St. Anthony: Angry Catfish, a bike-building coffee house in Mpls., nears end of expansion project

Josh Klauck, owner of Angry Catfish Bicycle Shop and Coffee Bar, a seemingly mellow guy, was sweating his south Minneapolis business expansion last week.

"I'd like to be in the middle of a river in Montana," said Klauck, who's also partner in a fly-fishing shop at the same corner of 28^th Avenue S. and E. 42^nd Street.

Klauck, who opened Angry Catfish in 2010, is now moving it a half-block east to the former Hudson Hardware building at 2900 E. 42^nd St. The $1 million purchase-and-refurbishment will double Angry Catfish's space to 8,800 square feet.

The requisite city construction permits took an unexpected three months. He had expected the project to be done in June. But now it's going to be a push for Blue Construction to finish the overhaul this month. Meanwhile, Klauck has been paying Gateway Bank on a related loan since February.

"Getting a city permit was a challenge. The delay has costs me years off my life," Klauck, 37, said wryly.

Steve Poor, Minneapolis' director of development services, said Blue Construction ran into issues with the city's 18-month-old electronic-permitting platform. It helped the city and contractors get through COVID-19 complications. However, Blue Construction didn't upload the application correctly, and didn't realize the permit wasn't approved.

"We're not blaming the contractor," Poor said. "There's not great transparency and sometimes the customer doesn't know that the permit hasn't been uploaded. We are working to improve the system. We issued the permit on July 19."

Owner Noah Day of Blue Construction didn't respond to a phone message.

That wasn't the only challenge for Klauck.

He decided to fold Northern Coffeeworks, a wholesale and retail business downtown on S. Washington Avenue near U.S. Bank Stadium. Northern Coffeeworks opened in late 2019 and got stalled by the downturn from the coronavirus outbreak. It will now be merged into the expanded coffee bar in the original Catfish building on 28^th Avenue.

At the moment, Klauk is in the middle of a lot of a moving parts. By 2027, he believes the coffee and bicycle businesses will be generating $10 million in annual revenue.

"The year 2020 was our best year ever for bikes," Klauck said. "This year is better so far."

Angry Catfish has gone from nothing to $5 million-plus in profitable revenue since 2010. His original building, which Klauck invested $500,000 to buy and improve in 2009-10, has paid off its debt. Klauck also bought that one from the now-retired owner of Hudson Hardware. Hudson moved to the larger location on E. 42^nd Street in 2010 that now will be home for Angry Catfish.

"I'll be in a much better position once the moves are done," Klauck said. "We have been growing at more than 10 percent annually. If I didn't believe that we're in a growth trajectory, I wouldn't be investing in twice as much space for this business."

Klauck moved to the Twin Cities from Brainerd in 2005. He started in sales and mechanic positions with Freewheel Bike.

He spent several years fixing and selling bikes for others before striking out on his own in 2009.

Angry Catfish is is a high-end shop and coffee bar that sells bikes, some of which it custom makes for customers, that range from $1,000 to $10,000. It caters to commuters, joy and serious riders, as well as those who take multi-day "bike-packing" expeditions.

It manufactures under the "Northern Frames" label and it's a big customer of Bloomington-based Quality Bicycle Parts, one of the biggest parts suppliers in America.

Mechanics make up to $25 an hour.

"I really like seeing the creativity and execution of our people, marketing and working with our customers," said Klauck, known to still fix flat tires during busy times.

This is the business Klauck dreamed about when he would ride a bike to fish in a Brainerd-area lake 25 years ago. He also noted, as a teenager, how the Brainerd and Crosby areas were benefiting from bike trails and the dollars they brought from bicycle tourists.

"I had a vision of concentrating on Minnesota-focused brands and a wide range of high-end bikes," he said.

"The biking industry is very competitive and Angry Catfish has successfully been in business since 2010 with a very loyal customer base by differentiating themselves from other shops [through] unique brands and custom builds," said Tom Delaney, a commercial banker at Gateway Bank, also a bicycling devotee.

Klauck approached the bank last fall about purchasing the building on 42nd Street E. "We agreed that this was a great opportunity for him," Delaney said.

Klauck is ready to move the half-block to the expanded Angry Catfish as soon as construction is done.

"I've got friends willing to help with the move," he said.