Inspiring Conversations with Anna Winger of The Buena Viking

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Winger

Hi Anna, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My husband and I started The Buena Viking in 2017 with a food truck we bought off of Craigslist and a couple of credit cards. Over two separate locations and seven years, we grew our business exponentially and enjoyed a seasonal life of getting crushed in the summer and fall, and taking it easier in the winter months. When a commercial lot became available on Main Street in the winter of 2021, we weighed our options for building a brick and mortar restaurant. Evan and I loved the food truck, and the life it gave us, but it was getting harder and harder to keep the proverbial wheels on the bus with the amount of business we were doing. There was also the fact that lots are getting bought and built on in a rapid pace in Buena Vista, and there was no safe longevity plan continuing to rent lots on and around Main Street. We were stuck with the problem of building something that was really cool, really working well, and not knowing if it would have the option to be here in five years. We grew up so much in the food truck, entered our 40s, had a kid, and felt the siren call to build a life with more stability for our future. So, we drastically complicated our lives by buying the lot and moving forward with a commercial build for a brick and mortar restaurant and a lodge with three apartments on top. Today, we are finishing our first summer as a full restaurant and have learned many, many lessons, had a crash course in having a staff of over 50 people, and slowly and quickly modified our business from a food truck to a full service restaurant. As our tagline likes to say, we are conquering our adventure!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If we look at the journey of sketching out our dream building in the winter of 2021 to today, with a finished building in 2024, I can say there were not a lot of smooth, flowy, singletrack sections. It was more like extremely rocky and steep switchbacks for days or a river trip with constant class V rapids and no pools in which to drop. This cheesy metaphor is ironic, because we did not do too much biking or paddling, or anything on the fun train during this process. We would hear, do they know what they’re getting themselves into? And no, we did not. How does anyone know what they’re getting themselves into in this life? We jumped in with both feet once we were going, there was no turning back. Evan and I are completely self-made. We had savings from the food truck and used the Small Business Association’s Down Payment Assistance program to have the money for a down payment on the loan. We absolutely could not have done this without that program and he faith of our small town bank, High Country. We hired a company out of Colorado Springs, Colarelli Construction, to GC the project, which gave us enough lessons to last a life time, and I’ll leave it at, no I would not hire them again.

The funding of such a big project and hiring a large construction company to count on to lead us through the project were the 2 big first steps in this journey, and I’m really proud that we built a business that could support this sort of jump. The years following were filled with daily highs and lows, and writing the biggest checks I ever hope to write in this life! The next big hurdle was transitioning our business from the food truck model to a fully running brick and mortar.

People loved our food truck. Our line had it’s own culture, and we could do our daily business with five people per shift. There is so much nostalgia connected to our Craigslist food truck. The transition into something bigger was going to involve an exponentially bigger staff, bigger menu, a lot more on the line, and the weight of the public opinion. We went from getting our Certificate of Occupancy on February 15th, to opening February 28th of 2024. A couple of months to refine, and then summer in Buena Vista was on. We fired and hired and had many pivots this summer. It was truly survival mode, and we knew that there was no way around that! I’ve learned that leaning into a healthy lifestyle of prioritizing sleep, exercise, and compartmentalizing requests, complaints and to do lists has made a world of a difference. Variables do not stop in the restaurant business, and I’ve really had to learn and work at that being a part of my day and not something that can ruin my day.

As I write this part of the article, I realize it can be perceived as a bit negative, and it’s been a hard few years- making this life change with my partner and love of my life. But it’s true when “they” say there’s no reward without the risk. I’m really happy to be on the other side of the build and our first summer, and I think we’ve built something really permanent and awesome on one of the coolest Main Streets in the state. At the end of the day, how lucky we are!

As you know, we’re big fans of The Buena Viking . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Buena Viking restaurant is a gathering place to eat, drink, and hopefully tell stories about your awesome day and adventure. We started as a food truck and saw the potential for a permanent spot where we were able to put time and heart into our community versus just being open during our very heavy tourist season. We serve an assortment of burgers, melts, hearty salads, and unique toppings on tater tots and sweet potato fries. Our bar is fully stocked and often full of and being staffed by amazing characters. We specialize in comfort food and a culture in inclusivity and friendly faces. Evan and I are very passionate about customer service and creating a healthy and financially stable place to work in our valley. I’m most proud of our consistent food and our ability to provide year-around employment with benefits we hope to keep building on every year. I don’t like the statement “we are a family” because that’s presumptive and cocky to think that your employees want to see you as family, but I do believe have an awesome team that has success based off of mutual respect and a recognition of humanity in us all.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I’ve learned to roll with the punches. Looking back on our food truck era, it seems easy now. We were younger, childless, threw ourselves into that truck daily, and traveled our hearts out in the off-season. It was such an awesome time, and I’m thankful for those years. We’ve built something much bigger now and our responsibilities for our mortgage, our staff, and our success as a lodge and restaurant can weigh on my soul. I have learned I can wake up and dread what’s coming for me in the day, or I can wake up and know that variables will most likely come up, and between my management staff, Evan and I, there’s not much we can’t handle. I’ve also learned to make time for myself, daily. It’s imperative. Lastly, I’ve learned to not care so much what people think. When you do big things, people have opinions, and in a small town, sometimes it’s hard to even buy dinner at the grocery store without hearing those opinions, but we are so supported and embraced in Buena Vista, that I no longer let the naysayers bring me down (something I work on daily). I’ve learned so much. Sometimes I think, man in ten years, it’ll be nice to have all these lessons under my belt, but where’s the joy in missing out on your days? I’m learning to try and live at 30,000 feet and a bigger view, not on the floor of the restaurant.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.buenaviking.com and www.evenkeelbv.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebuenaviking/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebuenaviking