Taking the Leap | Jennifer Lester, Bleu Duck Kitchen and Taqueria Pato Azul #031

Hi everyone. I'm Karissa Dunham from Shining Light on Minnesota. We are actually at our Rochester, Minnesota location for Sun Control. We have a special guest with us today, Jennifer Lester. Welcome, Jennifer. Hi. Hi. Thank you for having me. Yes. So, for a lot of our viewers that don't know, why don't you tell our viewers a little bit about Bleu Duck and where that got started from? Um, Bleu Duck Kitchen started in 2016. Yeah. Um it was kind of a luck of the draw of how it started, but um Eric Cleven, who who is my business partner and the executive chef, um he him and I were on a donation event together. Um I did a I put a package together for Boys and Girls Club for the chair fair. Um a dinner package essentially for 40 people is what we designed. um in a space that had it was a Bleu Duck space. Yeah. Um that had no running water, no kitchen, still fully under construction. Oh boy. Um but we sold a package for 40 people, eight courses in this space as a little pop-up dinner. Um I was at the country club still at that point and Eric was still at four daughters at that point. Um, but pulling off a 40 course or eight course dinner for 40 people behind curtains on portable burners um was pretty magical to see how that all went down. Um I know I left that night thinking, "Oh my gosh, how did this even come into play? How did this happen? It turned out so amazing. We raised a ton of money on this event." Wow. Um about a week later, Eric had reached out and asked if um if we could meet for coffee. Um, and that kind of transpired into me stepping into a position with Bleu Duck. Um, as originally as to come on as an event coordinator. Um, I asked if I could kind of buy into that and maybe take a leap of something different. I never imagined having a restaurant in my lifetime. I've always been in food and beverage for the most part. Um, but it seemed fitting at the time and um, I was ready for a little shift and something to kind of revamp my taste for the service industry. So, that's kind of the history of the duck. Um, essentially, it was a pretty cool startup, but absolutely. What kind of cuisine or what kind of food can people find there when they're there? Um, I would say we are classic American with a flare. Um, we like doing classic dishes, but putting our flare on things. So, I always always say um we we present foods to you that make you wonder why textures and flavors marry well together. Um we want to push your taste buds. We want to put a hot dog on that um can be loaded with different things that you wouldn't imagine being on that. We want to have a great burger. Um but yet we want to all offer um you know fresh oysters and uh fresh catches of the day and different components like that. How did the oyster oysters roll into that? Oysters is kind of a cool story, too. Um, Eric was in Maine. Okay. Um, just kind of doing some research on oysters in general. Um, ended up stumbling into meet um, this gentleman named John who is from Maine Oyster Company. He and he's kind of that the name in Maine of he can get you oysters. Um, he can ship them around. He knows a lot of different farmers. Um they ended up talking how they could ship oysters to Minnesota because John at that point was only shipping oysters in state Maine. Um so Eric had called me and said, "Hey, what do you think about oyster or opening an oyster bar?" We always laugh about this because I joke around cuz I'm like, "Are you crazy? We live in Minnesota." Really? Yeah. Ocean. Exactly. So before he um came home from that trip, Oyster Coolers had arrived at the dock. I'm like, "Oh, we're actually doing this." Oh boy, here we go. So, um, that has been an absolute amazing journey. Um, because there's a lot of people in the community that really, really love oysters. We get people from that that drive all over. Amazing. To come down to have our oysters. So, we have an oyster uh menu seven or six days a week. Um, and there's usually like 8 to 12 different oysters that are shipped in. Nice. Um, mainly East Coast. um we gravitate a little bit more towards the east coast one because the relationship that we have with them um but the waters are more fresh. They're more consistent. So um so that's been a a pretty cool um just something different to bring I think to How did you get into the food and beverage industry? Have you always been in it or is it something you kind of stumbled across later on? I have um probably since the age of 12. I'm from a small town um near WAsha which is Kellogg Minnesota. Um it's about a town of 700 people and I worked at um our local cafe there um as a young girl at age 12, 13 washing dishes, busting tables and then moved into like cooking and serving and all that good jazz. Um it was ran by two women of um a mother and a daughter duo which was pretty inspiring. I didn't realize how inspiring it was until I branched out off on my own. On your own. Yeah. Um, and then from there moved to Rochester and kind of always had a full-time job. Um, working in nursing home settings, was in school, going to school for the nursing program. Always had a part-time gig of serving or bartending. So, um, which helps pay the bills. People don't realize the money that's out there with tips and everything. Yes. Um, so yeah, kind of married around with that for a few years and then fell into the country club. um and kind of worked myself into a position there to run their food and beverage and um made some really great relation relationships there. Um and it's cool to see uh different members and their families and watching their children grow up. So, for sure. What do you see for the food industry in Rochester? How's it growing and changing? It's growing a lot tremendously actually probably in the last two years. Um it's really taken a leap forward which is amazing to see. We really needed that. Yeah, we have a lot of people that are here for Mayo Clinic obviously. Yeah, for sure. Patients and doctors alone. Exactly. Um, so it's cool to see just on our block how that's grown significantly. I mean, we have Mel, that's just Kitty Corner from us. Our Palador as well. Latitude 44 is a new one. Mil Valley is a new one. There's a lot of new ones out here. Absolutely. Bop. I mean, it's it's non-stop. So, um, it's cool to see the different styles um, of foods and cuisines and Yeah. Um, much needed. You go all the way back from like the old days of cheap Charlies to now the Latitude 44s and everything else like everything in between. Yes, absolutely. Super exciting. So, how has it been being a mom in the industry working in a restaurants late hours, early mornings? People don't realize the grind and the the late nights. Yep. So, I have two boys. Uh my oldest is 27 and my youngest is 26. Um, for me being in the service industry, I think our my main meal with them was breakfast. Yeah. Um, so every day before go to school, I was like the grinder on breakfast and it was pancakes, it was crepes, it was omelets, it's scrambled eggs, it's cinnamon, like whatever. Um, almost to the point now I've burnt my kids out of breakfast. I prefer not to have breakfast. Um, but that was kind of our jam that they knew that I was in the service industry. Um, and I worked many long hours. Um, a lot of weekends, a lot of holidays. Um, so it's it's I feel like they had to take a sacrifice for me to be able to get to this point. Um, but I think they turned out pretty darn well. So, they can look back and say, "Hey, mom did it." You know, all those times and hours put in. A lot of times kids are resilient. People don't know that, but they are. I think being a boy mom, too, they don't you don't process all of that. They don't process all that until they see me open the duck and like, "Okay, this is this is my mom and I'm proud of her." So, Oh, good. Are they still local? Do they come into the duck a lot or do they They do. Um, my oldest lives in Rochester. My youngest lives up in uh Minneapolis now. Nice. So, good. Good. What do you foresee coming up in the future as far as you've gone from the country club to a couple other restaurants and now to the Duck. Do you see any menu changes or anything big coming up in the future? Um, for me personally, I'm not quite for sure where that will lead into. Um, I don't know if I have time for any more restaurants essentially. Um, I mean, I know it's like two in a food truck. The food truck is essentially I feel like a third restaurant. Um, and it's seasonal, but um, you know, that was a learning curve for us, but it's been really great. So, I don't know what will be my next steps in life, right? Um, we'll kind of see where it takes me, I guess. Um, yeah, kind of see what happens. So, Bleu Duck's been around for about 8 years. How how have the trials and tribulations in and around Rochester with the changes and things like that made the business eb and flow? I think for us, um, you know, when we first opened in 2016, I felt like we were we were linen tablecloth glassware, no TVs. Um, and I think that people have that immediate perception that it's high-end, it's not approachable. Yeah. Um, and that's we'd always joke around when we open up the duck that we didn't want to be called fine dining. We wanted more of the fun dining. Yep. Um, we wanted servers that were experienced and new food and new wine and new cocktails. Um, a kitchen staff that could, you know, come up with these crazy ideas on a menu and execute them and the plates look beautiful. um but yet be, you know, an awesome bar program and have great fun items on bar programs and a good happy hour. So, our first two years, um it was a kind of a struggle of trying to figure out like where do we need to be to make people know or let educate people that we are approachable. Um we're no more expensive than any other restaurant in Rochester. We probably are I'd like to think we're a little bit on the cheaper side, right? Um, but you're there to create an experience. So, um, we kind of put ourselves into like coming up with a really great bar program. We got into Thursdays downtown. Um, so we just started kind of moving and shaking. I think people started to really realize that, hey, we could we we are approachable. Yeah. Um, and then spent a lot of time too of just also processing like how do I get in front of the clinic patients and how do I collect that audience of people? So spending more time of branding ourselves into being in magazines in every hotel room. Y um making sure like the concier services and front desk people at Mayo Clinic know who we are um and kind of developing a relationship with that with Experience Rochester. Y um so that's kind of been um a learning curve there. But I feel like there hasn't been any major mishaps or I mean you take two people that can run back of the house and run front of the house and then open up a business. You know, we kind of fizzled the first couple years. We're like, "Okay, how we're going to learn this? We're going to learn quick." You want to know every part. So when you process things a little bit better, too, is that for it to be thrown in your face and um you have to face it. You have to learn it quickly and then you you just roll make a mistake and you never make that mistake again. Right. So that's the big part, right? So it's been it's been really good. And after a year or two, I feel like we kind of just went on this, you know, slide of like we didn't Bleu Duck comes from the name, you know, with Billy Madison. Yeah. Um and and the um with Adam Sandler and him wanting to take his dad's company over at, you know, when he was a grown adult, right? Um but Rochester hadn't seen a restaurant like this before, but it was everywhere in larger cities. Um so we stuck with it and I'm glad we did. Y um because now we have, you know, the 20s, the 30s, the 40s, you know, people do. We honestly do. Tell everybody a little bit. You have a lot of awesome musical venues and guests coming in and playing music and doing different things. What have been some of the more well some of the locals that you've had in, but do you get other people from other cities coming in too to want to play there and kind of make it make it? We do. Um, for us on music, just because we're such a small venue, um, I mean, for dining room wise, for everyday listening, the only day that we offer live music is on our our Saturday brunches from 10 to 1. But, um, our back event space, which can seat 75 people, about 100 110 on a cocktail style party, had different styles of, uh, music in there. So, a lot of local groups like we're hosting thaw coming up uh, March 22nd. So, that's been kind of a consistent thing for us, too. Um, so it's cool to see groups from I mean we're all over I think Milwaukee, Madison, up in the cities could be further than that which is something Rochester for a long time was missing out on. It's like there's nothing to do in Rochester. That's that was what everybody always said like even me growing up here it's like I'm going to go up to the cities cuz there's nothing to do. Yeah, thaw has been amazing. Um I've actually the last couple years been able to actually attend it. Awesome. Yeah. Which is a lot easier. I'm not I'm not here. I'm Yes. Um, so for music-wise, um, I think for us back in the event space, for the most part, it's been a lot more on the local side of things, which is awesome. Yep. What do you see? I mean, obviously you have you're close to Mayo Clinic. First, tell our guests where you're located and how how they can find you. So, we are downtown Rochester, um, 144 Street Southwest. Um, for people who don't, we don't have a large sign on our building. So, we are right next to the US Bank uh building downtown. Um, you'll see a duck on the side and also on the front door. Close to Mayo Civic Center, too, so when people come in and attend events there. Yep. Yep. So, you have kids, you've been busy with the kids. What's been your why through all of it? Has it been family more so or has it just been what's been your driving force? Yeah. Um, I think a little I feel like maybe trying to find myself full circle. Um, you know, I think as a young person being in the service industry and that's all, you know, um, you can get caught up into, um, you know, the late night hours, which, you know, we all have done that. Um, but there comes a time we grow out of that. Mhm. Um, and you have to pivot and you have to kind of put your yourself first and realize what are the things that you need in life and what are the things you don't need. Um, so that was a huge kind of turning point for me of um, how can I grow and learn from opening the duck um, and also finding myself and being a better person um, for me, for my family, for my husband. Um, so, um, yeah, I think now I lost a question, but yeah, that's all right. Have you had any major mentors along the way that have kind of helped and guided you into different roles and different positions that you've done? Um, yes, I think without realizing that they were mentors for me. you know, I brought up growing up um in a small town um and working at the Town of Country Cafe in Kellogg and having the women there um kind of teach me the ropes of um what's right and what's wrong um to start with. Um and kind of putting that lighting that fire and that passion for the service industry. Um I think mentors for me have been some close friends. I've kind of narrowed down my friend groups. Um, I have a lot of acquaintances. Um, but I think dialing in those people that are most important for me. Um, which are, you know, my boys, my husband, um, my parents, my sisters. Um, so, um, I kind of look at work stylewise, and there's a couple ladies in my life, um, that are service industry wise that we kind of bounce ideas off of, and um, yeah. So close friends are more so probably mentors for sure. Yeah. Someone that you can turn to and just say, "Hey, you know, this is what I'm seeing. What are you seeing? Or do you think this would work?" Yeah. I think there's a lot of there's a It's kind of uh amazing to see, especially in Rochester. Um the amount of women business owners. Yes. It's actually pretty incredible. Great. It is. Yeah. Um, and I feel like when we're together in small spaces, kind of that energy just feeds off one another and um, you know, ideas start to, you know, come to life more so and collaborating comes to life. Um, so yeah. Awesome. So you have obviously you've talked about the collaborating with other business owners, other female business owners. How have you found those other business owners just by being out in in front of people or more so just from the restaurant or both? Um, I'd say a little bit of both. Um, being in the service industry for sure. I feel like when I open up a duck I and being downtown, um, opened a lot more doors for me on that level. I think when you're at the country club, it's a private club, you know, same people, the same way to work every single day, the same way back home. Kind of gets monotonous. It does. Um, but also those relationships there, too, have been incredible. So, I feel like it's a it's a combination of both. Um, I think being out going to other other people's restaurants and we're a little bit more on the homebody side. Yep. We're not out on the industry like you're out working. So, it's like when I have a day off, do I want to actually go do this? Right. Yep. But when I do, I'm like, okay, I'm really glad I did this because um to see what some of these other people do is pretty inspiring. So you guys have been doing some volunteering for different like United Way, different things like that. Tell everybody about giving back and um that's huge for us. Um it kind of we kind of choose um a different larger nonprofit for the most part. Um that kind of stick with us. So our our first and foremost was Boys and Girls Club. Um we were very heavily involved with Boys and Girls Club. Um, and we still are with them. I've now kind of shifted focus to channel one. Um, and I I feel like there's not enough knowledge and verbiage out there for people um who realize I don't think enough people realize that how many people in our community face in in um food insecurities. So um giving back to families and and children is kind of one of my biggest things. Mhm. Um, so I'm very involved with Channel One. Um, we do a lot of donating to different, you know, school systems and stuff like that. So, we're a little bit all over the place. It's kind of hard to say no. Well, right. And it's But you don't want to either. I mean, when you know, and you can see the difference that it's actually making in your own community or the communities around you, that's that's a big thing. Y What has been when you've gone out and about, have you had a lot of different tastes that you want to bring back to Duck and be like, "Hey, this is amazing. I've got to try this on my own way, different things like that or that's inspired you in the food industry. Um, yes. I would say my business partner Eric is um he travels a lot. Okay. So, I feel like he's kind of the more of the mastermind when it comes to we should try this, we should try that. Um, he's very he wants to push the envelope. Um, which is really great. Um, for me personally, you know, I kind of look at um, you know, I'm looking like I went to Eugene, Oregon um, last year, right? And went to this amazing food truck and they had this um, butter chicken crunch wrap. Yeah. And I'm texting Eric and I'm texting Zach who ran our truck. I'm like, "Dude, we need this French wrap. Let's find that was created." So, I think Yeah, I mean, travel does play a huge part into um, bringing back ideas. um such as oysters and those sorts of things. So, um I personally can't think of anything more that I've thought about. That's kind of like Eric's wheelhouse. That's his wheelhouse. What would be your favorite meal if you could pick one from appetizer to entree to dessert? Oh boy. Good question, right? Depends on the real good question. Um many changes a lot. So I would say [Applause] um h well one I do it's a guilty pleasure. I don't have it too often but our Bleu Duck burger is pretty darn good. Um there's nothing too crazy about it. It's just a good burger done right. Yep. Um which is hard to find. It is. Yes. It really honestly is. Um, I gravitate a little bit also to like fresh fishes and those type of things. So, I feel like our chef's ketchup that we have on the menu. Um, and those different types of components that come with that. Um, I gravitate more towards that. Love oysters. I love muscles. Um, yeah, probably more seafood. A huge salad buff. Like a good soup like whenever we have a lobster biscan or um our clam chowder right now is really amazing. dessert. I'll have to probably throw a little ode out to our crepe cake. We have a crepe cake. Um I think we're the only people in Rochester that have it. Um started out as a 25 layer crepe cake. Oh boy. Um the pastry chef that we have, I was like, I can't get the lid on the container. Oh yeah. You need to take a few layers out. Um so now it's 16 layers. Um we change our crepe cake flavor usually every four to five weeks, somewhere in that range. So it's a mixed berry crepe cake right now. Um, just something fun, a little bit different. Um, but I'm kind of a sucker for that. And I'm sucker for classic creme brulee, too. So, yes, creme brulee is one of my favorites. That cheesecake maybe a little bit, but usually the creme brulee. That's my go dessert. Yeah. Like I I'm usually if I have somebody that can eat, you know, creme brule's got to be right up every dessert. So, I've been talking to a lot of different people in the industry and they're starting to hear that there's been a shift. this the way people eat meals, trying to have the desserts first and the salads last because of the way they digest. Have you seen or noticed any of that in and around Rochester? I have not I have not heard that. Yeah. So they from what I've been told quote quote um the salad digests your food the easiest. So instead of having the salads first, people are having the desserts first or the main meal with the desserts then getting the salads at the end. So when they go home, they're not just tired and ready for the day. But that would be interesting to see if that comes full fruition around here. Um, well, I'm going to try that. I know. I want the dessert first. Who doesn't, right? Like, I'm going to go in. I'm going to eat this and not eat anything else. Maybe one of each, too. So, signature cocktails and things like that. What have been some of your bigger hits around? And what what um we have a great bar program. Um, so I think Corbin is our our bar manager. Does a great job. Um, yeah, it's a good I don't drink cocktails. Right. So now I'm like, what are those cocktails? Um, Iron Voyage has been one. Um, we're kind of all over the board. I feel like I think vodka has taken its phase out. Jin is the new vodka. Um, but we do a lot with uh gin, tequilas, mezcow. Yeah. Um, bourbons. We have a great oldfashioned um love. Our um wine program is growing incredibly um which is really great. very fortunate to have uh I think Darren's maybe a level two. Nice. I'm sure. But he's kind of taken over the wine list for me as well. Um done great strides with that. A lot of great wine functions and stuff like that. So um yeah, the cocktail I mean we're we're a smaller bar too, so you know on our list we have we usually run with smaller selection, a little bit smaller of a selection, but we have a lot of the classic cocktails on too like a classic gin gimlet. Um, you know, I always tell people too that, you know, cocktails nowadays, especially in a restaurant like ours, are are spirit forward. Yes. Um, so if you're not familiar with that, you kind of have to teach people. Um, you're not just coming in and slamming a cocktail or two and walking out the door. Yep. So, so company culture, I mean, you guys have a great business going. How important is it for your staff to carry on your belief system and everything like that instead of just coming in to get another job? It's key. Yeah. um without the staff that we have, we wouldn't be here. Um and I'm a huge um thank very very thankful for the staff that we have. If I'm the person that before I leave work, I'm thanking every staff that like literally I I do this. Thank you for working. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If I can't find somebody, I'm I'm leaving them a note. Yep. Um I feel like we you kind of have to we get a lot of applications. Um, we don't see a ton of staff turn, right? Which is great, which tells you that it's a good I never really processed that until I've heard this a couple years ago, like, well, that's because of you. I'm like, I don't think about it that way. But, um, yeah, I think it's a very fun atmosphere for the most part. Um, you know, it's not too serious, but serious enough. Um, I think like attention to detail and stuff like that are things that stick out in my mind. Um, and we have I feel like we have seasoned staff, you know, um, that we need at an establishment like ours. So, I want the people that have been, you know, around this industry long enough to be able to talk about food and around your restaurant, too, so they know the story behind it and everybody that works there and those, right? And with the menu changing too, it's kind of one of those things that you can kind of jump on if you've been off a couple days and the menu changes come in, you're like, "Oh, okay. I've got this. I got that. That's no problem." So, let's go. Exactly. Um, so the ability to, you know, upsell our, you know, our food, our drinks, our wines. Um, and then our kitchen staff, too, which has been absolutely incredible. We have a I would put our kitchen team up to any restaurant in Rochester. Amazing. They the same thing. Not a ton of staff turn around there either, but that's all family back there. And I feel like in all my years of being in this industry, it's always been very one-sided of um your back of the house and your front of the house. Sometimes they don't see eye to eye. Um there's a lot of hot heads in back of the house. There can be a lot of hot heads in front of the house, but this is actual team that is very cohesive. They're friends. They hang out outside of work. Um, everybody for the most part gets along and plays their part and it's and it's it makes your day easy um when you don't have all those different hurdles and challenges to go through and a little bit less on the drama side. So, makes it all flow together a little bit easier too. Yes. Yes. So, you have obviously all that. Tell the viewers a little bit about what the food truck life is like and how how that's been. Um, food truck was a co baby. Yeah. It was one of those things like what could we do to be able to, you know, secure events again and and um I had a buddy in Winona that had a food truck and I had reached out to him and he was like, "Yeah, I'll sell it." Oh, perfect. So, literally Eric and I went down um one day and looked at the truck and we're like, "Okay, cool." The next day we came down with a check and um Eric's like, "Are you driving this truck?" And I was like, "Oh, no. No, not me. I don't have any idea. Um, so that was a very large learning curve. Um, of just learning how to run it. I mean, it's like one of those things like a restaurant. Oh, we're at Little Thessal. We run out of propane like our first day or two that we had the truck up and running. Like, oh yeah, we need to fill propane. That's how this runs. Yep. Who knew? Who would have thought about it? Still one of those daily things. one of the little mistakes I talked about like you make the mistake propane ever again. We're good. So, it's been um really awesome to essentially put a restaurant on wheels. Yes. Um and we've ran it through the winter before, like when during co we ran it through winter. Um which was a little crazy. It worked. Um but each year it gets a little bit easier and um you can simplify things. Um you're processes get place. Exactly. You're more on top of things. Um but it's always, you know, the trials and tribulations of, you know, um getting to an event and how far is that event, you know, and then having to turn people down. We get a lot of people from the cities for some reason. I feel like the network food trucks up in the like why are they reaching out to us cuz they're used to seeing that and they're not used to seeing it here. Yeah. Yep. And those we have to kind of I have to think about distance and it's a big truck. It is. Y um when you see him on the road going down 52, it's like that's a gas guzzler. What are you doing? It really is. Um so yeah, it's been it's been interesting. It's been very fun. Um we've had it for this is the fifth year now. Nice. So um yeah, we'll see what happens. What kind of events or where have you gone with it? What have been some of the fun things? Well, we do a lot of weddings, a lot of graduation parties, um a lot of breweries, so we're all over. Um, we do I feel like our most fun like festival that we've done is Boats and Bluegrass in Winona. We're down there for 4 and 1/2 days. The truck is just stationary. Um, it stays there and then people travel back and forth and like replenish the truck. Yep. I'm not going to drive the truck back and fill it up and go back. You can't get in. Yeah. Once you're in, you're in until the festival's over. So, um, we've done a couple things on Lacrosse just with Arts Fire. A lot of local stuff. Yeah. I mean, we've been I want to say in every community around a surrounding area, small towns around here. Yeah. So, it's it's fun walking into like smaller breweries um you know, like Silven Brewery or anywhere in Lansboro, those types of things um in the summers, too, because those places are busy, right? Um and it's something new. So, um yeah, a lot of Mayo events, um a lot of things for nonprofits as well. We're all over the board with that. Well, and I think that people once they start to realize, hey, this is something that can be moved and can be going places, it starts to get a little bit easier for them to understand the concept of like, hey, I could go to a golf tournament here or I could bring a food truck indoors for a big event civic center. I mean, you start seeing the flexibility of that and where all that can go, but it's also a lot of wear and tear. Yep. And you can see a lot of I mean, it's a lot of food trucks in Rochester right now. So, yeah, it's grown a lot. What all do you guys do or how long have you been down on Thursdays and first? We've been down there since probably 2018. It's probably I think we were definitely a year in I think it was our second year we started at Thursdays. Nice. Um we've introduced the lobster roll down there. Wonderful. Um and each year especially now the lobster prices are going up. So it's kind of like so are eggs. Do we take it away? Exactly. Do we take it away? Do we not? Do we just increase the price and roll with it and see what happens? So, um I don't know what will happen this year if we can make it happen. It's pretty incredible the price of lobster is right now. So, um lobster rolls. Um we've been we've done craft dogs before. We do cold pat thai salads. Um last year we did phillies. Um different styles of phillies. Nice. Um and that doesn't all have to be just a beef phy. It can be chicken philly. Well, that's what people don't understand all the variations that you can do too. Yeah. Yeah. So, we're a little bit all over the board with with that. We always offer our blue deck old fashioned down there and um some type of a seasonal cocktail or two and then some wines, um kombucha, those types of things. But, do you guys ever do anything with Rochester Fest or do you kind of because you're close enough to it that you have the main restaurant there, too. Yep. Yep. We don't. We see a lot of foot traffic, I think, from from Rochester Fest, but um don't normally do anything with that because Thursdays is usually going on during Rochester Fest. I think they shut Well, one year they were shut down. Yeah, they did. Not two years ago, I think they did. Yep. So, yeah, not a whole lot with that. What do you see with the economy in Rochester? Obviously, it's growing and changing and getting pushed out further and further with Mayo Clinic going all the way up to Canon Falls and all the way out and about. Do you see more of the food truck going out and about or more business coming into duck internally? [Music] I would say a combination of both. I do feel like um you know looking at like Oruronokco. Yeah. Um ZRO or ZROA. Pine Island. Um Pine Island like we've been there doing and that's probably we just I never really processed that. Yeah. I would say probably in the last couple years. That's probably more so of that. Yeah. Um cuz it definitely wasn't there the first couple years we had the truck. Um I feel like we have a lot of Zambroa patrons that frequent the duck. Yeah. Um we know a lot of the business owners on on Main Street. I love Zro. Yep. I really honestly do. Yeah. Um I always tell my husband I'm like I can move to Zro. We're both small lives there. I know he's the one that put us in touch. So hey Um, yes. So, um, yeah, that's I I've never actually really processed that, but I'd say probably the last couple years. So, obviously it sounds like you're going to be moving to some road in the future. I know. I mean, there you never Yeah. Right. But, I mean, I I feel like even in my days, like getting out of the hustle and bustle of the city and getting to have some land and some acreage is kind of what everybody wants. That's or well, that's what I want anyway. just kind of having your land and letting your kids. Yeah, we've never thought about that and that now it's been a little bit of a topic of conversation I feel like in the just the last couple weeks which is funny that um and Todd's a a huge contributor to um but we know we know people in Zabro too. Zach and or Jack and I are we golf in Zabro. That's our course. Got it. Um so we know a lot of the business owners there. Yep. Um it's Jack's hometown. Yeah. So, um, we kind of I I kind of teetered, um, you know, opening a restaurant a couple years ago in Zroa. Um, that kind full circle for him, too. Right. Right. Um, that fizzled and then we decided to open one up in Lacrosse instead. So, um, I don't know. We'll we'll see what happens. How is the lacrosse business going? I've been there a couple times. It's pretty amazing. Lacrosse is an interesting town. It's growing out on Alaska home and further out. Yes. Um, it's got a really cool vibe. It's a different vibe than what Rochester is. I feel like they're downtown. Um, it's very vibrant. They really honestly do. Um, but it's it's a it's night. It's I don't mind the drive at all. I mean, I feel like I would drive I90 all day before 52 except in the winter. Yep. Um, so you get a four mile hill and it's like Exactly. Yep. And still do it. Um, you know, I I've I with growing up and being from Chicago area, our stomping grounds were Rona and Lacrosse. So, it's kind of weird that I've lived in Rochester for so long and up until we opened Pua Zul. Yeah. Um, you know, I wasn't frequently in Lacrosse hardly ever. So, now I'm down there a couple days a week, which is great, but it's a cool vibe. Um, it's located on Fourth Street just like the duck is, which is weird. I don't think we didn't realize that until I started filling out like licensing and I was like wait what am I writing? Um so it's cool. It's like the same size as the duck other than you know the additional size for our um event space the duck but um cool vibe but it's you know obviously it's a little bit cheaper there too. Um so um we were a little bit limited on this space with the kitchen that was already built in. Yes. Um, it's an electric kitchen, so you're you're a little bit limited on what you can do. Um, we chose the Takaria, which has been really awesome. Um, again, I feel like that's kind of at that hump, too, of where the duck was where it takes a year or two to kind of get established. Get established. People start figuring out who you are. Um, and then kind of hit the ball running. So, I feel like we're taking this nice little shift. Yep. um into people really becoming regulars and finding out who who we are and spreading the word. I feel like in Lacrosse, because my dad's from Lacrosse, I've spent a tons of time there, obviously went to school in Winona, too, so I'm kind of in your your neck of the woods. But Lacrosse has always been a place that's liked different types of food, not just the American foods. They've liked the the Mexican foods, they've liked the Chinese foods, they've liked a lot of different varieties. So having that open and a different little notch down where it's located and a little more flare with all the colleges and there it really brings a nice Yeah, it's very vibrant. It's very um again I I feel like when you start creating spaces and their feel um each time you do it, it gets a little better. But um yeah, it's got Yeah, I love love the word flare. Yes. So good vibe. Yep. And it's a good town. It's got the river feel to it. So you have the river and you have mail clinic and now's umbrella. Yeah, one out there. Oh boy, look what I'm starting. Coming soon Golf Club's going to have their own little food truck. We've been there. There you go. Oh boy. So what is it like obviously having those restaurants and now having Jack have a bottle business? That's exciting. We are a busy couple. Yeah. Um we're usually home uh Sunday, Mondays. Um most Sunday, Mondays for the most part, but Tuesday through Saturday is kind of our grind. Um Jack is home a little bit more in the evening, more so than what I am, but um yeah, it's it's really good. Um Jack is a I mean, uh he's just a wealth of knowledge when it comes to craft beer and he's very personable and he'll talk your ear off. So, and he's going to be on our podcast in the next week, so they'll be ready for it. Yes. Um, yeah, he'll learn a ton from Jack. So, he's always a busy being wanting to grow as much as he can and um expand his knowledge as well. So, and he's got some really great people behind him and some good mentors for him, too. So, um yeah, he's got a good crew. How hard is it for when you guys are both at home to not talk about work? Um, I feel like we kind of both we talk about work here and there, but it's not I think when we get home, we both are just we're talked out. We're talkers. Yeah. Um, he's a lot more so of a talker than I am. But when it comes like to shut off mode, it's kind of like, okay, I'm good. We're just going to sit here in the zone. Are you going to Fortnite tonight? Because I want a Netflix. Yep. Absolutely. I need to watch my show. Yep. Um, yeah. I mean, work is work is work and we do talk about it, but I I feel like we do a pretty good job about, you know, leaving that at the door for the most part, especially the stresses that we have with with whatever may be going on. But, um, I think we do a pretty decent job of talking about it when we need to talk about it and drop. It's important you want to bring it up, it's great. If not, it is what it is. Y I think a lot of times people don't realize that when you're with someone in a relationship and you both work in the same business or the same field, it's inevitable. you're going to talk about it, but also understanding those boundaries like, okay, it's it's not work time. Yeah. So, what do you think as far as seafood goes in Rochester? And you have the Mexican in Lacrosse. Is the food truck strictly duck or is it have a little bit of other options to it other than what's on the menu at the Duck? Um, no, it's a full different menu. Is it? Okay. Yeah. Um, so we we do have our Bleu Duck burger on there. Um, we do tacos usually of some sort. Um, but that's kind of our gluten-free option, too. So, we use corn tortillas. We can always turn that into a vegetarian option. Um, we did a lot with like craft grilled cheeses. Um, obviously hot dogs. We can customize things too um for groups just depending on, you know, what exactly are they looking for? Um, is it in, you know, reason to to bring it in? Can we use it all? Um, so we're we're very we're very smart on how we play those cards. Um, because some of those things we will utilize at the deck. Yep. Um, but yeah, that's kind of the glory behind it too is that we can shift it very quickly and then whatever we have left of something, we can always turn it into something at the duck and turn into quick app or a starter or absolutely um anything on the bar menu that could be quick and run it out and switch over. So, so with the world changing healthwise and having all the allergies and everything like that, how adaptable are you guys to change and how quick are you to be able to produce different menu items based on what's coming in the future? Um, I think we do a Yeah, we're very smart when it comes to that. Um, we can adapt quick. We can pivot very quickly. Yep. Um, again, if it's something's not working and we get rid of it, we start fresh. Um that's the glory of not being married to any certain thing, right? Um so like a seafood allergy just cleaning and cooking on a different total different and we get that all the time. It's garlic, it's seafood. We're home a male clinic right now. Absolutely. So um we see a lot of those allergies that we have menus kind of ready to go um of the classic, you know, onion, gluten-free, those types of things, dairyf free. Um, I feel like we have an allergen menu too or a pamphlet that lists all of our items that are on the menu. What are all the components? Yes. Is it gluten-free? And then it lists all the big thing being by mail clinic for sure. Like all the patients coming in with all the different things going on and there's enough stresses in the world. They just want to know that they're going to be able to get a nice clean meal the way they need to have it. Yeah. But we always try to make sure people know too that just because the menu is this online y you know if you say to your server I am XYZ for allergies and um you know we will usually if we don't if we can't find a whole lot of things that are on the menu to help like will you allow us to create you a three course dinner or let can we create you a salad or a starter and an entree of whatever we want to do if that's a little bit more on the vegetarian side cuz not a lot of our menu is geared towards is vegetarian, but we can make those items. Outstanding. And we can take components of this dish and that dish and marry those together and make a pretty cool dish. So, that usually works out pretty darn well. Um, I wish I could talk about that more. So, um, I should probably think about that like branding a little bit further, but how you can get to do more more people just asking. Absolutely. Um, and that's got to be within reason, too. But um I always think that I never want to tell anybody no. Um or if it's let's figure it out. Say yes no and figure it out later. Absolutely. I mean we're lucky to have the co-op right behind us too. Yeah. Um that there's been times I' been like okay I'm running over really quick. Right. I'll be there. Give me two minutes. Yes. Just for um whatever may be the case. So um yeah that works out pretty well. We're we're pretty good at that. Nice. So, with obviously all of that going on, you then you get into the economy and the easiness of Door Dash and all the fast food and the delivery items and getting things at their fingertips at home. Have you guys seen a shift in that or how? Not really. No. Um, the duck isn't really designed to be We're not on Door Dash delivery platforms. Um, we could be now. I feel like we learned a lot during co um that we could be a takeout restaurant, right? Um, we do a lot of Door Dash for PTO as well. Got it. Um, that's a lot of college kids door dashing, but for Rochester and us, I don't see a huge shift of, you know, um, you know, our our numbers going down by any means of people just taking delivery or anything like that. So, um, it's been pretty darn good. So, you've got a little niche here. Obviously, everybody's always been at work because it's home of mail clinic, everything like that. or in the cities, other places, other areas, you have people still working remote and still working from home and just now getting back to the office. So, it's it's nice that you have that bread and butter to kind of sit back on and always be able to change and incorporate into the menu and things like that. So, fun. Absolutely. Well, I suppose we appreciate having you on today, but one more time, how can people find your lacrosse location first? Yep. Uh lacrosse location is Takaria Puul. Yeah. Um located at 1274 Street South Lacrosse. For those of you know who know Lacrosse, it's right across the street from Bodega. Y um Roster location, which is Bleu Duck Kitchen. Um is 144th Street Southwest and located right next to US Bank downtown Rochester. Perfect. Well, we appreciate having you on today, Jennifer. We look forward to letting all our viewers see this and then sharing it in our newsletter. Awesome. Thank you so much.