The unexpected
Couple expands restaurant business to Marshfield
By Kris Leonhardt
MARSHFIED – Yareldi Gutierrez met her husband, Ramon, while he was a cook and she was working as wait staff at a restaurant.
That union would take the couple to a place that they never expected to be – entrepreneurship.
“My husband had the idea of opening a restaurant. I was like let’s go ahead, me being a supporting wife,” Yareldi laughed, reflecting on the times she spent as a busser, dishwasher, and wait staff.
“My husband worked at a restaurant in Appleton. We’ve been working for restaurants for years. We wanted to open up a restaurant. We went to look at a different location, but that didn’t happen. Well, Merrill kind of popped up on my news feed. I sent a message, and he replied right away, and we went to go look at it two days later… We thought that we were going to look at it and that’s it. No, we signed a lease that same day.”
Their Merrill restaurant – Casa Amigos Mexican Restaurant – has been in operation for a year. With that going well, they took a look at expanding. When a longtime vacant building was brought to their attention, they set their sights on Marshfield.
“It popped up on my news feed the same, and we came and looked at it. I said, ‘We’ll think about it; we’ll see.’ A week later, I sent him a message and said, ‘Ya, we’ll take it,’” she recalled.
Finding an ideal location, the couple, along with a partner, began work on a second location, with a set of challenges, as the building is nearly empty from its previous tenant. The team will need to obtain much of the necessary equipment to open the doors.
“We will be making the tables. We made the tables for the one in Merrill,” explained Yareldi.
The group will construct 45 tables, with plans to add about 15 more at a later date.
“Obviously, down the road, once we open up and we get more income, we will be adding more tables,” she said.
The business, which will be called “Casa Amigos Mexican Restaurant II,” will also offer outdoor seating and entertain the possibility of delivery.
“We do deliveries in Merrill. We have our own delivery app, and we do our own delivery. But, because it is a bigger city, we have to see how it goes first and then go on from there,” she added.
The business will employ over a dozen staff members and will offer a full bar and a large menu of Mexican cuisine, similar to the current Merrill location.
“It’s a big menu; we have a lot, a lot,” she added.
The business will make its home at 12 N. Central Avenue, Marshfield – the former location of Hudson’s – which has been vacant for a few years.
“I kind of take it as it was waiting for us,” Yareldi said.
“We never really thought we would be in this position. I think it kind of just happened, and we are glad it happened. We had a lot of struggles to get to where we are, but I think we are doing pretty good; we are doing amazing. I never thought we would be in this position at all, but we are proud.”
Yareldi said that they plan to open Oct. 15-30 and will host a grand opening
The business will operate Sunday- Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.