Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristian Niemi.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started in the restaurant business as a waiter assistant at Ferante’s in Charleston shortly after leaving the Army in the late 1980s. Shortly thereafter, I became a waiter and bartender and continued to work in the industry as I worked my way through college. During my senior year of architecture school at the University of Minnesota I enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at St. Paul College. Moving to Columbia, South Carolina, I went from bartending to managing a franchise steakhouse before becoming a General Manager of Blue Marlin. Six months later, along with two partners, we purchased Mr. Friendly’s and went about transforming it from a sandwich shop to a full-service New Southern Cafe. Before long, it was considered one of the best restaurants in Columbia and gained national attention by winning a Wine Spectator Award.
After that, I opened Gervais & Vine, Columbia’s first Spanish-style tapas bar, followed by Solstice Kitchen and Wine Bar. I then separated from my partners at Mr. Friendly’s and Solstice and opened Rosso Trattoria in 2009. Bourbon followed in 2014, Black Rooster in 2019, and The Dragon Room in 2023.
Around 2012, I partnered with Vanessa Bialobreski and formed a Farm to Table Event Company which eventually became F2T Productions, then finally Barrel & Vine Productions. It is responsible for Harvest Dinners, The Great American Whiskey Fair, Drink Pink Rose Festival, and many more large events.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The restaurant business is never smooth, nor struggle-free. Every day brings new struggles, from staff issues to broken equipment. It’s always something. LOL
In the early years, the learning curve was STEEP. Things we never considered had to be learned, like insurance, taxes, and budgeting. There were a lot of times we had to play “move the money” in order to make payroll, pay bills, taxes, etc. It wasn’t easy, but we learned a lot and got better and better over time.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At the core, I’m a “creative”, but with an entrepreneurial streak. My grandfather owned his own print shop and was an amazing artist. Seeing him combine his love of graphic design with a very successful business must have left a huge impression on me even if I didn’t realize it at the time. Upon opening my first restaurant, I knew I could never do anything else. Being the one in charge of one’s own destiny was exactly what I wanted. However, it was the complete creative control I had over the restaurants that appealed to me the most. If being able to see a space for the first time and creating an entire restaurant concept in my head was intoxicating, then taking those ideas and turning them into a real restaurant was the ultimate experience.
To this day, the creation and launch of new events and restaurants is what I love most.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Restaurants will always be around. They are where people escape to in order to get away from “normal” life and to celebrate. If we do our jobs correctly, we needn’t worry about the future of restaurants.
I DO worry about the current, short-term future of our industry. Tariffs and other knee-jerk reactions from our political parties will make things very difficult over the next few years.
Contact Info:
- Website: barrelandvineproductions.com | bourboncolumbia.com | blackroostersc.com | thedragonroomsc.com
- Instagram: @barrelandvineproductions @bourboncolumbia @blackroostersc @thedragonroomsc @kristianmn
