Customer Spotlight: Dakota Junction

Dakota Junction is a unique building that demands attention as soon as you see it. When you walk in, you can’t help but notice the space is bright and welcoming.  The people working there, too, make you feel good about what you’re eating. The environment, coupled with the restaurant’s focus on farm-to-table practices, makes this a great new eating venue. Creating an environment with such charm and appeal takes hard work, creativity, and flawless execution.

Stephanie Bolles opened Dakota Junction in October 2013. Her previous employer built the Walgreens in Mound and notified her that the plot of land adjacent to the new store was available for her to build on if she was interested. Since Stephanie lived down the road at the time, she found it to be a perfect opportunity. Her husband is an avid cyclist, so having a restaurant right next to the Dakota Rail Trail was the cherry on top.

Stephanie has always had a strong interest in the concept of farm-to-table restaurants. With Gale Wood Farms in such close proximity to the location, it was fate to open such a restaurant. She had been involved in a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm-share at Gale Wood Farms and found it to have superb farming practices operated by reliable people with mountains of experience.

Stephanie grew up in New Ulm, Minnesota. Before owning her restaurant, she was a traveling manager for Morton’s of Chicago, a restaurant in Minneapolis at the time, and afterwards ran a hotel. Stephanie’s background is in accounting, but when she got an internship in the field, she realized she hated it. “I love the fast pace of the restaurant business. It’s something different every day,” she explains.

The construction of Dakota Junction started in June of 2013 and three months later, by the end of September, is was complete. The planning process took a year and involved a great amount of work with the city and health department and multiple meetings with architects. She envisioned an open space with warm colors and wanted to create an environment suitable for both dinner dates and bikers walking in from the trail.

Stephanie says designing around the space limitations in a small building proved to be the most challenging part of the process. She had to ensure there would be 44 seats available for customers in order to obtain a liquor license. Fitting a working kitchen into that small space kitchen was the most difficult issue. Since so much work is done in such a small space, there are many health regulations.

“With only 20 employees, we don’t have a bunch of random people on back-up, so it can be a little challenging to coordinate staffing when someone gets sick,” Stephanie explains.

The close proximity to Walgreens has its perks. Stephanie says, “Walgreens studies how many people walk through the area on the trail. A few years ago they provided us with a count of over 400,000 people who walked next to my restaurant. If only one out of ten of those people come in, that means we still have 40,000 customers!”

Stephanie’s favorite part of her job is being able to meet the people who come through her restaurant. She loves seeing the interaction between local customers and the chefs.

“The layout of Dakota Junction is incredibly rewarding for the chefs,” Stephanie said.  “It allows customers to give them compliments directly as they walk out of the restaurant.” Stephanie continues: “There is so much positivity that runs through this small building. Everyone seems to be happy at all times, and I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”

She is most proud of her staff and their dedication. “My staff is equally as invested in Dakota Junction as I am. They all take pride in the space and the food,” she says.

Sixty percent of customers who come to Dakota Junction are local. “The other 40% are actually those who have read stories about us where we have been recognized in the City Pages and Star Tribune. We are still a growing business, and people from the surrounding areas are curious to see what we are all about,” Stephanie explains.

A short-term goal for Stephanie is to utilize other farms in close proximity more frequently than she currently does. Stephanie would also like to expand on another aspect of the restaurant: her catering business. As of right now, Dakota Junction does a lot of in-home catering for weddings, birthday parties, and showers. The staff sometimes cooks on-site and at other times brings the cooked food to the customers.

A typical day for Stephanie varies immensely. “In the beginning, my days were much more hectic, but now I can really enjoy the restaurant and take time in all aspects of the work,” she says. Business has increased, and Dakota Junction is currently on track to double its first year’s business volume. Cyclists add a lot of revenue during the summer, but after being a business for a few years, they still see a lot of traffic in the winter.

Sometimes Stephanie works from home and does the bills. Her best friend and previous co-worker helps a lot with the restaurant’s paperwork, but Stephanie’s accounting background really helps. Stephanie is typically at the restaurant to do dinner and weekend shifts. She says, “when we run out of a certain food in the summertime, I can go to the farm and pick the vegetables myself!”

The reason Stephanie first started banking with Minnesota Lakes Bank is due to the President at the time who had heard she was opening a restaurant and contacted her. “I felt really comfortable and confident right away. When other banks were hesitant and told me most restaurants fail after the first year, Minnesota Lakes Bank understood my unique situation in the prime location of my restaurant. It also doesn’t hurt that they are right across the street from me,” Stephanie laughs.