Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nichole and Rick Frazer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nichole and Rick, taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I knew my husband, Rick, wasn’t super happy at his job before COVID. Then having to go back after having 7 months off made it all the more obvious to him. While his job as the Executive Chef at The Saint Paul Grill was a prestigious one, it wasn’t fulfilling to him. His duties required more time on a computer than it did in a kitchen. A few weeks back to work was all it took for him to tell me how miserable he was. So, there I was, in my car, parked outside the kids’ school and I googled “Restaurants for sale near me.” It has always been his dream to open his own restaurant, his dream. This was going to be his thing. I loved my job. He would have his dream and we wouldn’t have all our eggs in one basket. You see, I’m not much of a risk taker. I believed in my chef husband and his dream but I was fine working for someone else, doing my job, and just going home. We were able to find a spot for his dream to come true in Hudson, WI where we live with out two children, the town I grew up in. Plans moved right along and we were excited. By the end of 2021 he looked at me one day and said, “I don’t think I could do it without you.” It didn’t take but a minute to realize he was right. We met working in a restaurant together. We make a great team. Who else could he trust to run the front of the house while he ran the back? So there we were, all our eggs, in one basket. We both quit our jobs in January 2022 to open Black Rooster Bistro that March. It’s been scary and hard. People say, “Congratulations!” and I think to myself, “On what? This is crazy!” but they’re right. Taking a risk like that, putting everything on the line, stepping out there, that’s a big thing.

Before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started in the restaurant industry when I was 16 as a hostess. I stayed in it through college for the flexibility. I actually quit my senior year of college because I knew I would never leave the industry if I didn’t do it cold turkey. No entry level designer job paid as much as I was making to work part time as a server. The Great Recession led me back to the restaurant industry in 2011. I had been teaching art for 8 years when I was laid off in 2009. At the time I was pregnant with my second child and my first was 18 months old. After my unemployment compensation ran out I ended up back in the restaurant industry for the same reason I started, flexibility. No design job was going to pay me enough to cover day care for two kids AND pay for groceries.

It was then that I met my husband, Rick. He was hired as a cook at the wine bar I was working at. It was his dream that fueled our current project, Black Rooster Bistro. For the five years prior to opening our own restaurant I honed my skills behind the bar with craft cocktails. I strive to make the most delicious cocktail without being overly complicated so my bartenders can execute it efficiently and consistently while using products made locally. After COVID and the supply chain and distribution issues that plagued our industry (and many other industries) we knew when opening our restaurant that choosing local products would cut down on these issues while supporting other business owners like ourselves. When I told my suppliers about this plan I was blown away by the quality of spirits being made in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Along with supporting local businesses I love using ingredients that surround me in my cocktails; pears, crab apples, juniper berries, lavender flowers, marshmallow root… that one has been wildly popular. This native plant called Marsh Mallow has a root that has medicinal qualities and is a good additive to tea. My daughter grew some in our garden and I dried the roots and used it to make a simple syrup that is viscous and earthy. I used it in an old fashioned with cocoa bitters and oak wood smoke. It has been wildly popular for us.

I like to say we change a lot of minds here at Black Rooster Bistro. People who don’t think they like Whiskey enjoy our Campfire Old Fashioned and people who don’t like grits are surprised to find they like them when Rick prepares them. Trust us, we know our crafts. We are creative and inspired business owners who strive to provide and elevated yet approachable experience for you every time you visit.

How’d you meet your business partner?

As I mentioned, Rick and I met working at a wine bar. I was serving there part time and he was hired as a cook. He quickly proved he could do more than cook. He was soon the executive chef. As a team we would go out for a beer after work on Thursdays and we would talk at the bar for hours. Once we were living together I remember a pivotal moment in our relationship. We were working and I went into the kitchen and challenged something he had said. He immediately reprimanded me and told me I could not speak to him like that in front of his team. I was so mad. So mad. I remember thinking, “you can’t talk to me like that” and then not speaking to him for about 24 hours. Then I realized he was absolutely right. Just because we were in a relationship that did not change my position at the restaurant. He was my superior and what he said goes. We worked together smoothly from then on. Until recently. You can imagine now that we are equals in the business and in a relationship that this gets a little more challenging. It is a struggle to keep our business face on at work and not bicker in front of our staff. This has been one of the biggest challenges in the last year. The secondary challenge is not bickering about work in front of our kids. That one still needs work. We are learning how to separate work and home and how important it is.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Starting a new business is one hundred times harder than you think it is. If you think it’s hard, it is, but now times that by 100. Now that we have been open 11 months I look back and see we only skipped paying ourselves twice. It was hard for someone who isn’t good at taking risks, especially financial ones, to see our checking account drop dangerously low, to see our expenses outweigh our income. As a new business owner, a first time business owner, I had a hard time wrapping my brain around where the money was going. I felt like we were hemorrhaging money and that there was no way to stop it. I couldn’t breathe. I had horrible thoughts running through my head. I was spiraling down a very deep dark hole. I called Rick, and good thing I did. He left work and came home to me. He held me as I couldn’t breathe. I listened to his heart beat. He saved my life. He took the time to knock out numbers that I could live with and understand. He figured out our break even point (he’s the number guy, he loves the numbers). We adjusted staffing and we slowly climbed to a place I felt more comfortable but it was scary there in month 2. As a small business you learn a lot of things really fast and things change even faster.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.blackroosterbistro.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/black_rooster_hudson/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackroosterbistro