Bringing a taste of Florida to downtown Grafton

Pete Olds and K.C. Hallgren were vacationing in Casey Key, Fla., a small community on the Gulf Coast intercoastal, when they noticed how many other Wisconsinites and Midwesterners were down there as well.

The couple had an idea.

“It gets so dark and cold up here, so we thought, ‘Let’s give them a taste of vacation up here,’” Olds said.

This month, they opened the tropical-themed Casey Key Pub in downtown Grafton, replacing the former Martini Pete’s cocktail bar. Olds started Pete’s but sold it a few years ago, and that owner closed the business earlier this year.

Olds, who began a construction and remodeling company after also starting and selling Rebellion Brewing and North 48 in Cedarburg, said the empty storefront was too tempting.

“When it’s in your blood, it’s there,” he said. “You try to get out and it will bring you back in.”

Olds said the cocktail list at Casey Key isn’t as long as Pete’s was, but it has all the tropical classics, including daiquiris, pina coladas and mai tais.

“Instead of 30, cocktails it’s about 10. But we will have all the beachy ones people love,” he said.

Casey Key also does fishbowl drinks and has sangria and bloody marys.

The couple renovated the bar to match the tropical theme. They added a thatched tiki bar roof, painted the walls baby blue with light wood paneling to complement and commissioned local artist Julie Osmus to paint an island mural on the back wall.

Olds said he is very happy with the painting, which gives the impression while sitting at the bar of looking out on a beach scene from under a hut. 

“Sometimes murals come out hokey looking,” he said. “We came across her work and saw it was very realistic.”

Hallgren said Casey Key will be the only tropical bar in the area except for a couple in Milwaukee.

“There’s nothing like this around,” she said. “Our pina coladas have been flying.”

Olds said people have appreciated the ambiance.

“They come in and say, ‘Man, this place makes me happy. The colors are so warm,’” he said.

Olds said he thinks the increasing popularity of Mexican beers like Modelo and Corona has driven interest in tropical bars.

“Mexican cervezas are becoming super popular,” he said, noting Modelo is now the best-selling beer in the United States.

Finding employees is a challenge for the fledgling bar, Olds said. 

Pete’s had been closed for several months so most of those bartenders were no longer available, but Olds said he was able to find a couple of employees from his contacts acquired from his years in the business.

He said it seems that since the pandemic “it feels like everyone disappeared.”

“All the bar owners around here say it’s the hardest part of the business,” he said. “But now, it’s basically me and K.C. open to close each day,” he said. 

Olds thinks they’ll find more bartenders as Casey Key becomes better known by the community.

“Once you get open and get moving, people start filtering in,” he said. “We would rather work it right now and then find the right people.

“Bartenders are the face of your business.”

Olds grew up in the restaurant business. His family owned PJ Piper’s in Cedarburg and Judi’s Place in Oostburg. He taught himself how to tend bar while helping them start Breaking Bread event hall in Sheboygan. 

He then worked at different bars in the Milwaukee area before opening Martini Pete’s and later North 48, both of which he sold to start Rebellion Brewing.

He sold Rebellion after the pandemic clogged up supply chains and complicated hiring, Olds said, and he was planning on leaving the industry for good.

“It was hard to find staff and then it was tough to get brewing materials,” he said, adding that even finding hops and wheat became difficult.

“After a while, I said, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this business anymore,’” he said.

But, Olds said, it wasn’t that easy.

“People come and they say, ‘Wait, you’re opening another bar?’ and I go, ‘Yup, it sucked me back in,’” he said. “A couple of times I tried to do something different but I just came back.”

When Olds started Pete’s in 2014, it occupied half the building, with the rest rented by Merle Norman Cosmetics. Olds took over the Merle Norman space when it left and tore down the dividing wall and wrapped the bar around.

He bought the building in 2018. The rest of it is used for apartments.

Owning the building makes opening the bar less stressful, Olds said, since he doesn’t have to worry about rent, which is the largest fixed cost for most bars.

“Without a doubt, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders,” he said. “This is my fourth bar now, so it is a little less scary than it used to be.”

Olds said being in downtown Grafton will also help Casey Key succeed, as the area continues to grow.

He said development, while it can be controversial, is great for business.

“Ozaukee County needed some growth. It’s been stale for a while. It needed a boost,” he said.

Hallgren is from California and moved here to join family during college. While studying, she tended bar.

Now, she works as the chief business officer for the Snow and Ice Management Association, a trade association for snow plow and ice management contractors, and, she said, is polishing up on her bartending skills.

Hallgren said they are natural entrepreneurs. They were driving a few days ago, saw a random building and started planning.

“We were talking about how we could open a sandwich shop there,” she said. “And then we said, ‘No. But, maybe. We will see in a couple of months.’”

Casey Key opens at 2 p.m. on weekdays and at 11 a.m. on weekends. The grand opening will be on Thursday, Jan. 16.