What do family vacations in the northwoods, a Master’s Degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology, and a bar all have in common? Andy Lichtfuss. AKA the genius behind Andy’s Pontoon Saloon, a now infamous part of Eagle River’s downtown scene – and after only three seasons.
Andy’s Pontoon Saloon is a family friendly, dog friendly beer garden and pizza restaurant in the heart of downtown Eagle River, Wisconsin that Andy started in 2022. After noticing the hype around indoor/outdoor restaurants and stumbling upon a pizza restaurant that was for sale (and touring it the same day), he left his 9-5 corporate job to embark on his entrepreneurial journey.
“I grew up in Oshkosh and as a kid my family went to Eagle River to fish for a week or two every summer. It was always the best week of the year! Some of my favorite memories are from those trips.
I went to college at St Norbert (2014), played football there and studied Psychology and Business. I went to grad school at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and got a Master’s Degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology. I worked as a Management Consultant for KPMG for 5 years. During that time, I lived in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Nashville and worked out of those KPMG offices.
In 2022, I was in Eagle River over Labor Day Weekend and noticed a pizza restaurant downtown was for sale. I thought that would be a perfect location for one of those indoor / outdoor businesses. Later that day I toured the building. After a lot of conversations with family, friends and coworkers I made the decision to leave KPMG, buy the pizza restaurant, and move from Nashville to Eagle River. After a year of construction and renovations we opened in May of 2024.”
From May through January, Andy’s Pontoon Saloon and beer garden are packed full of locals and tourists grabbing cold beers, listening to live music, hanging out, and on the weekends, even meeting for run clubs or doing morning yoga (for free!).
Over the last few years they’ve gained a reputation as the go-to spot in Eagle River on a beautiful Wisconsin summer day, but that’s not all they’ve accomplished:
- 2024 Best New Downtown Business in Wisconsin
- 2025 Best Marketing Campaign in Wisconsin (for Run Club)
- 2025 Vilas County Business of the Year
Andy’s Pontoon Saloon is all about community and showing everyone who walks through their doors a good time. In addition to yoga and run clubs they also give free beer for teachers on the last day of school, support local rescue organizations through events like Pancake Breakfasts with Dick Leinenkugel, and were recently named Wolski’s sister bar!
From cherishing his childhood memories in Eagle River to now helping visitors create their own core memories up north, Andy and his Pontoon Saloon have become a central part of the northwoods experience.