Geving, Hedlund reviving former Palace Cafe location

By Robert Williams

Editor

Michael Geving and Mae Hedlund met 17 years ago in the Klondike Cafe in Wolf Lake. Geving was a regular customer and Hedlund helped start the cafe. Since then, there have been many chats between the two about opening their own restaurant.  ¶  “It’s been a chat for years,” Hedlund said.  ¶  “I’ve always said, ‘do a restaurant,’” Geving said.  ¶  Between the two, the couple have a combined 27 years in the industry with both working at the popular Ice Cracking Lodge in rural Ponsford.  ¶  “It’s a lot different when you’re an owner,” Geving said.  ¶  The couple moved to Duluth for a while before returning to Frazee. When the former Palace Cafe was put into foreclosure and up for sale by Midwest Bank the couple decided it was the right time to move on the property.  ¶  Former owners David and Debbie Streiff left the restaurant in a ready to operate state.

“This was turnkey ready,” said Geving.

Despite a nearly new kitchen missing only a dishwasher, there is still plenty of work to do to refresh the interior after sitting unoccupied for a year.

The timing of the availability of the cafe felt like it was meant to be for the couple and when they opened up a post office box for their personal mail there was some irony attached to the new address.

“When we moved back from Duluth we had to open a P.O. Box and it was P.O. Box 121,” Geving said. “I got the paperwork here and their P.O. Box here was 121.”

The couple had other offers, including reopening a cafe in Wolf Lake, but turned them down waiting on a perfect fit for both themselves and their children.

Hedlund says Geving was the prod that got them to where they are now—about to open their own cafe.

“He kept saying, ‘We’ve got to do this…we need to do this,’” said Hedlund.

The couple sought out the advice and help of Ashley Renollet at United Community Bank and Karen Pifher of Creating Community Consulting who helped them traverse the financial burden and LLC and relative paperwork, respectively.

“Ashley is our first employee of the month,” Geving laughed.

“We could not have done this without Karen and Ashley,” said Hedlund.

Local business owners have also come to the aid of the new cafe owners.

“Heather Perrine is another one; I’ve gotten a lot of good advice from her,” said Hedlund.

As word got around, future customers began asking the usual questions. The duo also volunteer their time running the meat raffle and horse races at Third Crossing as a fundraiser for Kaotic Robotics and as word spread the conversations continued.

Much of the interior work since purchasing the cafe has been redoing the dining room walls. All the classic photos that were hanging in the Palace Cafe had been removed leaving damaged walls.

Geving also has a construction background, conveniently, and with the help of family have redone the walls changing the interior color to a lightened off-white from the former blue interior paint.

Decor plans are an antique style based on the collection of Mae’s mother Donna and stepfather Donovan’s collection. 

“We love Frazee so we’re going to do a lot of old Frazee stuff,” said Geving.

One piece has 64 matchbooks from former Frazee businesses, along with unique boot setups. For instance, one featuring the old sawmill and antique saws.

The couple also toured cafes around the area for inspiration.

“We’ve checked quite a few of them out to get ideas,” said Hedlund.

One very noticeable addition will be a bar and barstools facing out the front windows.

The most noticeable detraction will be the removal of the Palace Cafe signage. There was very little thought given to continuing under the old name.

“This is our dream,” said Geving. “I want it to be our dream.”

“Our fresh start,” said Hedlund.

Another new attraction will be a Wall of Fame that highlights a local standout for a month with a featured item on the menu picked out by the person being honored. Mae’s Cafe already has a first Wall of Fame nominee picked out, Jayden Sonnenberg, the Hornets’ girls basketball player who broke the school scoring record and surpassed 2,000 points scored.

“She’s going somewhere,” said Hedlund.

“We want to incorporate something every month into here,” said Geving.

The Wall of Honor will not just be limited to students, but will include people from all walks of life who deserve some special recognition.

“We wouldn’t be here if the town doesn’t support us and we want to support them too,” said Hedlund.

Plans for the menu are to continue in a simple, classic care style with a few surprises. After officially opening plans are to add nightly specials like wing night and burger night.

Keep an eye out for deep fried french toast on the menu which will eventually appear more than once. The second incarnation being the Hugzilla, a large breakfast sandwich consisting of egg, ham, bacon, a patty and cheese with french toast as a bun.

Geving and Hedlund received the keys to the cafe on Dec. 29 and will be looking to open less than a month from that acquisition.

“Our goal is to try to be open on the 21st,” said Geving. “We’re going to do a soft opening on Sunday, Jan 18.”

Staffing is nearly completed, but there is an opening for a cook. 

The soft opening will be invite-only to local business owners and people who have helped out during the renovation.

Initial hours of operation are planned for Wednesday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with plans to adjust those hours seasonally.