We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lacey Lueth. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lacey below.

Lacey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

After owning Lola – An American Bistro for 15 years, the Lola Food Truck and operating the New Ulm Event Center I decided to add another notch in my belt and purchased The Cranberry in Herbster, Wisconsin in October of 2021. this area had always been special to me since I was a child growing up spending weekends there with my family snowmobiling or on the lake. The bar/Grill had been for sale for about five years when I purchased it. I had been there many times. This location was 5 1/2 hours from my other restaurant and projects in New Ulm. I ran all of them for about a year and then decided to sell my businesses in New Ulm to focus on the Cranberry. I kept my home in New Ulm where my daughter attends school. Over the course of a year my partner, and I fully renovated the Cranberry and made it into something that it had never been before. We created a community space with handmade delicious food., a welcoming staff and made sure our customers really felt like they belonged. The business continues to grow.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have worked in, managed, and owned my own business in the restaurant industry for over 28 years. I am a culinary graduate of South Central College. Working in restaurants, always felt natural to me. It is a playground for people with endless amounts of ideas and energy to thrive. We are always trying something new. I love to travel and experience new foods and restaurants. It gives me inspiration to continue to do what I do. My ability to be persistent, generous, creative, and promote belonging within others has led me to have successes over and over again in this industry.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I have spent the last couple years doing professional and personal coaching and one book that has really stood out to me is a book called “loving what is” by Byron Katie. The book is about judgments and how they affect us more than the person we’re actually having them about. The other book that I’ve tried to use over and over again is called “the speed of trust” by Stephen Covey. Often times I buy them and listen to them and also buy a hardcopy to read. It’s easy to be distracted with everything that’s going on that it takes me a few times to make sure everything sinks in. The speed of trust is a great book for business owners or leaders to make sure that you are setting a good example for the people that you want to follow you. Your guest and your team need to believe in what you are doing to create success.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The restaurant industry is all about pivoting. There are so many variables every day with staff and with guests. Someone can’t make it to work, someone is unhappy, a group of 20 walk in and you’re the only person there. It takes quick thinking on your feet and ability to adjust to different situations at the drop of a hat I still have Reoccurring dreams from the days that I catered, and during the event I would dream That I forgot to pack the green beans. The DJ would be announcing the bride and groom and I’d be running through the aisles at the grocery store, trying to find green beans. Don’t get me wrong in real life. It wasn’t always about the green beans, but there was usually something that we missed and had to make a quick substitution or figure out how to make it happen.. Not all people can deal with that kind of chaos and can break down in the moment of it, but I always felt like I thrived in it

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lakesuperiordining.com
• Instagram: @cranberryoversuperior
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CranberryoverSuperior