From the Mar/Apr 2006 issue of
Wisconsin Restaurateur Magazine

A self-made woman
2006 Restaurateur of the Year Linda Wendt runs her business with a firm, well-manicured hand

by Sonya Bice

Linda Wendt likes to tell the story of the first time she ever set foot in a bar, which was when her boyfriend Mike took her into his parents’ bar on a busy night to introduce her to them. She remembers his mother handing her an order and saying, “Do you know how to make this?” Linda went to the kitchen, prepared the order, and served it to the customer without batting an eye, without letting on that she’d never done such a thing in her life. “I didn’t want to say that I didn’t know how,” she admits.

That introduction turned out to be an introduction to a whole career, which started immediately with her waitressing there. At the time she would probably have found it hard to believe that she would someday own and run the restaurant singlehandedly, that forty employees would look to her as the boss, and that as a successful businesswoman she would travel to Washington to discuss policy and legislation with congressmen and senators. That introduction to the restaurant business led to a success story that was recognized at the WRA Awards Dinner when Wendt was honored as the 2006 Restaurateur of the Year.

The identity of the recipient is, by tradition, a closely guarded secret. When the 2005 ROY, Paul Cunningham, made the announcement at the end of the awards dinner, hundreds of fellow restaurateurs applauded as she made her way to the stage from her table, where she had been seated with her date, Jeff Wolff, and members of the WRA Lake to Lake Chapter, for an emotional acceptance speech.

A strong work ethic
Wendt’s parents came to North Fond du Lac from St. Paul, Minnesota, shortly after she was born. She credits her father, who worked for the railroad, for impressing on her the value of a strong work ethic. It was a lesson she took to heart. Wendt routinely puts in a long work week, capped by an 18-hour day every Friday.

Like most days, her Friday starts before 7 a.m., when she heads into her home office to check email. The phone starts ringing early. She is at the restaurant, just a mile from her house, by 9:30 a.m. and stays until 2 p.m. Then it’s home to change into dressier clothes for the highlight of the week: a fish fry crowd that can swell to 1,000 on summer weekends. She’ll work from 4 p.m. until well past midnight greeting regulars and serving up battered perch and then closing for the night.

The hours have gotten a bit longer since she took sole ownership of the restaurant 13 years ago, but with rare exceptions, Wendt’s Friday nights have been spent at the restaurant since she started waitressing there at the age of 16.

Employee Kathy Morris, who has worked for Wendt for 20 years, describes her as “very hands on” in her management style. “She is almost always there. And when she does leave the restaurant, she is always checking in on everything. I always kid her that I don’t see how she does it,” Morris says. “I know the restaurant is on her mind 24 hours a day.”

Wendt very occasionally takes three or four days off early in the week — she’ll be going to Vegas in May with a group of 47 that includes family members, employees, and customers—but she says she has never had a two-week vacation in her life. She said she’s not even sure she would want one: “I look forward to coming to work.”

Joan Cunningham, of Schreiner’s Restaurant in nearby Fond du Lac, says Wendt is a natural in the hospitality business: “She just genuinely enjoys people and making them happy,” Cunningham said. She added, “She’s amazing. She runs a business on her own, she lobbies in Washington, and she still manages to look fabulous.”

(Wendt deeply regretted two things about the evening she received the award: that her children were not there to see her honored, and that recent foot surgery meant that, for the only time in her life, she was unable to wear heels to the event.)

Ask Wendt about her trademark manicured nails, high heels, and reputation for always being put together, and she explains that it’s a reflection of her philosophy of business. Employees are required to wear tuxedo shirts and bow ties, which causes a bit of grumbling, but Wendt said she often gets customer compliments on her employees’ neat appearance.

“That’s something I think is important – to look the best you can. I have always been a firm believer that how you dress affects how you act,” she says. “I feel like if you’re dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, that’s the kind of service you’re going to give.”
Has she ever come to work in jeans and a sweatshirt? She looks almost shocked. “I don’t own jeans and sweatshirts.”

The business: a customer base of loyal fishermen
Wendt’s on the Lake is pure rural Wisconsin. Driving east from Highway 41 to get to Lake Winnebago, one goes miles without seeing a single fast food restaurant. The only traffic delays are those caused by slow-moving tractors. Neither the surrounding farming communities nor the little town of Van Dyne itself, which Wendt describes as having “a post office, a fire department, and lots of little bars and dance halls,” look like much has changed in several decades. It is a local favorite for its fish fries – it has twice been singled out by Oshkosh Magazine for a “People’s Choice” award for its fish fries, and in summer, the staff of 40 may serve 1000 fish dinners on Friday night.

The business has gone through several renovations and additions since it first opened its doors as Karpathian Bar in 1944. Its owners sold to Fritz and Cynthia Wendt in 1962, and the name changed to Wendt’s Bar. When Mike and Linda Wendt bought the place in 1978, it was changed to Wendt’s on the Lake, the name Linda kept when she bought Mike’s interest in the business in 1993.

In the early days, Fritz Wendt saw the potential in the lakefront location and the highway access made the bar a natural headquarters for fishermen, and in the early years, the bar sold bait early in the morning to those heading out on the frozen lake to ice fish. It was Fritz Wendt’s idea to plow the west shore of the lake, which otherwise would have two to three feet of snow, to allow easier access for ice fishing. In 1977 he was among the founding members of Sturgeon for Tomorrow, now with 3000 members in four chapters, it is the largest citizen advocacy group for sturgeon in the world, according to the Wisconsin DNR. Linda Wendt and her children remain active in the group, which has raised and donated more than $600,000 for sturgeon research and management.

Many consider the southwestern shore of Lake Winnebago the best place for the hallowed winter rite of sturgeon spearing. The lake is the only place in the world where sturgeon, monster fish that often tip the scales far above 100 pounds, reproduce naturally. In the past, the season ran for 16 days beginning on the second Saturday in February. In recent years, in an effort to protect the sturgeon population, the season has been limited by a quota system, so the length of the season varies from year to year.

Wendt made a point of becoming knowledgeable about the sport and about the environmental issues affecting the fish and the lake. “I wanted to be able to talk to my customers,” she explains. She even figured out a way to bring a glamorous touch, organizing gala ice fishing outings where women would wear elegant fur coats, drink champagne, and fish.

Over the years, the restaurant established itself as an indispensable source of information for fishermen. Local convention and visitor’s bureau staff often referred callers to the restaurant. These days, when calls come in about fishing, the staff hands the phone to Wendt’s son Shawn.

“They want to know ice conditions, and where the fish are biting,” he says. “I get a lot of information from word of mouth, from customers who are in here talking.” He does a fair amount of fishing himself and competes in summer fishing tournaments.

Another group of regulars comes every year to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). The restaurant sets up a tent to accommodate the crowd. Many return year after year, bringing gifts from their home states and countries to favorite staff members.

The restaurant has grown through three additions and by a greatly expanded menu. While its reputation was built on the thousands of pounds of lake perch it batters and fries each summer week, the restaurant also serves other fish and seafood, pizza, spare ribs, and prime rib dinners.

Shawn Wendt is the innovator, pushing new ideas for menu items and promoting them with customers. “When my kitchen staff sees him coming, they say, ‘oh, no, Shawn wants to try something new again,’” Linda Wendt laughed. “The things he tries are usually successful, though.”

Building a successful business
Wendt joined WRA in 1982 but did not become actively involved right away. In 1991 she attended a local chapter meeting at the invitation of a fellow operator. “They were having elections that night,” she said. “When I left the meeting, I was vice president of the chapter.”

“Linda understands the importance of giving back,” says Ed Lump, president and CEO of WRA. “She also understands the importance of political involvement to the survival of her business.”

Lump recalls asking WRA members to go to Washington to attend the National Restaurant Association’s Public Affairs Conference and talk about restaurant issues with Wisconsin’s congressmen and senators. “Linda was one of the first to volunteer to go, and she brought someone along with her,” he said. In spite of having to take time away from her business and pay her own way for the lobbying trips, Wendt has made the trip more than ten times. She has also gotten to know Wisconsin legislators and has lobbied in Madison on restaurant issues.

Once when state Sen. Carol Roessler came to dinner at the restaurant a couple of years ago, Wendt approached her and chatted briefly with her, mentioning a bill that was before Roessler’s committee. The bill was the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, which WRA had introduced to protect restaurants from frivolous obesity lawsuits. Roessler told Wendt that a hearing was being scheduled on the bill and invited her to have a WRA representative testify.

Paul Cunningham, owner of Schreiner’s Restaurant in Fond du Lac, has worked with Wendt in the local chapter and on the state board and has often attended lobbying events with her. “She’s so quick to be involved and to follow through,” he says. He credits her skills with people and her ability to be at ease with anyone. “She can talk to the governor, and she can talk to the fishermen who come into her restaurant.”

A family-run business
A lot of kids grow up in the restaurant business; Wendt’s kids grew up in the restaurant. Ann and Shawn were still preschoolers when the family moved into the living quarters attached to the restaurant, with the kids’ bedroom on the other side of the wall behind the bar. A door opened from their kitchen directly into the restaurant. From their earliest years, they learned The Rule: “Don’t come through that door without a smile on your face.”

It’s another example of Wendt’s philosophy of hospitality. “It’s about so much more than the food,” she says. “People come here to relax and have a good time. I tell my employees the same thing: if you’re working, whatever you’re upset about – leave it when you walk in here to greet people. They don’t come here to see grumpy people.”

While both of Wendt’s kids were always around to fill in as needed, the two did pursue other careers for a while, with Ann getting a degree in early childhood development and working as a preschool teacher and Shawn working for a number of years in landscaping. Both are now back working full-time at the restaurant. They take an active interest in the business and attend food shows together. At least three days a week, they are working side by side, and there is never a time that one of them is not on the premises.

“I’m a firm believer that one of us has to be here. It’s the right thing to do for the employees, and it’s the right thing to do for the customers,” Wendt said. “This is a small town and a small restaurant. When customers come in here, they expect to see a Wendt.”

“I always said I was never going to do this kind of work, but I missed the environment and the customers,” Ann says.

Shawn said the customers encouraged him to come back to the business full-time.
“Ann is my go-to person,” Wendt said. “When someone doesn’t show up, I call Ann. Shawn handles the bar. That took a big load off my shoulders when he took that over.”

A well-deserved honor
Ann says her mother’s extraordinary organizational skills and attention to detail are the secrets to her success. “She does everything by the book. A lot of times she doesn’t get the recognition she deserves for what she does. And that’s what meant the most to me about this award. She worked for every bit of it. We’re so proud of her.”

Employees describe the restaurant as reflecting Wendt’s upbeat attitude and leadership by example. “From an employee’s point of view, I think it’s one of the best places to work. It’s a relaxed atmosphere, and I enjoy working with the people there. She is kind, generous, fun to be around, a class act, a good businesswoman,” Morris said. “I’m just so proud of her, she’s very deserving. She has worked hard.”

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This article is reprinted with permission from Wisconsin Restaurateur magazine. Wisconsin Restaurateur is a bimonthly publication of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association and is sent to all WRA Members as a member benefit. The magazine keeps members up to date on the latest industry trends.

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