This small Minnesota city is getting a food hall, tap wall

ST. JOSEPH, MINN. – Craig and BriAnne Hern posted a QR code on their newly bought property with a sign, “Your ideas coming soon.”

Three months and hundreds of responses later (so many that BriAnne Hern eventually silenced the notifications on her phone) they had a plan: a food hall — a growing concept in culinary circles across the U.S.

“We thought the smart, sane decision would be get community buy-in on what we were doing,” said BriAnne Hern, 46, a former teacher and assistant principal in the St. Cloud school district.

The couple broke ground in August on the lot, a long-dilapidated gas station at the west edge of a business district dotted with boutique stores and coffee shops. The House Food and Tap should open in spring as a collaborative space with a few restaurateurs, who have already been selected, leaving the space fully leased.

The building will include almost 6,000 square feet, about half of which will be for seating in a shared cafeteria-style dining room. The initial food and drink offerings will include Joetown Smashburger, 98 Hawaiian Grille, Birdie’s Pizza and Garden Bar, and Eminent Coffee Roasters. The Herns also will be responsible for operating a cooler wall that will have 30 different alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages on tap.

“As residents, we feel a sense of stewardship about this project,” said BriAnne Hern, noting their home is about 2 miles away. “We want it to fill a need and empower talent. Nothing makes me happier than to have a place where people enjoy each other’s company. Our goal is to create that, step back and let it go.”

Ten years ago, there were about 50 food halls in the U.S. Last year, there were more than 340, with another 145 in development. Perhaps the most prominent in Minnesota is the Market at Malcolm Yards in Minneapolis, which features nine food concepts, a bar and self-pour tap wall. The Herns visited and chose to pattern their smaller food hall on what they saw. The initial lineup has the House at capacity for at least three years before other entrepreneurs could be considered.

Eminent Coffee Roasters was among the respondents to the QR code, and the Herns chose the other chefs based on community referrals, mutual contacts and with an effort to provide complimentary cuisine — for the space and existing offerings in St. Joseph.

“We want the spotlight to be on the chefs and the community,” said Craig Hern, 44, who also works in sales for C.H. Robinson. “People who want to open restaurants usually do so for their love of the art of preparing food, not because they enjoy the business aspect. We want this to be an incubator for their concepts.”

The Herns estimate the cost of opening a single-concept restaurant at about $1 million. The House Food and Tap will allow its partners to expose their fare to the community at a fraction of that cost. Each of the initial partners have signed three-year leases. Staffing for the point of sale and to manage the cafeteria will be collective to the House, leaving each entrepreneur to dedicate employee overhead to producing their best foods.

“We want to create a synergy where we’re better together,” Craig Hern said. “We’re taking the risk with the construction, but we believe in these people. And when they do better, we’ll do better.”

Joetown Smashburger will be operated by Mateo Mackbee and Erin Lucas, co-owners of Krewe, a restaurant a couple of blocks east that specializes in Cajun and Creole dishes.

98 Hawaiian Grille will have a Vikings flavor under owner Esera Tuaolo, who played most of his nine-year career as a defensive lineman in Minnesota. He previously was involved with a similar restaurant in Massachusetts. (Mackbee’s father, Earsell, coincidentally was a former Minnesota Vikings defensive back.)

Birdie’s Pizza and Garden Bar is the creation of central Minnesota natives Tyler Thieschafer and Michael Gauthier. They will offer brick-oven-style pizza that can be cooked in minutes in a rotating oven that can reach 700 degrees.

And Eminent Coffee Roasters was founded by Josh Kaeter, a former Marine from Sartell. His coffees also are available from several retailers in the area, including the Minnesota Street Market, just a couple of blocks from the House.

One of the challenges for the Herns was finding enough parking. Earlier this year, they entered a five-year lease with the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict on a lot across the street from their property that will provide up to 38 spaces for vehicles.

“The biggest problem we have is finding space for entrepreneurs,” said Nate Keller, St. Joseph’s community development director. “This project is in an area we’ve identified as a commercial growth area and we think it can be the west end anchor of downtown. It’s spot-on in that it diversifies some food options, which are limited in our community, and provides a way for these chefs to try out the market and, hopefully, they’ll have the kind of success where some day they’ll be thinking about moving into their own space somewhere else in town.”

St. Cloud-based HMA Architects and Sauk Rapids-based BCI contractors are leading the construction. The Herns have benefitted from coaching support from the Greater St. Cloud Development Corp., but their idea of success doesn’t necessarily mean the House will make them wealthy.

“We have no belief that we’re going to become millionaires,” laughed BriAnne Hern, a 2000 graduate of the College of St. Benedict. “If it can pay the bills and maybe help some of our kids through college we’ll be very excited.”

The Herns have a blended family of four children, two at nearby St. John’s University and two who go to Rocori High School.

“They’ve already given us plenty of insight and they may want to work there, too,” said Craig Hern, who came to the area in 2003 after a two-year stint as a professional baseball player with the Seattle Mariners. “This is a huge risk for us, but I keep saying, ‘It’s just money.’ We want to do it the right way.”