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

Hi Kimberly, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Restaurant work is difficult. Long hours and physical demands take their toll. And you’re not ever going to make big money as profit margins are just too thin. But it sure is fun! There is a reason that when we travel checking out the local restaurants & bars is top on the list. Connection. Connection to people celebrating and enjoying life.

Opening a restaurant by yourself is doable, but I feel that finding the right business partner was paramount to my success. My business partner and I already had a combined experience of over 30 years (approaching 75 now!) in hospitality and we both knew what we were getting into. That experience was our biggest asset going in. And we were willing and able to do all the things a restaurant demands. From start to finish, open to close. We had each other’s backs.

A successful restaurant business must keep costs down, prices fair & restrooms clean. But perhaps the biggest challenge and the biggest blessing are one and the same. Staffing. Too much or too little will kill you. But once you get the right culture in place and hire a team of people who care about the food and the guests and each other, you are pretty much golden.

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

I graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Business Administration in 1987. After a few stints at ‘real jobs’ involving desks and cubes, I started working as a server for the McMenamin’s brewpub chain. In the 10 years I worked for the McMenamin brothers, I held many management positions including running their new wine tasting room, provided wine education training for over 1000 company employees and opened 4 new pubs in the Seattle area.

During my time in Seattle, I started ‘imagineering’ opening a restaurant back in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. I wanted to expose people to wine from all over the world by offering wine flights (very rare back then) as well as small plates of food to compliment the wine. I spent many hours in my small apartment designing menus. I really didn’t understand wine or food back then, but I knew what I liked. The vibe would be similar to the brew pubs I was opening, but with wine from all over the world and food to match. Good wine, good food, in a cozy spot.

When I finally moved back to Portland, I started doing research into pockets of Portland where I thought I could make my idea work. However, something stood in my way. My new boxer puppy, Che. I couldn’t imagine leaving him at home all day and I couldn’t legally bring him into a restaurant. I settled this conundrum by opening a retail wine store and I brought Che to work every day. It started slow but had ballooned by year three. Friday nights at wine shops turn into wine bars and it was a party! I forged a lot of connections with both local and foreign winemakers and I made many friends including my soon to be new business partner, Courtney Storrs. And Che was growing up, ready for some R&R.

Noble Rot is named after a fungus. The fungus, BOTRYTIS CINEREA, shrivels up grapes and robs them of much of their juice. In some cases, the wine made from these fuzzy raisins is exquisite. Those clever Brits nicknamed this mouthful of a mold “Noble Rot.” I had a vision for a restaurant that would bear this peculiar name and my business partner, Courtney Storrs, helped me realize it.

The restaurant opened in May of 2002 in what looked like a two- story garage in Southeast Portland, Oregon. An ancient plank of Fir split the diners from the staff and a little shoebox of a kitchen pumped out hot food as we made salads, sandwiches and charcuterie behind the bar. We introduced the idea of wine “flights”: three wines organized around a theme (varietal, geographical, producers, etc…). Portland freaked out. The Rot was at once sophisticated, welcoming, educational, delicious and vibrant.

The food was wine driven- small, seasonal plates designed to support the rotating offerings. There were signature dishes almost immediately: onion tart, Noble salad, gooey mac and cheese and a deceptively simple brownie with caramel and vanilla ice cream. We also flexed a little bit, serving more elaborate dishes featuring local fish, meats & foraged fungi. The Willamette Week named us Restaurant of the Year in 2003.

In 2009, we moved into the Leed Platinum certified Burnside Rocket Building and we shed some of the funky. The new space, on the fourth floor of a modern building, is suave and airy with a panoramic vista of the city. We expanded our bar and have a muscular kitchen that can handle sophisticated preparations and significantly more business. We have an organic rooftop garden that supplies produce and inspiration 7 months out of the year.

We grew up a little, but we didn’t sacrifice our spirit. We still have a private dining room and continue to offer innovative flights and hard-to find, delicious wines at reasonable prices. And the food, while broader in scope, continues to reflect seasonality and creativity in the service of our wine program. We remain dedicated hosts, committed to providing a seamless, enjoyable experience.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

We started our business 22 years ago. It was the first spring after the 9/11 attacks. People were ready to start going out again. My business partner and I both took out equal lines of credit from our banks and/or credit cards and opened the Rot with $60,000 in the bank. The interest rates in 2002 were extremely low. Our new landlord, a local architect & developer who was building his first building was a hand-shake guy and was almost as enthusiastic about our concept as we were. I don’t think he ever did his due diligence in researching our ability to run a restaurant. He also didn’t start charging us rent until we opened the doors. I don’t know if he knew what he was doing, but we did and we were in it together.

We did most of the build out ourselves and all the furniture and fixtures we found were used. We combed thrift stores and went to restaurant equipment auctions. It was a lot of fun for us and it really cemented our partnership. Our initial staffing was all friends and family and we wore all the hats. The day we opened we still had $10,000 in the bank. Our vibe, food and wine flights struck a cord in our city and our timing couldn’t have been better.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Noble Rot opened in 2002 with a $60,000 startup fund. In 2003 we were named ‘Restaurant of the Year’, by the Willamette Week, the local alternative weekly newspaper in Portland. I bought my first house. The first 5 years we really knocked it out of the park. We each worked 60-80 hours a week, and our hard work was paying off. We were getting mentions in the New York Times, Wine Spectator, Food & Wine and numerous other publications. We expanded into an upstairs loft space, which became our main kitchen and a private dining room. By year six changes were afoot. Our cute, little neighborhood had really started growing, along with many restaurant options. Our original Chef (also my business partner’s husband) wanted to see if he could open and run his own restaurant and he moved on. We were feeling the squeeze from all the new competition. But 2008 was not kind to any restaurants and most of the new ones closed soon after they had opened. A recession had started, and the housing market crashed. One of those new spots that opened and closed was the restaurant created by our original Chef. At this point I had to sell my house and was putting part of payroll on my credit card. However, I could not imagine closing the restaurant. I was starting to go into personal debt and the stress was overwhelming. It was going to take some tweaking.

Our lease was scheduled to be up in May of 2009 and we were planning on renewing. That took some gravitas, but it really seemed like our only option. Like my only option. I was committed and I knew I could get us back in black. And as luck would have it, our original Chef, was still on the hook for a still relatively new lease in his recently shuttered restaurant space. This space was in a building owned and designed by the same guy that built our current space and he still believed in us. The decision to move was easy. The last meal served in our old space was February 14, 2009 and we reopened one week later in our new spot on February 20, 2009.

Our new space, perched atop a 4-story building, is still comfortable, yet sophisticated with gorgeous sunset views of the city. We expanded beyond wine and beer and have a full bar with seasonal cocktails using ingredients from our rooftop garden. That same rooftop garden inspires our cooks and is farm to table in the most literal sense. We were back to knocking it out of the park.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.noblerotpdx.com
• Instagram: noblerotpdx
• Facebook: Noble Rot