Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Huebner.
Hi Marc, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Growing up in MN I never knew food, we always ate basic dishes like hot dishes, burgers, and pizza. My mother, who moved to MN from Germany was not much of a cook but was determined to cook the dishes my father grew up on in MN and WI. All of that changed when my family moved to Brussels, Belgium in 1981 when my father was transferred with 3M to take a manager position with the company. For 5 years I lived, traveled, and ate my way around Europe. We also spent a lot of time with my mother’s German relatives where I started to watch and learn from my “Oma” how to cook German food.
Upon returning to MN I went to college and graduated with a degree in Architectural design and ultimately found myself working as a Home Electronics consultant designing custom home theaters, lighting control, and home automation systems. During the 20-plus years in that industry, I traveled regularly to Europe, visiting my family and continuing my culinary experiences. I also took cooking classes here in MN and regularly watched cooking programs on PBS and Food Network. I was known as the “Cul de Sac Cook” as I was the one always cooking for neighbors and friends. I also auctioned off my cooking services at charity events and would cook in people’s homes.
Around 2012 I started to log my restaurant experiences as I dined around the Twin Cities and other cities in the US. I was determined to have a restaurant at some point in the future, I just wasn’t sure when or where. In Dec. 2013 I was accepted to participate in the Food Network show “America’s Best Cook” and spent 2 weeks in NYC filming the show which aired in May of 2014. I worked with Michael Simon, Tyler Florence, and Ted Allen and was judged by a number of Food Network chefs. I ultimately came in fourth but this confirmed that I had the passion and knowledge to open a restaurant despite never having been in the industry.
I continued my goal of opening a restaurant by hiring a consultant, getting a seed loan from my father, and convincing a bank to give me a loan despite my lack of experience. I chose Victoria, MN as it is a small affluent community southwest of Minneapolis that did not have a quality restaurant yet its residents were CEOs and investment bankers who traveled and ate all over the world. Ultimately I also convince a landlord who was building a new commercial building to lease me a space for The Noble Lion. We opened in 2017 and soon developed a following, so much so that during covid I sold $10k in gift cards the first week of closure and the community supported the restaurant wholeheartedly, despite our food not being the best for carry-out.
I later opened my adjacent “Lion’s Den” in 2019 (10 days before Covid shut down restaurants in MN) which is a small cocktail lounge with a small bar menu and is focused on craft cocktails and high-end liquor. In the end, Covid ultimately helped the restaurant as people were looking for restaurants, not in Minneapolis and our customer base grew tremendously. We only have 36 table seats and 11 at the full-service bar in The Noble Lion, we book out every weekend and do a solid business during the week. It has become what was my ultimate goal…not a restaurant striving for accolades and awards but a casual neighborhood eatery that the locals call their own.
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?
From the day I committed to opening The Noble Lion, there were a number of obstacles along the way as well as many learning experiences since I was new to the business and quite naive. Given that the restaurant industry has a higher failure rate banks are very cautious as to who they will loan money to. I overcame this by having a 20-page business plan and having a passion and energy to succeed that people could see. Learning the business was also quite new and challenging but I believe my naivety helped me in this regard as I had no past experiences and thus no real expectations. My staff and the industry taught me and I adjusted as I went along. A number of employees were let go as they thought they could take advantage of my lack of knowledge but ultimately we have a great experienced and humble staff that ultimately make The Noble Lion what it is today.
Obviously, Covid was a big and scary factor. Not knowing what ultimately would happen I paid myself off a line of credit for 3 months so that I could keep on as many employees as possible during our 14-week carry-out phase. With the support of the community (and PPP loans), we made it to the other side stronger and wiser.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the owner of The Noble Lion, a small casual eatery in Victoria, MN. What sets us apart from other restaurants is the fact that we are focused on the food and the experience without being pretentious. Our food has European influences but also a Mid-Western influence. Our customers expect quality dishes and good portion sizes and that is what we deliver. The restaurant is quaint and comfortable. Some customers are regulars, sitting at the bar once or twice a week while others come for special occasions. There is the “air” of a neighborhood gathering space where people are always running into friends. We do not have a kid’s menu or a high chair so it has become a place to come for date night or just to escape where it is mostly adults.
My chef has been in the industry for around 30 years and came from a now-closed restaurant, “Bluepoint” where he was executive chef for 20 years. Many of his customers now come to The Noble Lion as we serve some of his dishes from there. Our staff is humble, relates well to customers and is always being praised for their service. My bar manager has also been in the business for over 25 years and customers come for his creative cocktails and banter at the bar. I am proud to have people like this working for me. Without them, the restaurant would not be what it is today.
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
As much as many people would measure success in the restaurant business by accolades and awards given out by “community voting” in local magazines or by food critics I am not interested in that. Others might measure success by having a number of locations or even a franchise but I do not agree with that either. I think success for me is knowing that I have come from one industry into a completely different (and uniquely challenging) industry and succeeding by giving the community a place to call its own. Customers often tell me about dining at the latest hot spots and “top 10” restaurants in the Twin Cities. Even though they loved the food and experience (most of the time) they tell me “but The Noble Lion is OUR spot.”
They want to share it with their friends (but they don’t!) Our primary form of advertising is word of mouth; people are always telling me ” so n so said we have to come here, now I am going to tell my friends about this place.” It is very humbling to have that type of support, it is almost embarrassing at times as customer tells me how much they love The Noble Lion. But, that was my ultimate goal.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thenoblelion.com
- Instagram: @thenoblelionmn
- Facebook: @thenoblelionmn
