Firewater out, Malt in

When Danny Burau opened his restaurant half a decade ago, he knew he was taking a risk. He wanted to have a place that made all its food on premise and be open seven days a week.

Burau explained how he wanted Firewater Public House (Firewater) to be known when a customer went to the restaurant's website.

"Firewater Public House is a community pub offering high quality comfort food and a unique whiskey selection. Perfectly set next to the North Platte River in Saratoga, Wyoming, Firewater is built around the idea of gathering at the end of a day of adventure, telling fish tales around a big table, and enjoying a simple but excellent meal."

Burau knew he had a specific vision when he first began. He and his father Roger gutted the building and truly started from scratch as he was planning to do with his food. After he had built and designed it, to be what he thought would work in Saratoga, he again let customers know about his restaurant when they came to his website.

"Firewater Public House is located in a newly remodeled historic building. We vaulted the ceilings and filled the space with warm leather and wood to provide a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere to end your day and enjoy your meal. We built a large community table, great for tying flies and a bar built from reclaimed wood where you can bump elbows with a new friend and learn about whiskey."

Firewater became a success almost overnight, but it was not an inexpensive venue to run. The bread was made fresh every day as was all baked goods which meant workers would start in the wee hours of the morning.

The labor intensive prep and fresh sourced products allowed Firewater to build a reputation as a quality dining and drinking establishment in Saratoga.

The early years were booming for Firewater, then a game changer came to Wyoming. Covid not only hit the State, but the entire world. Small businesses, like Firewater, took it on the chin.

Community support when the restaurant could only do curbside service kept the business alive.

Burau did whatever he could to keep employees and operations working. It was tough, but he and his staff pulled through. As Covid receded and restrictions were lifted, Firewater seemed in decent shape.

However, Covid changed the whole food and beverage industry, like the virus did many industries.

Burau struggled to find workers and found himself having to do something he hated. Be closed a few days during the week.

His model was changing and he was helpless to prevent it.

On September 25, Firewater served its last meal and last whiskey from a selection of 170 bottles.

Firewater Public House is closed forever.

"With the inability to find more employees and the inability to get the place open more days, we knew we would not be able to get through the winter," Burau said. "When we moved here, we were told that there were three seasons here. One season you are going to be making money, one season breaking even and one season losing money."

Burau said he saw the writing on the wall this summer when he was only able to be open four days a week and making a little more than break even. He knew winter would kill the business.

He and his family looked at several ways to save what they had. They didn't want to be only seasonal. They also didn't want to close and sell the building. It was decided a new direction was required.

"We are going to reset and reopen as a quick serve model," Burau said. "This model will have less requirements in the kitchen. We won't be making everything in house and since we are doing that, it didn't feel to be in the tradition of Firewater. So we felt we had to part from that name and its brand."

Firewater could be no more.

"We didn't want people coming in with the expectation that Firewater has delivered in the past few years," Burau said. "It is better for all that Firewater goes and Malt, the name of our new restaurant, is introduced."

Malt will start out being open four days a week, but Burau's hope is to get up to being open six days a week.

The Malt will have a smaller staff because the model doesn't need many front-of-the house workers and the kitchen will need less workers at night.

"We are going to be serving burgers and chicken sandwiches," Burau said. "It's actually an updated malt shop vibe we are going for."

Malt will have a simpler menu, although it will have a lot of items on it.

"It should speed things up and bring the price point down on items," Burau said. "I know the price point of Firewater was limiting us. To eat there was cost prohibitive for some."

Burau gave a nod to high priced menu items with his his descriptions on the actual dishes to explain why a dinner cost what it did.

"A pile of house cut fries topped with white gravy, fried chicken, cheese curds and pickled shishito peppers and onion. By the way, the chicken we buy is hovering around $10 a pound now. Yes. That is more than local bison!" was the description of a chicken dish that was over $20 in the Firewater menu.

Malt will take orders over the internet and phone, so Burau believes that will make it very easy to get their food quickly.

Burau said he had no choice. Labor costs in the kitchen went up 38 percent in the past two years.

Burau said. "Then there is the product cost. Our chicken breast we get is over 10 dollars a pound. No reason for it that anyone can tell. Covid made everything go up and was hard to get."

Burau said he has no idea why workers are so hard to find after Covid.

"It baffles me," Burau said. "I was paying 17 dollars an hour for someone to work in the kitchen, without any experience. I was paying dishwashers 15 dollars an hour. Before Covid hit, I was paying experience kitchen help 12 dollars an hour. So even at higher wages, I can't find people, so I can't be open."

He said being closed three days a week ended up cutting into profits so strongly, Firewater's model had to be abolished.

The Malt is still going to be as interesting as the Firewater. Burgers will still be featured, but a bit less expensive.

"The Firewater Burger has never been displaced as the number one seller and our different burgers sold well," Burau said. "Burgers are something we can have fun with."

The name Malt came from the idea that there is a lot of whiskey on premise, they are going for a soda fountain vibe where malted shakes could very well be on the menu.

"I felt with us selling whiskey and beers with malt being a major ingredient and malted shakes having a little malt barley in them–it just felt like a natural fit," Burau said. "It means we can play around with that old malt shop menu and have fun with it."

Although Burau is wistful about closing Firewater and having Malt rise from the ashes, he is excited to have the opportunity to create another model he hopes customers will enjoy.

"I have a lot of fantastic ideas I want to try with the burgers and our restaurant," Burau said. "I hope everybody gives the Malt the goodwill that Firewater attained. That would be great and make me happy.

Burau expects the remodeling to take about three weeks.

"I can't wait," Burau said. "It has tremendous potential and I am excited like a little boy in a malt shop who doesn't know exactly what shake to choose. Eventually you do and you're happy."