Words by Morgan Mercer | Photos by Sarah White

Pollen is celebrating the 14 businesses that have come together in support of Pollen’s mission to build better connected communities. Together, these businesses challenge Pollenites to raise $15,000 by December 31, which they will match dollar for dollar. Donate today and join them in their investment to power human connection. 

Sparkling glasses of champagne. A brick-walled courtyard. Toast. For one Twin Cities’ dynasty, expansion is on the horizon. This year, restaurateur Kim Bartmann will up the ante at two of her flagship locations: Barbette and Red Stag Supperclub. The former is adding a champagne and toast bar dubbed Trapeze. To do that, Kim plans to build the bar in the empty hair salon adjacent to Barbette. While the space isn’t renovated yet, her team painted the ceiling hot pink in preparation for opening day. In 2007, the Red Stag Supperclub turned heads with its green thumb when it became the first LEED-CI certified restaurant in Minnesota, cutting its water use by 70% and its energy use in half. Now a decade later, the contemporary supper club has gained a new addition. The Club Room is a private gathering space complete with an outdoor courtyard and wood fire grill. It’s time to celebrate the growing empire with grill marks and wine by the glass.

Pollen: What’s your role in the business and what’s next for you?

Kim Bartmann:

Instigator. I’m always trying to push things forward and make things better.

One of the constraints in this business is that entropy reigns. People are very hard on physical space and objects. Food goes bad, wine goes bad, beer goes bad, and people’s attitudes go bad. There’s entropy everywhere you look, so how do you spin that around? You have to try to make things better all the time in order to outrun entropy.

I’m about to start a growth phase. I’d like to replace myself with someone more knowledgeable on the business side and turn my focus to the community, arts, and events activities we’re involved in.

Pollen: What are some of the biggest challenges of being a small business owner?

Kim Bartmann: Knowing that a majority of government support goes to large corporations, and that the regulatory environment is much harder on small businesses when it comes to rising costs, increased liability concerns, keeping up with technology, and labor shortages in the restaurant industry.

Pollen: What’s the culture of your team? How did that culture develop?

Kim Bartmann: Before I opened my first space, I vowed never to work in a restaurant again because of the way past employers treated me. So in the beginning it was all about flexible scheduling, treating employees fairly, group decision-making, and building an atmosphere where people weren’t micromanaged but took responsibility for their work. In 1993, we paid 100% of employees’ health insurance at Cafe Wyrd and Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater. That was unheard of at the time. A few years later, I connected the dots and became concerned about how the food industry affected the environment. That worry grew into how I think about our values today. Putting people first means thinking about health, and that starts with clean air, clean water, and living soil.

Pollen: What is the story we need to be telling about our region?

Kim Bartmann:

I went to a Heartland Circle event where someone suggested that our region is to consciousness what Silicon Valley is to the internet.

When you think about it, revolutionary philosophies, early innovations in computing, and progressive politics have come from the Midwest. I like the idea of claiming that space for our region and celebrating it.

Pollen: Do you think story can build empathy across difference?

Kim Bartmann: How else do you do it? People have to be in discourse and dialogue in order to be able to relate across cultural differences and differences of all kinds. At the Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater we never censor work, but we had a couple who worked with us that almost broke up after an argument about whether we should continue to allow a piece to perform onstage. The contentious two-minute piece was part of a larger cabaret-style show and featured a tattooed, pierced, and scantily clad lesbian waving around fire and a giant dildo. I went to see the show for myself to decide whether we should restrict it or not. The piece was performed right before intermission. At the break, a blond-haired, conservative looking woman in a nice looking trench coat got up and left the theater. I went after her and asked if she left because she felt offended. “No,” she said. “I’m tired. I’m a flight attendant and I only came to see that last piece before intermission.” You just can’t make assumptions about people based on what they look like.