Katie Lillge, owner of All Shook Up Tavern in De Pere, is shaking up the concept that bar food means greasy burgers and foods laden with preservatives. She promises healthier options not typically found in a tavern.
In describing the business, she said, “I have the freshest ingredients around and try to source as much as I can locally. When it comes to food, I consider myself a purist.”
The menu includes pizzas topped with items like organic sausage and nitrite-free meats, fresh vegetables, and additive free cheeses. There are salads and dressings that are made from scratch, and baked, not fried appetizers.
“You can tell the difference,” Lillge said. “I source from places like Waseda Farms, Driftless Provisions, and Belgioioso Cheese.”
The food is tagged with catchy names derived from Elvis Presley songs. The “pizza that started it all” as the first offering on the menu is the Heartbreak Hotel, a pizza with roasted potatoes, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, organic bacon, chives, rosemary and sour cream drizzle on a signature ultra-thin crust.
It’s quite a change from the frozen pizzas that were previously served there, and only one of the major changes made since Lillge purchased the property in July of 2022. Although she had years of experience in the food industry, she admits there were times when she questioned the purchase.
She said, “I had kind of fallen into the purchase and was reluctant to proceed because I knew it would be a headache. With the level of disrepair, it needed much more work than I expected. The first week after closing, I realized how much I had to do. It was closed and I brought in my whole family and deep cleaned it all.”
As Lillge considered the steps prior to opening, she got busy. The roof needed replacement, windows leaked, the siding was bad, the kitchen had to be gutted and new equipment added, and the parking lot drained the wrong way.
“I knew it needed a big facelift,” she commented. “I got on my feet and went to the bank and got enough credit to get started. I worked with a contractor who understood the business and he was fantastic. It was one thing after another.”
Despite the challenges, she saw the potential. The tavern’s location in the De Pere suburbs was showing rapid growth. To tap into that market, Lillge knew she would need to create a balance between keeping the loyal customers who had frequented the bar previously and adding the newer, more urban residents.
To be successful, she set out to create an atmosphere where everyone felt welcome. With the new kitchen and ability to make major menu changes, a diverse clientele meant changes had to include, not only the new menu items, but also more traditional ones.
“I knew the area would be good for attracting new target customers and I started making changes right away. There were those who wanted to pooh-pooh it and discourage me, but I thought I could attract the original country bar locals and a more health-conscious customer,” Lillge noted.
Now, three years into the business, she is finding that it is working. The current menu, with its unique weekly offerings that are posted on Facebook, is garnering rave reviews from the old and new customers (and there is always the option of a plain sausage and pepperoni pizza). The creativity offered on the menu items adds to the fun as was her intention when selecting a name.
She explained, “The previous owner was an Elvis fanatic and the locals knew that so I decided to roll with that. My son, Ayden, and I were tossing around names from Elvis’s song titles and All Shook Up stuck in my head. When I was thinking that, I had run into a store and when I came out, that song was playing on the radio. It was meant to be.”
Although the tavern opened with Elvis’s music, lest customers get sick of it, the playlist is now in the classic rock genre.
It is all part of being sensitive to customers’ preferences, something she learned as owner of other businesses and as a bar manager in Lake Tahoe, one of the many places she lived.
She commented, “I learned how to communicate with anybody, rich or poor, no matter their appearance or job. Despite the differences, there is common ground, and I came to realize that everyone is similar is some way.”
That realization has influenced the way she treats her customers. The businesses that she owned, Bad Ass Babies, a baby t-shirt company, and Sunny Side Body Massage, a massage therapy business, also provided experience in operational management.
When it came to writing a business plan for All Shook Up, she revisited a template that was used for the baby t-shirt company. For assistance writing that plan, she had visited a SCORE Chapter in Oregon and had mentors who helped her work through the process. That business might have been 180 degrees from what she is doing now, but the business basics are the same.
Lillge has daily concerns about managing inventory, monitoring costs, and generating income.
“I am a bartender, cook, marketer, landscaper, cleaner, bookkeeper, controller of inventory, plumber – you name it,” she said.
There is help from a staff of about seven part-timers, but she is the person responsible for making sure that things are running smoothly and expectations are being met. Customers are appreciating the effort.
“I’ve had customers thank me for being here and having such a thoughtful menu,” Lillge said. “There is a shift happening and people are becoming more conscious of additives in food and many need a gluten free option (she offers that in a variety of her items).”
As she prepares healthy food options and interesting craft cocktails, she says she is stressing quality rather that quantity. Her marketing for future growth includes the promotion of private parties, more orders for carryout food, a patio that has a great view, and weekly specials. Beyond that, she wants to create a website that will allow online ordering and to sell take and bake pizzas.
This is all quite a change from the almost 15 years she spent roaming the country starting in the early 2000s. It was the desire to be closer to family that brought her back to the area in 2014 when Ayden was 4 years old.
“I never imagined I would be back here. I feel like my life has come full circle. I am in an industry that I hadn’t thought I would be in again,” Lillge noted. “But, with an independence I learned from my mom and other family members, I am being true to myself. I’m passionate about what I’m doing and want to be that local, hidden gem.”
Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Tavern owner Katie Lillge is shaking up bar food concept by offering healthier options
Reporting by Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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