they named it that beer.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:03

Right.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:03

But we really like Brewery Vivant.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:06

In, uh oh, same here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:07

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:08

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:08

And I had, uh, a Belgian IPA with oysters Rockefeller there one night.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:12

That seemed to work.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:13

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:13

And then we kind of, I'm not talking about Wisconsin Breweries I don't wanna talk about home, but, uh, you know, we, we really jumped quite a ways to Odells.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:22

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:22

Uh, we were there.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:23

That's one of my top odells.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:24

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:25

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:26

And they, that's the year they won their gold medal at the world, um, beer contest and then A-G-A-B-F for their IPA.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:33

We walked in the door.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:35

Happened to be the brewer was there and of course Paul lies to him and said, I'm Paul from Central Water as well.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:41

He's thinking Paul Graham, which Paul's not Paul Graham.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:43

Right, right.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:44

But he took us on a tour in the back and we asked him, really a good guy, and he said, do you have any, we asked him, do you have any of your double gold medal?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:52

IPA left?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:53

Nope.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:53

It's all gone.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:54

So he took us in the back.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:56

Took us to his R and D room.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:32:57

He had one oak barrel that he was experimenting with.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:00

Oh my God.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:01

He said, because Senator Waters there won the GABF for that year for one of 'em.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:05

And he said, do you have any with you?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:06

I said, I have two six packs in a cooler in my truck.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:10

He said, I really have one case of my gold medal award winning.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:14

We swapped him even up.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:15

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:16

So, oh, but how do you go to all those places and you've been to 'em?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:21

And I lived in Boulder,

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:22

so they didn't make enough, you know, they didn't make enough of him impression on you.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:25

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:26

No.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:26

Either from the, the quality of whatever it was.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:29

And then the 21st Amendment in San Francisco.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:31

Oh yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:31

Oh, yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:32

Two a.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:32

Yep.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:32

Soon to be on this podcast.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:34

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:34

He's on, he's in the next few weeks.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:36

Really?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:36

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:36

Oh yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:33:36

Keep kidding.

Allison Fleshman: 00:33:38

I should be listening.

Allison Fleshman: 00:33:39

I should be reading the emails from, from them.

Allison Fleshman: 00:33:40

We'll tell 'em

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:40

we were there and because they let us go behind the bar.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:43

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:43

With the wait staff and get our picture taken.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:45

And, and at that time they were having a lot of their beer brewed in Minnesota.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:48

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:48

Paul's home state.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:33:50

So that's to me, when Gary, you and I were here, it's the feel you get at a craft brewery that I used to get growing up in PO in taverns.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:01

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:01

That kind of drifted away and, and now I'm, this is where

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:05

we want to be.

David: 00:34:06

Mm-hmm.

Allison Fleshman: 00:34:06

I love this so much.

Allison Fleshman: 00:34:07

Mm-hmm.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:08

We need to get you to get Anello to respond to my emails.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:11

Okay.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:12

We are gonna get, we're gonna get Central waters on the show.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:14

Mm-hmm.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:15

And I don't know what it takes people he knows closer to him that don't use email.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:20

I'll get him going.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:20

Okay.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:21

You know, the industry's an interesting thing right now.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:24

Oh.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:24

I'm a busy guy too.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:24

I don't respond to all the emails.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:26

I get it.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:27

Yeah, totally.

Allison Fleshman: 00:34:28

You do respond to me though after multiple texts and then I push the Notify Now button.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:34

Mm-hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:35

The Unreasonable Hospitality book for anybody that's listening that's in the restaurant or brewery business should

Allison Fleshman: 00:34:41

Game Changer.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:41

Buy and read it game because it the, there's a lot of good lessons in there.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:45

Yeah,

Allison Fleshman: 00:34:46

absolutely.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:46

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:46

Eventually we're gonna put, so we have a new tapper manager, event manager who is fixated on hospitality.

Allison Fleshman: 00:34:53

She's the one that gave me the book and she's the one, her name's Emmy, that introduced us.

Allison Fleshman: 00:34:56

Yep.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:34:56

And we'll get her on the show too, because I think one of the hardest

Dennis Wandtke: 00:34:59

parts for you guys, which wasn't for us, as we talked about a few minutes ago, is if.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:06

To have your bartending staff if they get a break to just come out and work the room.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:10

Yeah, yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:11

You know what I mean?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:11

It's not comfortable for everybody all the time, but they'll get used to it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:15

And the one, uh, gift that I've been given is I'm pretty good with geography.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:20

So no matter where people work from, I could.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:23

I could talk to them.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:24

Sure.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:25

And my friends from Northern Illinois who think that they're hated by everybody in Wisconsin, you know, they would come in and I would say, where are you from over northeast Illinois?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:34

I said, well, around Chicago.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:35

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:36

Nap Naples.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:37

So I said, oh, you're way too spoiled.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:39

I worked there and there's a thousand great restaurants.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:42

You got it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:42

Way too good.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:35:43

And you could just see the tenseness, you know,

Gary Arndt: 00:35:46

I had to call them A fib.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:35:47

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:35:50

That's me.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:35:51

Yes.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:35:51

Yes.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:35:53

So, yeah, it's been a good run and, uh, thank you guys for being here.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:00

Well, thank you for doing what you did, because I have circled on my notes here that you have been our chief inspiration.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:06

Oh, thank you.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:07

Yep.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:07

I would say in the top whatever number of bullets, but yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:10

Thank you.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:11

You, you, you created space.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:13

We didn't know who you were.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:13

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:14

And it, it's a reason that this room exists that you're sitting in right now.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:17

Mm, for sure.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:18

The whole building like

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:19

it, yeah.

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:20

I mean, there have been, especially when this place was gutted and we were running outta money and we needed to open the doors, and it's like, what are we gonna do?

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:26

How are we gonna do this?

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:27

Like, tears in our eyes.

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:28

Remember the Irish guy?

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:29

Remember the Irish restaurant?

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:30

We can do it.

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:32

You became this like,

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:33

Remember that service?

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:34

Remember that feeling?

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:35

Nevermind

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:36

what ever money was spent on the place.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:36:38

It was that service that really made the impression.

Allison Fleshman: 00:36:40

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:40

Thank you.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:41

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:41

And you know,

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:42

if you go back, you can still pull up, uh, OpenTable reviews and it's, rose gave me a hug.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:48

Hmm.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:48

You know, Jeremiah had my drink ready for me.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:51

You know, it was just those little things.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:53

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:54

You know?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:55

What did, uh, Maya Angelou say?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:57

People don't remember what you say.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:36:59

They don't remember what they do, but they remember how you made them feel.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:02

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:02

Exactly.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:03

Exactly.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:04

You, you guys got it going on.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:05

I'm proud to be here.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:06

Proud to be part of it.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:07

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:08

You're part of the cult.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:09

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:09

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:10

It'll be poignant if the bell ring right now,

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:13

you're, you're, you're stuck with me now, but 'cause it's gonna be, the next few years are gonna be tough.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:18

You know it, it just keeps swinging and that's what we do.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:21

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:21

Yep.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:21

Remember I run a 44-year-old business out of the office in the back of my car garage.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:26

At home?

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:26

Yeah.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:27

In a parts department across the driveway.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:29

And they're coming tomorrow to video us.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:31

'cause they think we know something.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:32

I got 'em fooled.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:33

Okay.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:33

Fake it till you make it, no matter how long it may be.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:36

That's it.

Dennis Wandtke: 00:37:37

That's it.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:38

Alright, well that will conclude this episode of Respecting the Beer.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:41

The producer of Respecting the Beer is David Kalsow.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:43

Without David, this show would go like the dodo.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:46

Please remember to join the Facebook group to get updates and support the show over on Patreon where you can listen to the bits that don't make it onto the show and get access to specially brewed beers like the recently brewed Beed.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:37:56

Triple links to both of these can be found in the show notes, and until next time, please remember to respect the beer.

Share Episode

Shownotes

Transcripts

Follow

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube