Kiger's Notebook

Kasson action = Daniels buys Diggers

I know this is pretty well known by now. But here are the details:

One Kasson eatery is digging in by acquiring a nearby, well-known watering hole.

The owners of Daniel’s Restaurant & Northwoods Lounge bought Digger’s Bar & Grill.

Sunday was Digger’s last day as a bar. However, it will live on through its attached events center.

“We’ll be open as an event-only facility. So the bar is not going to be open on a day-to-day basis,” says Dan Gadient, the majority owner of Daniel’s.

Why take this step? “It has been very difficult for us to do catering for weddings and meetings of any size because we don’t have the facility to do it in,” he said. “It is one way for us to expand our business almost overnight.”

So Gadient and his partners, which include his wife, MargAnn, head chef Tony and Malia Saker and the Gadients’ daughter, Danielle Schmitz, with her husband, Matt, bought Diggers from Dick Schwanke.

Why not keep the bar open and use the event facility?

“That would be too much at once. We’re taking one giant step right now. The event center is big enough,” Gadient said. He did not discount re-opening the bar at a later date.

What about people who already have events scheduled at Digger’s this summer? The Daniel’s crew will honor those agreements, starting with events this week.

“We have fielded a lot of calls from nervous brides. Don’t worry. We’ll take of them,” Gadient says.

Kasson action?

Following up intriguing tip out of Kasson. 

We'll see if any action is really cooking in the cauldron known as Kasson.

Wind energy co. opens Kasson office

A new office recently blew into Kasson – wind energy developer High Country Energy.

High Country, which is developing wind-generated 300 to 500 megawatt projects in Dodge, Olmsted, and Mower Counties, decided it needed a local office. High Country is local firm created last year with its parent company, National Wind LLC based in the Twin Cities

“We think it is important to have local offices for our wind projects,” says Erin Edholm, National Wind’s director of communications. “It is important to have a local face on the project."

Actually, there are two local faces. The office at 122 West Main Street in Kasson is staffed by Missy Kelley jeff kiger 12/9/08CQ and Dan Hemmingsenjeff kiger 12/9/08CQ, field specialists for High Country Energy.

The office will have information available anyone interested in the project. That includes the 124 landowners that High Country has signed leases with and the 65 Minnesota investors. People from Rochester, Austin, Hayfield, Kasson, Sargeant, Byron, and Dodge Center are involved.

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While the primary goal is to create a wind project to generate 300 megawatts, Edholm says they’d “like to go to 500 megawatts. 

How many acres does it take to support a project like that? She estimates that would take 50,000 acres.

“It is kind of a long term goal,” said Edholm.

The project timeline is for construction to start at 2011 with it going into operation in 2012. The 300 megawatts level is expected to start in 2013.

National Wind also has similar projects in the works, Goodhue Wind in Goodhue County and Root River Energy in Fillmore County. Edholm says those project could their own offices someday in the future.

Jerky, brats beef up store' sales

Jon Christensen’s meat case at Erdman’s County Market doubles as a trophy case. His smoked meats products — jerky, bratwurst and sausage — have brought in 27 state and national awards to the Kasson grocery store. This year he added two grand champion awards from the state and national Associations of Meat Processors for his restructured — soft — beef jerky. “That’s a real feat,” he said of the dual win, particularly the defeat of 57 other jerkies on the national level. However, as store co-owner and meat department manager, he knows that the customers — not awards — are what make a store successful. “It (a counter full of specialty smoked meats like jerky and brats) is kind of a nice little niche for a small-town store,” he said. “You have to look for a niche.” Erdman’s, which has expanded twice in the last several years and is considering another expansion of the 36,000-square-foot store, seems to have found a successful niche. Drawing customers from the Twin Cities and Rochester, the meat department accounts for 15 percent to 17 percent of the store’s sales. After 47 years in the meat-cutting industry, 37 of them with Erdman’s, Christensen has seen many changes. He remembers slaughtering animals at the store and hanging sides of beef. About 10 years ago, Christensen bought a 350-pound automated meat smoker and started experimenting. Now his eight full-time staffers and five part-timers make about 100 pounds of beef, turkey and buffalo jerky a week and 40,000 pounds of brats during the grilling season. Erdman’s offers 12 kinds of jerky, 47 bratwurst flavors and 75 of smoked sausage.

Finding lost pets

Here's some from a piece I wrote that'll be in the weekend Lifestyle section.

When a dog or cat escapes from a backyard or just becomes separated from its owner, people want their pet home as soon as possible.

Dan Crandall thinks he has a solution to this everyday trauma — metal ID tags. Sure, ID tags are not a new idea. But Crandall’s Pet*iD business takes them into the 21st century.

“What separates us is that we use a tag, but it is more of a key to open up our service,” Crandall explained recently, while surrounded by computer monitors in his Douglas home office. “It is a pretty simple idea that’s pretty complex on the back-end.”

His system works like this:

• A pet owner buys a stainless steel Pet*iD tag, with an identification number stamped in it along with a toll-free telephone number and a Web site.

• The owner logs onto www.petid.com to create a profile for his pet. That profile can include a photo, medical records, personal messages as well as contact information.

• The owner can update that profile through moves, vacations and other changes.

“We designed this thing so a third-grader could figure it out,” Crandall said.

He has more than 1,000 pets in his system, and his tags are being sold by vendors in 12 states, including Fish & Pets in Rochester and K-M Regional Veterinary Hospital in Kasson.

Pet*iD focuses on the owner, the pet and the person who finds the pet, he said. It eliminates the need for third-party intervention, such as police or a veterinarian.

Gold biz + Kasson

Here's a snippet I lifted from the Dodge County Independent.

Ryan's Bargainz (That's how they spell it. It is not another one of my typos.) recently opened at 122 W. Main Street in the former Kasson City Hall.

Owner Dan Fosdick is quoted as saying "We buy gold." That means old or broken jewlery – silver or gold - and dental gold.

The store will be staffed by Fosdick's son, Ryan (hence the name). It will sell new and used gold and silver jewlery as well as cameras, guitars, glassware and other stuff. They also offer kayak rentals.

Fosdick owns and operates Taxi Dan's tax service.

New biz list for Jan. 1

Here's some the latest new/ renewing business list from the Secretary of State's office

• All Decked Out
205 10th Ave. N.W.
Dodge Center

• DC Welding
59950 208th Ave.
Dodge Center

• RS Enterprise
1107 Seventh St. NW
Kasson

• K 9 Creations Pet Bakery
3611 85th St. N.W. Lot #188
Oronoco

• Crystal Creek Club of Lambs
26112 565th St.
Pine Island

• Dynamic Video Design
145 Fifth Ave. N.E.
Plainview

• JP's PC Leasing
275 Fourth Ave. S.E.
Plainview

• Linda J’s Trucking
1910 Second Ave. N.E.
Stewartville

• Just Plumbing
1555 County Road 106 S.E.
Stewartville

• 5th Son Design
52837 160th Ave.
West Concord

• Koehler Collision Center
1160 Frontenac Drv
Winona

New biz list for Dec. 4

• Westfield Townhomes Association, Inc.
804 Westfield Court
Kasson

• The Hometown Singers, Inc.
805 Fifth St. N.W.
Kasson

• Gibbs Partnership, LLP
986 Eighth Ave. N.W.
Byron

• Serendipity Power Equipment L.L.C.
810 Third Ave
Wanamingo

• Koehler Collision Center, LLC
1160 Frontenac Drive
Winona

• Riverview Heights LLC
1450 49th Ave
Winona

• Rock Solid Coffee, LLC
Gerg Moser
75 W. Thitd St.
Winona

• KGR, LLC
3750 85th St. N.W.
Oronoco

• Island Properties, LLC
640 Vintage Road N.W.
Oronoco

• Feils Plainview, LLC
140 Fourth St. S.W.
Plainview

• Tlougan Enterprises LLC
23656 County Road 27
Plainview

• Nelson Quality Construction, LLC
61923 252nd Ave.
Mantorville

• Christina Pristash, M.S., LMFT, LLC
1076 Bush Court S.
Eyota

• CTSW, LLC
Bruce Bordelon
200 Fifth St. S.E.
Kasson

• JG & MM Properties, LLC
110 E. Main St.
PO Box 149
Caledonia

• Caledonia Ag Rental, LLC
826 S. Marshall St.
Caledonia

• Sheila M. Daley, PLC
1028 Main St. S.
Chatfield

• Manak LLC
827 Main S.
Red Wing

• Reset My Soul LLC
3253 19th St. N.W. #1
Rochester

• Personalized Memories LLC
2412 Viking Drive N.W.
Rochester

• Pathways to Wellness Counseling

• XYLO Properties, LLC
302 Elton Hills Drive N.W. #500
Rochester

• Jeff Brown Real Estate LLC
201 23rd Ave. S.W. #100
Rochester

• Herring Exterior Design, LLC
5500 U.S. 63 S
Rochester

• American Bobshells Hair Studio, LLC
Jeffrey R Dewitz
1210 Third St. S.E.
Rochester

Two Kasson shops closing

Another area small city is taking a hit with the loss of a longtime business. Unlike Stewartville, Kasson is getting a double whammy of two such shops closing their doors.

Here's some from a story by Heather Carlson that appears in today's print edition:

KASSON — Shoppers swarmed Leuthold’s clothing store on Wednesday morning carrying stacks of clothes in what the owner said amounted to the biggest business the store had seen in decades.

“I’ve been overwhelmed with how this store has filled up,” said owner Larry Turner as he glanced around the shop.

But those brisk sales are coming as the 141-year-old business plans to close its doors. After 48 years of working for Leuthold’s, Turner says he has watched as fewer and fewer customers have been choosing to shop at small, local clothing stores.

“People’s buying habits have changed,” he said. “They want more stores and more selection than smaller towns can offer.”

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Leuthold’s is not the only longtime Kasson business closing. Miller’s Antiques is also shuttering its doors after 37 years in business. Owner Candace Williams said after seven years running the store she decided to close because sales had been slipping as more customers flock to stores like T.J. Maxx and Pier One. The business was also assessed $20,000 for street improvements, adding to its challenges.

“We’re sad to close, but we’re looking forward to change,” Williams said.

The antique store building has already been sold and will serve as the new location for Kasson 24 Hour Workout. No buyer has been found yet for the Leuthold’s building.

Leutholds in Kasson closing

"Going Out of Business" signs have gone up in the windows of Leutholds Clothing in Kasson.

I don't anything else yet on this. I do know Leutholds closed the Austin store a few years ago. I believe there are Leutholds stores in operation in Albert Lea and Cresco, Iowa.