Back in Business

The Blue Horse Bistro is back in business. After months of uncertainty, the owners of the popular Fish Creek coffee house and restaurant have purchased the property across the street from the Fish Creek beach and plan to re-open this spring.

Owners Carina Helm and Eric Rasmusson closed their doors last October when they couldn’t secure a long-term lease at the restaurant’s location next to the Bayside Tavern. After 10 years in business it was a risky decision.

“It might have been the end of the Blue Horse right there,” Rasmusson said, a little short of breath from moving boxes into his new office. “It was very, very sad, but we were also relieved because we were proud of what we had done there. We had paid off our debt, and if that was it, we could be okay with it.”

Helm said people thought they were crazy to move on without a new location secured, but she said staying put seemed even more of a risk.

“We just didn’t want to stay when we could put our resources toward the future of our business instead,” Helm said. “For me personally, it was really emotional to think that it might not continue, but we had to move on.”

In April of 2011 it became clear they would soon need a new home. Helm put out feelers to investors and banks over the course of the summer, but after a decade growing an extremely successful business, traditional bank financing still wasn’t workable. Commercial lending rates were just too high.

They kept working possibilities as they saved money over the summer to prepare for closure, and on October 26 they shut the doors, unsure if they would ever open them again.

“That’s when the community kicked in,” Rasmusson said. “Wow did people let us know how much this situation was about a lot more than Carina and me. That’s when we found out how much the Blue Horse had mattered to people.”

Loyal customers offered to invest, but the partners didn’t want to muddy a successful business relationship.

Shortly before they closed, they learned about the Door County Economic Development Corporation’s Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). Through a combination of a land contract, a personal loan, savings, the RLF, and a lot of negotiating, the partners were able to secure financing to purchase a new building.

Rasmusson credited Helm for refusing to give up, even as financial hurdles mounted.

“As long as we’ve been doing this it has been both of us,” he said. “But on this one, when it looked like we were about to be done, she just kept pushing and talking to people and made it happen.”

Helm, in turn, was inspired by the outpouring of support from customers and other Fish Creek business owners.

“It’s why we’re here,” Helm said. “Everybody cares about each other, and everybody lends a hand.”

The new location will feature a full kitchen, allowing the Blue Horse to serve dinners and produce their own fresh bakery. Rasmusson is excited to show people what he can do with more than the couple of Panini grills he maxed out at the old location.

“It’s going to be a huge challenge for me,” he said. “But it’s going to be great to work with more ingredients – better ingredients – and create much better dishes. We made our mark with our sandwiches, but I can do so much better now.”

Rasmusson and Helm hope to be offering those sandwiches and curing cravings again this spring.