Wild Honey Juicery and Cafe

you

Tony McCarville is our guest on WRC radio Wild Honey Juicery and Cafe Tony you were here a year ago and this was still in the works still in your mind basically and here we are a year later and you're about ready to go aren't you

I am yeah it's crazy how much you can accomplish in a year and how fast time goes and at the same time it feels like it's slow

So it feels like we'll never open.

And when people ask, I hope to say, you know, something different than soon or next year.

So, um, so we'll get to that later.

But there have been a lot of people curious as, you know, you were making changes to the building inside and outside.

And, uh, so that's all set to go.

Is it where you want it to be now?

Yeah, we're really, really close.

Um, and I think that's one of those things that you're always working toward.

It, it's never going to be.

complete.

I think it's always an evolutionary process.

So we are where we need to be to be able to open at this point.

We're waiting on a couple of few little things to just really feel solid to open the doors and feel like we can produce something consistently at the highest quality every single day that we want for our customers to experience.

I'm excited too because I'm, I'm a guy that loves history.

So you're, you're preserving an old building, which is not always easy to do.

And then you're bringing a new business into it at the same time.

Yeah.

And you know, honestly, like that has been such a rewarding aspect, um, to be able to take something that some people said that building needs to be tore down.

And we were able to look at it with a different eye and say, this is an iconic building to Richland center.

And there's got to be a way that we can keep this and make it work.

And we've had so many people coming to the door just because they used to sit in gables for...

Every day for years and they're just super duper excited to be able to come in there and re-experience their Memories, I think in a different way

so tell us a little bit about You know you did a soft opening or earlier in August and and things went all right I guess good enough to kind of make you feel like you're confident about opening here soon, right?

Yeah, yeah, it was honestly great and it was kind of an unexpected opening so it was

a little bit of not necessarily to be a secret or anything like that but we have been working with a chef who's helped curate our menu and our recipes and he had come to town and so he said let's open the doors and we scurried and our staff is absolutely amazing I'm so proud of our staff to be able to just

come in and do what they did and train so quickly and open the doors and we feel that it was very successful and we're super grateful to the community and the support and the people of Richland Center and the people who traveled from that we're traveling through.

It was crazy how many people were traveling through from Minneapolis and Chicago and even out of the country and surrounding communities as well.

Did you have a business that you visited like you decided like I want to do this in Richland Center or how did you come about this business plan?

Yeah, so that's a great question.

You know, this is all stemmed from years of wellness that I've practiced in different areas of my life and I've always been kind of passionate about wellness.

And so for probably 20 years, of course I'm only 21, but... I'm sorry,

I shouldn't have laughed

at you.

Yeah, I know that's awesome.

I

am too.

Yeah, I know, you're forever.

You know, we just hang on to that.

But so it's been a seed for a really long time, not necessarily to create a Juicery & Cafe.

I would have never bet money, and I can tell you my family would have never bet money that I would have been opening some sort of restaurant.

Yoga and wellness was initially where this started and we'll eventually get to that that will be our phase two So things just kind of shifted a little bit We wanted to have juicing the smoothies and healthy food options and some health coaching and all of that before but when Pearl Field when Lindsay and Mike decided to transition to different places in their life And we're forever grateful for them too for giving us the opportunity and having created what they did

But that kind of opened the door for us to see things in a different way.

And so then we decided this makes more sense to start here because my farming roots suddenly just like grew.

exponentially to come back to life and then being able to connect with local farmers and being able to create a space where we know at the table we all connect.

So it truly is more about nourishing more than just our bodies.

It's truly a place to nourish our mind, body, and soul and connecting community.

And never to create silos like only to add to what our community has because the more people we get to our downtown, the more it offers for all of us to have people exploring and keeps people staying.

So it's truly one thing that we hope just compliments what we already have because I highly respect all of our businesses in town too.

I think we're great.

You were here a year ago, Tony, and you were a grace ambassador.

I know you consider yourself a survivor.

And you've put that to good use, but you want to maybe extend that idea of better health and better living and better wellness into your business,

right?

Absolutely.

Yep.

And there will be benefits charts to help people when they come in.

Nobody has to ever feel overwhelmed.

It doesn't even have to feel like wellness.

And so being able to use that with a deeper understanding, I guess, I think can only

possibly help people in a deeper way.

I always think that there's a plan and a reason.

So I think I said a year ago, maybe cancer is a gift in its own way.

Sometimes not that I would ever want that gift for anybody, but you know, sometimes there are things behind, you know, if you utilize that, it's there's purpose and meaning behind it that can be a gift to others.

So hopefully this can be an extension of that to the community.

Can you talk about your menu and what you plan to feature, Tony?

Yeah.

So on our menu, we have of course cold pressed juices and cold pressed juices.

We use, um, well, we think the best machine in the world by good nature.

Um, but what it does is it literally, um, you grind the fruits and vegetables and then it presses them without any kind of heat pasteurization or anything.

So it's just completely fresh fruits and vegetables that are squeezed into that.

bottle that is recyclable because that's also important to a sustainability.

So you're literally getting fresh ingredients straight into the bottle and anybody looking for compost or scrap material that's another thing like we want to be able to get our scraps to farmers and gardeners and anybody that wants compost material.

So every single day, we will have something for people to come and pick up if they want.

So reach out to Wild Honey, and we would be happy to do that.

So menu, getting back to that.

So cold pressed juices, and we have smoothies, and we have breakfast sandwiches, and sandwich items, and pancake options.

And of course, we're not necessarily vegan, but we have vegan options.

We have gluten-free options.

and we have bacon sausage all using as local as we possibly can and then we have coffee because coffee complements everything that we have and it also creates community and again it's kind of our way of being able to incorporate wellness in a different way but to complement everything that our community has so that there's just lots of room for people to have opportunities.

Well, you

have some outdoor

seating as well.

We have outdoor seating and plenty of space for people to get around the seating.

Cause I know that's always a concern when you have outdoor seating, but the outdoor seating, we have umbrellas.

I know there's hot days and things like that.

So there'll be a place that you can feel comfortable to sit outside and we'll continue to expand some of that outdoor area for people too on a property adjacent behind us with some green space.

You brought along a particular one for me to try here.

Tony, can you tell me what is in this?

No, I have no idea.

That one is called jam session.

And jam session is a combination of bananas and blueberries and peanut butter, cacao nibs.

We never really use ice in any of our smoothies.

So it's actually all fresh fruit that we blend together.

And that one has almond milk.

as its base for the liquid.

But we make cashew milk in-house of different varieties, so we can use cashew milk, oat milk.

And we're the first in Wisconsin to have kochi milk, which is a fermented Japanese rice and oat combination.

And it's super great in our coffees and things like that.

We'll actually retail that.

So we have lots of fun things coming up.

But yeah, that smoothie is called Jam Session.

It's so fun naming these two.

It's really, really good.

I love

peanut

butter too, by the

way.

So

absolutely.

No sugars

added.

No sugar added.

There are cacao nibs, but it's healthy cacao, you know, so there's little cacao nibs, but yeah, no sweeteners added, no sugar.

Yeah.

Very good.

Sure.

Sorry.

Are you going to have like some regular juices?

Are you just going to kind of maybe alternate

the menu from time to time?

Yeah.

So we'll have right now, we have a lot of regular juices.

We have eight regular juices, um, but we will definitely like be as

seasonal as possible.

For example, our summer juice, we were able to just put some of those out on our soft opening because I'm like summer is flying by and we've got to get them out there, but it's called chasing fireflies and it's watermelon and mint lime and cayenne.

Um, so it's just super refreshing with just a little teeny, teeny bit of kick to it that just kind of lights you up inside a little tiny bit.

I love that.

Were you, were you out watching fireflies when you created

that name?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cause I love those.

Yeah.

So I do too.

But yeah.

So it's in, you know, that's a total summer, Wisconsin, July kind of thing.

So, um,

We may still make some more of those, but I have to say some of my favorites are with squash and pumpkin and apples, and they are phenomenal juices.

And I do love beets, too.

And I am the crazy one that loves the deep greens.

We have one called Rollin' in the Deep.

It's not going to be everybody's favorite, in fact.

I could name people that tell me that they're not going to buy that one.

Your husband

Brian?

Exactly, that's the one.

Didn't want to mention he needs.

Brian's like, nope, I'm not for that role in The Deep.

But he loves free spirit.

That's his favorite.

He also likes radiant rebel.

And we have nature lover.

And yes, we have one called Forever Young, Good for Skin.

And just kind of compliments that glowing beauty, super hydrating.

Interesting.

I've learned over the years to not knock it until I try it.

I'm not a fan of beets,

but

maybe I'd be a fan of

beet juice.

You never know.

Yeah.

And we have a variety of different beet juices that we can do.

The one that we're doing right now is called farmer's daughter.

And it's a little bit of throwing in everything from the garden.

So it could be kind of like a V8 kind of type drink or again, not going to be ever, it's more savory.

So it won't be everybody's favorite lemonade, so to speak, but but I love it So and people could use it for like kind of a Bloody Mary mix or something like that too.

So there's lots of options with it But it's super great as far as like nutrient dense

and tell me about the granola you brought some along today as well

Yeah, so we make everything we make is housemaid

and with intention.

Everything that we've done has been highly with intention, but the granola we make, how it's made, and we add it to some of our smoothies and different things that we have.

We also will be selling that separately, so you can buy it like a half pound or a pound.

In fact, when we did do it for the soft opening, it sold out within that time frame.

We sold out of everything.

So we're ready to make new batches and we'll also be making in-house focaccia bread for some of our sandwiches.

And there's just a lot going on in the background.

That's super exciting that we can't wait to open the doors and share it with everybody.

So as well as we have an event coming up September 26th.

Tell me

about

that because it kind of ties in with your name of your business, isn't

it?

Yeah.

So Anna Voss is a singer and songwriter and she wrote a song called Wild Honey.

And I don't know, it's probably been a few years since I heard that song.

In fact, we named our camper Wild Honey, which is probably kind of geeky, but we'll admit we're those kind.

We're kind of geeky sometimes.

But it started there.

And then she was playing at the Sylvia in Madison, and we spoke.

But her song really struck me.

kind of like a little bit of a folk indie song maybe I think she had calls it something else her genre but anyway it's really kind of about like I don't even know quite how to explain it I was trying to make myself some notes but it's kind of about that untamed part of yourself in your life

that calls you to kind of really be your authentic self maybe, just to be kind of wild and free and courageous.

Just kind of holding on to that wonder in your life, you know, just keeping that curiosity alive and kind of sharing the journey.

And I felt like that's exactly, you know, fitting for who we are.

on top of the fact that honey in and of itself is sweet and it's also highly beneficial and it tied into the whole wellness thing so there's lots behind it you know and we will of course sell honey too but but that's where it came about but Anna is actually coming to sing in Richland Center September 26th so we'll be hosting a private dinner event it'll be put out

on social media for people to get tickets but will only have about 75 tickets sold and I have a feeling those tickets will go fast.

It'll be like a Harvest Moon event because it's the night of the Harvest Moon and so it'll be kind of an evening dinner event and that's something that with Wild Honey we plan to do some nice evening events for people and truly lots in store more than I probably have time to tell you all about but

That is

exciting.

Yeah.

And the pretty good named artists coming to our little town there.

And

so

outside kind of in the patio areas where she's

going to play.

Yeah.

So the building behind in the, there's kind of a shop in the back on the corner of mill and is that Jefferson?

We have some green space there that doesn't look like anything in the moment, but we will bring that to life with some adding some trees with burlap and some party lights and some tables and kind of create like

just a really nice little atmosphere and if weather is bad we have opportunities to remedy that too so it'll be a rain or shine event.

So kind of like a white party where people would wear white will instead wear kind of fall themes where it might be like the light creams, light beige and like light orange color but just kind of sticking within a theme.

And then we'll have in probably like an old pickup truck and some hay bells and some flower people there and some animals and I mean it'll be

along with the music, it'll be a nice event.

We'll hope for a nice night for you,

a nice

fall evening.

And she sings Harvest Moon, too.

So it's another one of her songs that she sings.

Really?

The Neil Young song?

Yep.

So she does her own cover version of that.

You'll have to follow her on Spotify.

She's a nice collect.

She just finished a song called Human Being, Not a Human Doing.

So another little nice song that some people would appreciate.

What will your hours be, Tony?

What's the plan?

We're looking right now at 6 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

every day.

We just really want that consistency that people will just know that we're, you don't have to worry, we're going to be there every day for you.

And eventually we'll extend into some evenings, but to start we just want to keep ourselves alive too and have that consistency that 6 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

and

get our game down and then be able to expand based on that.

Yeah, that's what people will know to stop by, even on Sundays and Mondays and sometimes off days for restaurants.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, we've had a lot of people worried that, you know, evenings and after school, a lot of the high schoolers have begged, you know, please be open.

We need something before we get on the bus.

So for their games or

whatever.

Oh, sure.

Yeah, maybe they love the Aussie bowls and the smoothie bowls and that type of thing So and we will have a grab and go cooler so people can come in and if they're in a hurry You know can quickly grab the overnight oats are called born to be wild and they really are amazing so They also sold out immediately and they're not the typical overnight oats that you'd make at home They're kind of jazzed up a little bit, but still super healthy with some chia seeds in there for some protein

Great.

Well, it's an exciting time.

Uh, you know, as you get ready for the, uh, the opening while honey, juicery and cafe and, uh, kind of keep us posted on, you know, what the plan is when you might be opening and things.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, you'll be able to follow us at right now.

We just have an Instagram page at wild honey, juicery.

Um, we will work on getting up a Facebook page and get better at keeping up with socials and that type of thing.

because I know that's been an area I wish I could have done a better job but my bandwidth has been pretty thin so yeah but no it's great.

Tell me about your your staff everybody in place?

Yeah so we have um gosh you know it's crazy we have a staff of about 16 17 people which many of them are going to be going back to school soon but we do have some solid people that are a little bit more permanent and I have more people that

If you're out there, I apologize, I will get back to you.

But we've had lots of people applying.

So it's really nice.

Just haven't had an opportunity to reach out to everybody.

But the staff is phenomenal.

I mean, they literally have helped clean things up and get things organized.

And I honestly couldn't have asked for a better staff.

So each one of them are super special.

Wonderful.

We look forward to meeting them as well.

We have

a

full-time person as a chef.

Yeah,

so that's just brand new to us as within like hot off the press like within the last 24 hours.

So we have a chef that he is highly skilled and he will take things to a whole new level.

It's going to make things so much easier to be able to really produce

a variety in the menu.

So instead of kind of having that set menu, we'll have some set items, but we're really going to be able to capitalize on that local and seasonal a lot more when we have somebody with skills to be able to really, you know, make our produce local shine.

So yeah, we say we're organic where it matters because not everybody's certified organic because there's a lot of paperwork and different things.

So we're, we are

organic, essentially, but we just don't go by that label.

But we're organic where it matters.

We're basically housemaid with intentions.

We say we're wellness without extremes.

You know, really seasonal and local whenever possible, and those are some of the things that we kind of stand by.

And some of our values are creativity and adventure and of course sustainability, community.

wellness, like those are the big things.

And in the end, at the end of the day, you know, we hope that our food is great, but more importantly, we hope that it's a space that people can come into and feel connected and seen and just valued and can feel at home.

And that's really what we want.

We just really want, we want people to feel good when they come in the space, because even the space has been created with intention and the subcontractors knocked it out of the park.

I couldn't

Imagine having done this job without them.

So,

well, you and your family, not natives have here either.

I salute you.

Yes.

You've made this your home and, you know, even maybe more permanently now with this business

in downtown original center.

Yeah.

And I, I'm sure that the business will outlive me.

So,

I mean, we kind of did it with that in mind, um, because, um, we know that at this point we're kind of at a, I mean, we didn't have to do this.

by any means, but it was something that the community has been great to us.

So it was an opportunity to be able to give back to the community that's given us so much.

So, you know, we hope that it's embraced and if not, you know, we failed trying.

But hopefully that won't be the case.

Hopefully, you know, we just, we're just super grateful for this community and having been able to be a part of it for over a decade.

It's just an opportunity, like I said, to be able to give something back that will outlive us.

Wonderful.

Well, we'll have you back or we'll go down there too.

You know, so I can be close to the smoothies

and everything.

Exactly.

And we do have like a little cable area that you can plug into and you can, you know, sit in the front window and you can even come down and do

broadcast,

wave with the

people going by.

Yep.

Exactly.

Just take you

up on

that.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

And so, I mean, we will have opportunities for speakers to come in karaoke and different things.

And there is a basement that we'll be able to use for overflow and it could be used for private

at meetings or events and things like that too.

Really?

Because

I had heard that that was kind of a scary place.

It used to be.

Yeah.

But not now.

We have changed it.

The ceilings are still low.

We didn't like dig out any space.

So like if you're six foot three or something like that, you'll just have to wheel yourself in instead of, you know, standing up.

They'll have to duck for some duct work, but.

It's a nice space that will really be comfortable for people to do lunch and learns or even little showers or book clubs, girls' nights, guys' nights, whatever.

It's an opportunity, again, to kind of have a private little space.

The wheels are turning, aren't

they?

You must lay

awake at night.

Oh gosh, I've aged about 50 years in the last two years, so yeah.

Time to take care of myself a little bit too.

Sure, we'll have a smoothie.

Exactly.

Thank you for coming in today.

We

appreciate you.

Thank you, Phil.

It was great.

Thanks for having me.

Tony McCarville.

Thanks to the community as well.

You bet.

Wild honey, juicery and cafe.