The Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen is Ready to Use | News, Sports, Jobs

Sisters Becki Steier, left, and Kelli Steier, right, are all excited to finally open their new restaurant, Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen, in Blue Earth.

Two Blue Earth sisters are making a long-held dream come true by opening their new restaurant this week.

Becki Steier and Kelli Steier bought the building that previously housed the Blue Earth Hometown restaurant and the Country Kitchen restaurant before that, and completely renovated it.

It will officially open this week, Tuesday, November 23, with the new name of Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen.

“We had a soft opening two weeks ago, and we are now only open for take out, due to some issues related to COVID. “ says Becki Steier. “Now we’ll finally be open to everyone for dinner inside. “

It has been a long and difficult road to get there, say the two sisters.

A year ago, in November 2020, the owners of the building, three octogenarian brothers who do not live in the Blue Earth neighborhood, contacted the father of the sisters, Tim Steier, to sell the building.

“Our father had already contacted the Steege brothers about the building. “ said Kelli Steier. “They came back to him to tell him they were ready to sell him.

On December 12, 2020, an agreement was reached, with a closing date of March 1. However, numerous complications blocked the actual purchase and the two sisters were finally able to take back ownership on April 1 of this year.

“The Ankeny Builders workers, whom we had hired as a contractor, were in the building for a demonstration later that same day,” says Becki Steier. “And they found a lot of problems with the building.”

From wiring and plumbing to inadequate heating and air conditioning, old and outdated kitchen appliances to a collapsed floor space, they’ve had one problem after another.

“We cannot say enough about Ankeny Builders and the subcontractors they have hired” says Becki Steier. “Whenever there was a problem, they solved it. And Mic (Ankeny) had lots of great ideas for the renovations.

Still, it was thought that the project would only take a few months, and the Steier sisters planned to open their doors last July.

“Yes, it didn’t work” said Kelli Steier. “Now, seven months later, we’re finally ready to open. “

Not only were there so many issues with the poor condition of the building, but they were hit by the downturn in the supply chain.

“We just received some of the kitchen items in September and October that we ordered in May”, said Kelli Steier. “And some arrived damaged and had to be returned.”

Becki Steier adds that some items have still not arrived, but they are not essential to the operation of the restaurant.

For starters, Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will serve upscale brunch on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. As of December 13, they will start to be open on Monday evenings. After the first of the year, they will add fine dining on Friday and Saturday evenings.

They have a beer and wine permit so they can serve drinks with their meals.

“Our goal is to serve excellent homemade meals in a family and friendly atmosphere” says Becki Steier.

The two partners of the company each have their role. Becki Steier is the Commercial Director, taking care of the accounting, orders, etc. Kelli Steier is the manager of the restaurant and manages the day-to-day operations.

“I still have my business, BS Studios, downtown” says Becki Steier. “But it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

In fact, she says she considered buying Double Play from Blue Earth about seven years ago. However, she decided not to do it, as she didn’t want to do it on her own.

“I really didn’t want to own a bar” she explains. “I’ve been a bartender in the past and didn’t really want to do it again.”

As for her sister, Kelli Steier has worked in the restaurant business for years.

“I started working here, in this building, when it was Country Kitchen, when I was 17,” she says. “I’ve been working here pretty much ever since, even when I also worked as a hairdresser. “

The two owners say they are very happy to have been able to hire a complete and talented staff to work at the restaurant.

“Sarah Smith is our chef, and she has 20 years of experience,” said Kelli Steier. “Cain Widhalm is our chef, and he came from Princeton, Minnesota, to work with us.”

They have a full staff who are fully trained and both sisters say they are “Unbelievable.”

They also both say they take pride in their menus, keep their food as fresh as possible, cut their own meat products, have fresh burgers that haven’t been frozen. and that they follow many old family recipes.

“It’s a labor of love for us” says Becki Steier. “So we want everything to be perfect and the food to be very, very good. “

The two sisters say they dedicate the restaurant to their parents. They use their mother’s (Barb) recipes and put their father’s (Tim) career in their business name.

“We also have a lot of pictures of our family farm in the restaurant,” Becki said. “And we have the side room called Pilot’s Lounge, in honor of our family involved in aviation.”

Now, after a year of hard work, the sisters are all excited to finally open the doors to the public and let everyone get a good look at everything they’ve made and enjoy their great homemade recipes.