Hey everybody. Mayor Taylor Hubbard here for another edition of Locally Yours and today we're here at Size. >> And I'm Michaela Hatfield, City Council Member, and we are in the heart of downtown at the Chaska Mill where Size is located, corner 41 and 61, right across from City Hall. So let's go check it out and grab a bite. >> Sounds good. >> Hi, I'm Kent Krampe, the owner of Size Bar and Grill located in historic downtown Chaska in the Mill building. Size has been part of the community located here for 77 years. The first 52 years or so were located in the original space where the 501 is and then 20 years ago it moved into our current location in the Mill where it became Size Bar and Grill. >> Tell us a little bit about yourself. >> Yeah, so I grew up in a restaurant family. So my great-grandfather was a Spudnut Donut franchise in Zanesville, Ohio. My dad started working there when he was 12 years old. My father went on to do other things in the restaurant industry, was with a couple of big companies. He always said he didn't want us kids to get into the restaurant business. That was like his big thing. He's like, "It's crazy hours, you know, you work weekends, you work nights." But in 2006, we opened our first Raising Cane's and that's when I first started working in restaurants. Worked as a fry cook, cashier, and just fell in love with it. Ended up doing that for about 15 years. Went to school for hospitality management at Iowa State and then ultimately in 2024, we sold our Raising Cane's and so at that point I kind of had a life choice. What do I do? Do I stay in restaurants? Do I look for other work? And after some long conversations with my wife, she said the only way you're going to be happy is if you're your own boss and you're inside of a restaurant. And so we started working with the city of Carver, specifically looking at some of the developments to see if we had the ability to open a restaurant of our own. Um after striking out a handful of times, just not being quite ready for it, I started looking for businesses that were already open and running. Uh that's when I found Sai's. >> What drew you to Sai's? >> The history, right? So many years of being business. Uh you look at the statistics of how often restaurants and bars fail, and the fact that it had survived that long meant that it had a good customer base. There's a lot of people that were going there, and so it was really exciting to kind of see uh as I started talking to people when I asked them about Sai's, [music] you know, everybody has we call them brand marriages. So, people are married to a brand, and some people had divorced Sai's at sometimes, but then it kind of always came back to you, you know, we always go there for my uncle's birthday. We're always there for this event, you know, we had a wedding reception there. So, it had those strong ties to the community that uh I wanted to build in my own place. So, I pretty much just jump-started and jumped way ahead, you know, 75 years of already having those those brand marriages that we just get to keep building off of. >> So, something I love is that Sai's still feels like Sai's, even with an ownership change, and that doesn't often happen. So, what changes have you made? What How did you decide what to keep the same? What does that look like? >> Uh the big one is the staff, right? Like any place that you go to, the people that work there are a huge part of it. So, Kathy, who's behind us bartending today, she's been with Sai's for 40 years. >> Wow. >> So, longer than I've been alive. And so, she's still here working. Uh Nikki, who is our operations manager, is Terri, the former owner's daughter. And so, we really focused on keeping the same staff um and just, you know, improving customer-related things. So, a lot of the focus this last year went in on the menu, and so we completely re- redeveloped the menu, shows a lot of new items, a lot more fresh products, but really a lot of the focus has just been on food and making sure that people have a great experience when they come in. >> So, tell us about what is your vision for the next 5 years or so. >> So, when you're looking at a business that's been around for 75 plus years, to think of 5 years just doesn't It doesn't seem adequate, right? But, we have to do those planning for 5, 10, 15 years down the road. Um I think a lot of it comes back to just listen to the people that have already come in. People that are coming in, you know, new customers that haven't been here before, or people that haven't tried us in a while, and just really hearing their feedback. What are they looking for? What is You know, what is important to them? I get a lot of you know, price is a huge concern for people. So, people trying to make sure that the value is there when they come in. So, focusing on portion sizes. Um but, really it's just creating an inviting, welcoming place for the community to come. >> Speaking of food, what is your favorite menu item? >> Uh I've been really hooked on the chicken quesadilla lately. >> I had the chicken quesadilla. It was amazing. >> Yeah, we've got a jalapeno ranch that I put in there. Sometimes I add bacon, depending on if I'm trying to be healthy or not, but yeah, that's kind of my go-to. >> What type of events do you cater? [music] What kind of food is it? What is that? How's that become a part of your business now? >> Yeah, it's uh it's spiraling out of control. And by that, I mean [laughter] you you set a >> good ways. >> Yes, you set a goal for what you want to do and how you want to cater, and then the actually making it happen is the hard part. Um I've got a really talented team in our kitchen that's focused on getting things out, but when I give them a list for the week and it has, you know, Way School meals, pasta dinners, and also you've got 20 different catered events in a week when the kitchen and the staff wasn't used to that, it's a lot for them to to take on. But, like I said, it's the best way to get people to eat our food. And if they're eating our food out in the community at an event, they can tie that memory back to size and then ultimately come in here and get the same quality food. Um Catering, if you've tried catering an event lately, it is very expensive. And so, I like to think that, you know, a lot of our catering events, uh we have a website where you can look at them, but it just doesn't it doesn't get that right feel. So, I always recommend people talk to me and we just work through a menu. Uh we can make anything. There's no limits to what we can create. We did cucumber sandwiches for Carver Elementary for their teacher appreciation. And when they reached out, they're like, "Do you know how to make Carver or do you know how to make these?" And I was like, "No, but we can figure it out. Like, it's a cucumber sandwich." So, it's just it's kind of setting ourselves to have no limits and then really trying to build that one-on-one instead of [music] just saying, "Here's our menu, go online, figure it out." You know, it's working with the people, figuring out what they need for their event, what's going to work for them. And it's been really rewarding so far. >> You've come into downtown Chaska and immediately been an [music] impactful business owner down here amongst the business community. What do you love about being in downtown Chaska? >> You know, operating in Minneapolis for so long, it wasn't a small town. We had our area on the community like in the university that felt like a small community, but it just wasn't the same as here, right? Um working with Andy from Red Bench, you know, getting to know all these other business owners, and you just kind of start building off of that, right? Sarah from Hayloft, we're having a conversation tomorrow about how we cater one of their their second celebrating their second anniversary. So, it's just you start building those relationships and the goal is just to keep going, right? Like, not be stagnant and it's really nice to have other people around you that have, you know, long-term investments. You know, they're not they're not managers, they're owners, and they're really focused on developing out their their business, which is part of the community. So, it's it's a really special downtown and I'm excited to watch it continue to grow. >> When you first walk in, you see this beautiful mural on the wall. Can you tell us a little bit more about it? >> Yeah, so uh I met with the original founder, Sy. Uh they call them mayor between the tracks, right? Where Sy's was originally located, Sy's Liquor, was right where the train tracks crossed. So, they said you could always see him outside smoking a cigar. He was really they called him, you know, the mayor between the tracks cuz he knew everybody's business. He knew everything that was going on because everybody would come in, talk to him, and he had a really good pulse on the community, which is awesome. Um So, when I started hearing more about him, I met with his daughter. She came in. I thought it was going to be like a 20-minute conversation. We talked for over 2 hours. She just told me stories about her dad, stories about their family, about Size Liquor. And I just fell in love with these, you know, these images in my head. And she had pictures that went along with it. A whole book she wrote about her family, and there's a whole part about her dad. And so, going through and looking at those things, I was like, how do I express that and tell that story? And uh art's a great way of being able to tell people's stories. And so, I I found a muralist. I went through and interviewed with a bunch of them. And then one that just her kind of art always came across and her pictures really well. And so, this is the first time she'd ever done a mural like this. I think she nailed it. As you go through and look at all the different stories around the outside, you've got, you know, the original Size Liquor. It's a the the little girl running out the door with the money box. >> Yeah. >> Is cuz his family lived where the mustache house is. >> Oh, okay. >> And so, every night his wife he would call his wife and say the books are done. And he would send a kid over, they'd grab the money, and run back home. And so, every single day they did that run. And so, something really like that's a special story that you don't get if you're not in a small town. And so, it was just a fun thing to kind of share his history, where he's from. You know, he's a Chaska native. He served in in the military, got injured, came back, and then ultimately opened Size Liquor. And just really he was focused on the community. >> This is like a really great meeting space. Tell us about some of the events that you typically [music] see people come in and utilize the space for. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, it's uh it's fun to see all the community groups that come in here. Right? I said it earlier in one of our conversations about softball, baseball, hockey, you know, all these groups they come and they bring their their parents together, they bring their their coaches together. So, it's a really special place for that. Um as we develop out more of, you know, events, you know, we hold baby showers, bridal showers. We had a graduation party from college earlier this week. So, it's it's a really fun location because you're so relevant close to a bar, you can have alcohol, but it doesn't it doesn't feel, you know, high priced or too, you know, too fancy for people. >> So, if I were to say the sentence started off with the best thing about Chaska is, how would you finish that sentence? >> Uh size. Size for [laughter] >> That's a great answer. >> Uh the people, right? I've only been here for a year. Granted, I grew up in Eden Prairie, I live in Carver, but I've only been in Chaska since purchasing size June of 2025. >> [music] >> And the number of people I've met, the number of members of the community I've talked to and engaged with, there's there's just people that want the small town feel. There's people that want, you know, to not be at a a big chain and not be at a place that [music] everybody can go to. That feels special. And so, I think that's one of my favorite things about Chaska is just the people. >> Loser buys the next round. It's on. See you next time.