Potters on Main changes hands

Potters on Main has changed hands. New owner Mitzi Bjork recently purchased the business from former proprietor Randy Trok.

“I’ve always wanted to be a restaurateur,” Bjork said.

Bjork will run Potters with the help of her son, Shaun Ryan, who has worked at the restaurant since it opened last April. Bjork said she met Trok and was introduced to the business while selling advertising space for the local radio station.

Bjork said she’d become smitten with Potters by the time Trok had put it up for sale late this summer. So she went for it.

“She is a great person to come in and take over,” Trok said.

He had planned to run the restaurant with former business partner Stew Peters, but the two had a falling out — which resulted in the name change from Stewy’s on Main to Potters on Main. Trok said the restaurant required much of his time and competed with his other business ventures, and when Bjork offered to buy he saw it as a good move.

Bjork said she and Ryan are planning a few changes for the restaurant that will be implemented slowly. They include some menu variations. Bjork used to run a sandwich shop in Pepin, she said, and plans to bring some of her former recipes into the fold.

The restaurant also will change its name, Bork said. She’s planning a promotion where restaurant goers submit ideas for new names. The top five suggestions, as selected by the restaurant, will go to patrons for a vote. The person who submits the winning name will be rewarded with a trip to Chicago.

This is not Bjork’s first business venture with one of her four children. She opened a fitness center in Pepin with her daughter.

About working with her children, Bjork said, “It’s really wonderful. We have fun trying new things.”

Tags: business news, potters on main, business