By ELI LUTGENS
Publisher/Editor
Friends and family gathered May 5, 2024 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of New Richland’s Red Leaf Cafe.
The celebration was small, the company plentiful. Cupcakes were handed out to each of the nearly 100 patrons who stopped to extend their congratulations.
“I can’t remember if our first day was busy or not,” owner Theresa Grubstad recalled. “But every day we come in, we have the support of the community.”
“The same guys have been coming in every morning for 10 years,” owner Dean Grubstad said. “If I’ve noticed anything, it's the customers. They are so much more than that. They’re like family and extended family.”
Dean listed a group of regulars too numerous to provide here.
“We’ve lost some [who have died],” Dean continued. “They will never be forgotten.”
Theresa said she and Dean “feel the love people have here.”
“You don’t get that at all [coming from a bigger city]. People would step on you there if they could,” Dean said.
The Grubstads’ gratitude for their local “family” continued.
“Every step of the way, Pam and Larry [Goering] have been there with us,” Theresa said. “It wasn’t, ‘If’ you need help, it was ‘when.’
“It was, ‘What can we do to help?”’
What does the future hold for the loving couple and their restaurant? Are they still excited to come to work?
“We’ve never been late,” Theresa answered, speculating that she and Dean are likely to “start retiring in about 10 years.”
The two described the affection and support they felt on Monday as “overwhelming.”
Theresa went on to say her new ‘niche’ is cupcakes. Dean mentioned the cafe has acquired an ice cream machine they hope to use this summer.
In addition to their work at the cafe, over the years the Grubstads have taken on tasks such as weekend operation of the St. Olaf Lake concession stand, offering evening service at the Red Leaf Cafe, and catering for events held by families or organizations. The catering has remained a constant.
The Red Leaf serves what might be called family, homestyle food. The cafe is open Monday through Friday 6 a.m. until 2 p.m., with breakfast offered until 10:30. Those interested in catering are instructed to call the store number, 507-465-8000.
Located at 104 S. Broadway, the cafe has been around as long as folks in the area can remember, operating under a variety of names.
It has been the Red Leaf ever since the Grubstads acquired it 10 years ago; before that people have known it as the Lunchbox, Blondie’s, the Dew Drop, and way back in the day, Sweets Unlimited, run by Stan and Linda Timmerman along with Barb Thompson and her husband.
Today, the cafe is owned and operated by Dean, 58, and Theresa, 57, who live in New Richland. The couple met on a blind date in 1999, and were united in marriage four years later on October 25, 2003.
When they were ready to purchase a home in Owatonna a few years after their marriage, the realtor convinced them to have a look “just a little out of the way” in New Richland. The showing turned out to be the former Mark Rud home. Theresa said life here was everything she ever wanted. They’ve called New Richland home ever since.
In 2009, in the heat of the recession, Dean’s position with SPX in Northfield was eliminated and he went back to the kitchen, working for Blondie’s in New Richland as well as George’s in Geneva. A few years later, Theresa also found herself working part-time jobs at a number of different restaurants.
“We looked at each other and asked, ‘Why are we doing this for everyone else?’“ Theresa said. “So we said screw this and we opened in town… And everything else fell into place.”
“Everything happened right in a row, then boom, we were here,” Dean said, observing, “I’ve always found my way into the kitchen.”
Dean’s first job was working at Country Kitchen when he was about 13 years old, followed by Perkins and then RJ Richie’s in New Brighton.
Theresa’s first restaurant job was Ponderosa in the Sunray shopping area in St. Paul, a cafeteria style steakhouse. She had also consistently helped her grandmother with catering and her mom with hosting private holiday parties, in addition to bartending, cooking and other serving roles.
“When you have nine people in your family, every meal is a sort of catering job,” Theresa joked.
Speaking of family, the Red Leaf name comes from a bit of family history.
“When my mom and dad (Fred and Leatta) retired, they moved to Wisconsin and were living on five acres of woods,” Theresa explained. “My mom was afraid of wild animals. My dad said he wouldn’t leave her alone after dark because that’s when the wild animals come out.
“A little later on, Dad joined a golf league and started staying out later and later.
“One day Mom called and told him it was getting dark out,” she continued. “Dad got there and said he wasn’t going to leave her alone again… That was his way of saying he would always be there to protect her.”
Fred then said he was going to call the farm Red Leaf Acres. He built the name by taking the “F” off of “Fred” (Dad) and putting it on the end of “Lea” (Mom). “That was in 1995. Ever since we’ve been known as the red leaf family,” Theresa explained.
“And that’s how the Red Leaf got its name.”