We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Donna Wecker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Donna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My husband – my business partner – received his culinary training under a French chef from Grenoble. When we first started The Elkridge Furnace Inn, I was busy at home with small children. The first concept was “fine dining” featuring a French menu with subtitles. In the elegant historic setting of our location this was a good concept for the first 20 years. But restaurant “fashion” evolves and we needed to evolve as well. Dan and I have always gardened together. The gardens on the 12 acres we manage continued to expand. Farm to table was a natural expression of what we did, but more in the background… Until I was able to jump in. I had recently completed both a masters and was teaching language at 2 local colleges. Dan lured me into an active role because of a need in the office. But I am a “if you are going to jump in, dive deep” sort of person. We are in an “off the beaten path” location – destination dining you might call it. However, the GM we had at the time had a very limited marketing plan, which honestly, degraded our product and experience using Groupon and bounce-back coupons. When this gentleman retired a couple years after my starting, I suddenly felt empowered to make some big decisions. No more French menu, no more begging guests to come with discounts, and gardens at front and center. With rebranding, signs denoting “fine dining” and “proper attire required” disappeared. Redecorating juxtaposed some more modern elements with the historic setting. Our bridal spaces for weddings became lighter and more relevant. Artwork was replaced with touchpoints of our history and natural setting highlighting the Patapsco Valley. I had been told that cash flow would never work without coupons as a reason for guests to visit. Yet, with these changes, we had our best restaurant month in February of 2020… just before Covid closed our doors. During the ensuing months into years, we had to fight hard with a Farmer’s Market, carryout and creative uses of our large open tented spaces. We hosted micro weddings and spread out wine dinners. Guests flocked and supported. As cash flow has continued to be steady growing, and my husband has trusted my gut instincts more and more, we have continued to morph and grow with unique in-house events featuring local artists with varied themes along with our seasonal restaurant menu. We continue, together, to take risks, make capital improvements and make memories both for us as well as for our guests. Full speed ahead for our weddings, events and restaurant. “Where History Meets Hospitality and Memories are Made”.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The Elkridge Furnace Inn is a private business on a state-owned property that is an outparcel of Patapsco Valley State Park. Part of our lease agreement – and it has been our private funds that have done all the restoration and maintenance of the property – is that a portion of our sales goes to the state park system. We farm an acre of the property including a greenhouse and mushroom house. The oldest building dating to the mid-1700s houses our dedicated restaurant. The circa 1810 Manor House hosts everything from weddings and showers to business events. The annex to the property where my husband and our family lived for 12 years is now what we call our Garden House. It also has a climate controlled tented space and courtyard that connects to the 1830s brick house. The important Maryland history of the property is compelling. We are on the National Register of Historic Places, the National Washington Rochambeau Trail for Revolutionary War history, the Civil War Trail and National Network to Freedom. We curate this history for our guests who have an interest and have done thousands of formal and impromptu tours around the property. In addition, my husband who has been the Executive Chef here now well over 30 years, continues both in unwavering passion as well as a thirst to continue to push his culinary breadth, We are foraging locally more and more using these ingredients as a mainstay of our menu including creative cocktails. What we do is the perfect balance of creative and classic dining.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Owning a business can definitely weigh heaving on the family. When we started the business in 1989, I was 7 months pregnant. We moved into the 1830s brick house that had been abandoned and looted. We used every penny we had to make this livable. When our son entered the world to meet his 7 year old sister and 3 year old brother, he started with severe bowel issues at just 6 weeks of age. Philip spent 3 of his almost 4 years at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center mystifying the doctors there. You can only imagine the juggling my husband and I had to do while restoring the 12 acre property, working a full time job outside of this project before the company could pay him and continuing to move forward with a business plan. 19 months after Philip, we were joined by our son, Cameron, who also started showing health issues at 11 months. Our family helped to name an x-linked auto-immune disease. Cameron survived a bone marrow transplant at Hopkins, which at the time was only a hypothetical cure. Our surviving children all worked at the business in different capacities. Good but not always ideal. My husband and I have had to weather so many storms, both in our business and private lives. If it wasn’t for our total commitment to the marriage, we would have never lasted.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Today, my husband is being honored at the Restaurant Association of Maryland’s annual Gala as Restauranteur of the Year. Normally, business are nominated, 5 are chosen and then RAM members vote. The committee unanimously decided to choose Chef Dan and forgo the voting. Growing a reputation in the community over several decades of treating each client as the most valued guest, personally greeting every bride and groom, hosting kids cooking camps over many years, volunteering at all the important local charities, being active citizens in the community all add up. We’ve actively worked with our local chamber and tourism boards which has also helped to underpin the support of our business. Dan and I support each other to balance all these aspects of being engaged business owners. Neither of us could do all this on our own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.elkridgefurnaceinn.com
• Instagram: @elkridgefurnaceinn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elkridgefurnaceinn

Image Credits

In house photos.