January 28, 2015 at 1:57 p.m.
The Brick making waves since moving to downtown Rhinelander
The Brick making waves since moving to downtown Rhinelander
By Marcus Nesemann-marcus@rivernewsonline.com
Illustrating that success, the restaurant - which is located at 16 North Brown Street - was recently named the Retail Business of the Year by the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce, despite being in the area for less than a year.
"The retail business being recognized here tonight has not been a longtime member of the Rhinelander community, but what they've lacked in history they've certainly made up for in impact in a very short time," the chamber said in announcing the award.
"As soon as they located their business in downtown Rhinelander, the chamber of commerce was fielding inquiries and phone calls about them upwards of a half dozen times a day throughout the summer."
It was that impact that led the chamber to present The Brick with the award.
Unfortunately, Chef Wes Harmon was busy manning his kitchen and was unable to go to the awards dinner to accept his plaque. Nevertheless, he said he was surprised and honored to have his restaurant named the 2014 winner.
"We didn't have any idea we were even in the running for such an award," he said.
"It was a surprise and it was very flattering. We've only been here since, I think we opened May 13, so we've only been here about nine months, so it was very surprising but also very flattering."
Aside from being surprising and flattering, the award also proves Harmon's reasoning for moving from Lake Tomahawk to downtown Rhinelander was sound.
"There were a lot of reasons for us making the move to Rhinelander. No. 1, the majority of our business in the offseason, because it's so seasonal up there with tourism, generally in the winter, 60 percent of our business was made up of the Rhinelander public," Harmon said.
"The second reason that we moved here is, again, due to tourism. There's always an offseason, two times per year actually - March and April, and generally from the third week of October through the second or third week of December - that are very slow times. We were looking for more of a year-round, steady business, which was achieved here without a doubt."
Harmon is able to say that because of one key piece of evidence - he hasn't had to cut his staff as he normally does during slower periods.
"Things have been going very well. We have had no layoffs of employees this year, which normally, come the third week of October, you're cut down to a skeleton crew," he said.
Other reasons for the success include the food and atmosphere in the restaurant.
"We always say that we're a casual atmosphere with good food," Harmon said.
"Our food is a little eclectic. We don't have your normal Northwoods fare. We do carry everything so that it's affordable for everybody. We do a great job with Chicago-style pizzas. We've apparently become very well-known for our hamburgers and steaks on the flipside of the coin. We just kind of have a menu that tries to fit into everybody's categories. And, again, we always emphasize casual."
And that atmosphere is going to stay the same, even if a comment card or two appears asking for something a bit more fancy.
"We get comment cards now and then that say we should have white tablecloths. Well, if you have white tablecloths, that adds to the cost of us trying to sell our food for the prices that we sell it for," Harmon said.
"They want servers in ... what we in our industry call the penguin suits with bowties. Tracy, my wife, and I don't feel that having white tablecloths is making your food taste any better. We don't think that employees being dressed up in a tuxedo-style suit makes them provide better service. We just want people to come here, be relaxed, have a good meal and be happy."
More information on The Brick, including a full menu and hours of operation, can be found at thebrickrhinelander.com.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at marcus@rivernewsonline.com.
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