Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaimie Buehler.
Hi Jaimie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Justin and I met while working at a restaurant in Newport Beach, California about 10 years ago. We both had a love for travel and a passion for food. When we began dating (our first date being at a Mexican restaurant in Newport Beach, sitting at table twenty-five), we shared a dream to open a restaurant one day. A dream that I had since I started working in my first restaurant in Sydney, Australia, when I was 18. We moved to Utah because we saw a huge opportunity in Justin’s hometown of Ogden and loved the charm of Historic 25th street. We finally found our perfect location in February of 2021 and opened Table Twenty Five less than 6 months later, on August 2, 2021. We have been open just over a year and thriving off of our amazing and supportive community!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have attempted to open our restaurant at multiple locations in the area that just never quite worked out for us for one reason or another. We both kept staying focused on finding the right opportunity that was worth the wait. Opening Table Twenty Five was a lot of work and we wanted to keep it fun but we also had 2 almost 2-year-olds to take care of, which could be challenging at times during renovations. We also had trouble finding supplies because of the effects from Covid. We also had to work with the city council to have a local ordinance changed so that we could serve alcohol on our patio. Justin and I just kept working together and our determination got us through all of the pushbacks.
As you know, we’re big fans of Table Twenty Five. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
We have a family restaurant on Historic 25th Street in Ogden, Utah. We are passionate about supporting our local purveyors and farmers and selling the highest quality food to our community. We thoughtfully change our menu seasonally to provide the best product we can find. We care about offering exceptional service to all of our guests. We pride ourselves in creating a wonderful experience for any occasion and we want our guests to feel at home when dining with us.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Opening a restaurant is a huge risk as there is about a 20% success rate for restaurants (National Restaurant Association estimate). I think being smart about a risk you are taking and looking at all aspects of your opportunity (location, parking, building, growth) is something Justin and I have always been very mindful about. Justin is definitely more of a critic and I am more of an optimist, so us as a team really helped to take this “calculated risk” and go for it. We really went after our dream, no matter how many people pushed back and told us to quit, we were determined.
Contact Info:
- Website: table25ogden.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/table25ogden
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/table25ogden/
Image Credits
Fernando Nevarez
