What’s next for the Garage on Brady Street? An Interview with New Owner Scott Schaefer

SPEAKER_01
0:00

So will you allow Milwaukee rap? Have you talked to the staff yet? Is that the only question mark on the opening date right now? Only question is. Hey guys, welcome back to Milwaukee Uncut for a little bonus episode here. As many of you know, one of the biggest and most controversial local news stories over the last few weeks, maybe even over the summer, has centered around the garage, an absolute institution over on Brady Street. For those of you who may not have been following along or need to get caught up, I'll just go over a quick recap of what happened. So on August 23rd, our friend Ishtar posted a video to his TikTok account, Ishtar Spam, showing a document titled No Playlist. The document prohibited DJs at the garage from playing music from 40 mainstream artists, which all happened to be black hip-hop artists. And then in bold at the bottom, it said very clearly, no Milwaukee rap. That video has now been viewed over 1.1 million times, and after it got posted, it quickly attracted national attention. The Garage then issued a statement on social media apologizing for the list. They said they had spoken with the employee who created it, explaining that the original intention was to remove music with lyrics about guns and violence, but acknowledging that creating a specific list of artists was the wrong approach. Then on August 27th, so just four days later, if I'm doing my math correctly, the garage and hi-hat announced that they were temporarily shutting down. Then a few days after that, on September 1st, it was announced that the garage had been sold. Now one of the two owners was reported as Scott Schaeffer, who happens to be the owner of Herd Hospitality. Herd Hospitality owns a number of venues around Milwaukee, including Wenaki Golf Course and the Brat House, and just right kind of across the street, Kitty Corner, Jack's on Brady. Now I know Scott. I gave him a call and he was nice enough to invite us inside the garage to sit down and you know let us know what he's experienced the last few weeks and how this came to be. So we talked about just how the sale happened and if it was already in the works or if it was very sudden. We go over his backstory a little bit, which is which is very interesting. He's got a great backstory. Why he wanted to buy the garage in hi-hat, just Brady Street as he's operated a business on that street since 2013. The new opening date for the garage. We also talked about retaining the garage's staff, and as a lot of you are wondering if Milwaukee Rap will be allowed moving forward. Before we dive in, I just want to take a quick second to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncut possible. We will kick it off with our good friends over at Annex Wealth Management. The fall, after a nice long summer, is a great time to get your act together and take a nice hard look at your finances. And if you need some help, you should contact the experts at Annex Wealth Management. Annex, know the difference. Just head on over to annexwealth.com. Nicolay Law, the Midwest law firm, injured. Get Nicolay and Russ and the team will take great care of you. We've got a got a good video coming out with them this week that I'm excited about. And last but not least, Drink Wisconsinably Beverage Company, best vodka brandy and canned cocktails in the game available at the Drink Wisconsinablee pub across from the Pfizer, over in Wright Field at the Corner Bar at Ampham Field and at bars and liquor stores across the state. All right, let's dive in with Scott Schaefer. Hey guys, welcome back to a special emergency podcast of Milwaukee Uncut. We're here with my friend Scott Schaefer, the owner of Herd Hospitality inside of the currently closed but soon to reopen garage, which has had a very eventful two weeks. And Scott was nice enough to let us in here, talk a little bit about the ownership transition. But I a lot of people don't know who you are, so wanted to talk to you and about your story, and you've done a lot for Brady Street and the Milwaukee community. So I thought it would be good for people to get to know you. Um but before getting into that, I will kick it off. Did you uh, you know, two weeks ago did you think you'd be be owning this place? Is there an opening date?

SPEAKER_00
4:31

No, not two weeks ago, but this has been in the process for a while, and um although what happened to sped up the process, uh we still hope we plan to open here in like the middle of the middle of October.

SPEAKER_01
4:41

Middle of October. So when uh when did you start having conversations about purchasing the garage at the end?

SPEAKER_00
4:46

Sure. Serious uh conversations began earlier the summer of May. Um we were looking at uh purchasing another spot in the area on Brady Street, and um I've been in the conversation with Leslie, the old uh owner for a while, uh having interest in Hayek Garage, and uh I just I just checked in with her before I moved on to my other idea. I want to make sure she had no interest in selling and and uh that one email led to where we're at today.

SPEAKER_01
5:12

And for people who don't know you, what is your backstory? Are you a Milwaukee guy? How did you get into this industry and what spots you currently own?

SPEAKER_00
5:20

Yeah, um I'm from Brookfield, uh born and raised. Um I own uh Milwaukee Broadhouse downtown. I own the Broadhouse in Sherwood, uh Wurst Bar, Jack Sprady, Wanaki Golf Course, and uh Nettie's Irish Pub in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_01
5:35

And how how did you get your start?

SPEAKER_00
5:37

Yeah, I got my start my my brother. My brother uh his dream was to own the broadhouse down in Milwaukee, he lived in New York, and he he uh he loved a bar called McSorley's in Manhattan. And his idea was to bring that concept to Milwaukee. And um back in 2008 he moved from New York to Milwaukee and opened the broadhouse and shortly after open he uh he got diagnosed with skin cancer and and passed away. So I was 20 years old when I inherited the broadhouse.

SPEAKER_01
6:03

And you were a student at UWM at that point in time?

SPEAKER_00
6:06

Yeah, I was a s I was a senior UWM. It was very interesting at the time.

SPEAKER_01
6:10

Yeah, what was what was that like to take over a bar as a senior and your brother who I'm I'm guessing just by this you were very close with passes away relatively unexpectedly.

SPEAKER_00
6:20

Yeah, it was um my my dream was to be an airline pilot, and I had my pilot's license. I've been I was flying planes since I was like 14 years old. So uh I really want aviation. Aviation's still my passion. That's a little airplanes and that and whatnot. But uh my brother passed away. I started running the broadhouse. Um probably should have failed quite a few times those first couple of years. I was very trying, I was going to school, um, probably like to have a little too much m fun over work, and um it just things started to work.

SPEAKER_01
6:49

Yeah, I could think if um myself at that age inherited a bar or any number of my friends did did that at age 20 or 21, it would have been a disaster. So I credit you a lot for keeping that place open and it's thriving, and you got a shorewood location now as well. Um and then owner of Jackson, Brady, too. Where when did when did you start that and and why?

SPEAKER_00
7:12

So uh Jack's on Brady Street was um that occurred in 2013. Uh my brother's name was Jack. Uh he was a Marine, he was very patriotic, loved America, and um I thought it was very fitting to be called Jack's American Pub. He was he was a bar guy, he always wanted to own bars. So I thought that location had to throw it back to him.

SPEAKER_01
7:30

Expanding the Brat House to Shorewood, getting Wanaki, just trying to build a little empire around around Milwaukee here?

SPEAKER_00
7:38

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, it's it's I feel like it's every two to three years, you kind of you get hungry and want you want to do more items, or what can we do as a team? We have a great team. Uh, I work with some great people and and uh we're kind of always looking to explore for new opportunity.

SPEAKER_01
7:54

And uh what what excites you about owning the garage and hi-hat? This is this has been a staple. I lived off Brady for about eight years. I I came here quite a bit to to both spots.

SPEAKER_00
8:06

Sure. Garage Hi-Hat's been a staple, you know, it's it's been here forever. Growing up in college, me, I I this was a spot that uh we always loved. And and owning Jackson Brady Street, you look over here and uh you just think of the great space. You got you got the hi-hat, you got garage, and you got this awesome patio, which there's very few places in the city of Milwaukee that have great patio space for the summer, and this is possibly one of the best.

SPEAKER_01
8:29

Any other favorite things about these these two spots?

SPEAKER_00
8:32

Um the parking lot out back. I've been I've been dying to find parking on Brady Street, and and with this purchase, we get 16 parking spots out back.

SPEAKER_01
8:40

I didn't know there was a parking lot out back.

SPEAKER_00
8:42

It comes with it comes with the congratulations, congrats, congratulations.

SPEAKER_01
8:46

Um you've been in kind of negotiations since the summer. Did you have any initial reaction after news broke about the no playlist that oh this could happen faster? Did did Leslie reach out to you after that? Did you reach out to her? How did that work?

SPEAKER_00
9:05

Uh Leslie reached out to me first, and I I so happened to be out of town, so I was I was unfamiliar with it. And then when she told me I I started looking online to see. Um and uh I I didn't learn about it until it it broke and and um it was it was an unfortunate situation.

SPEAKER_01
9:22

Do you feel like you're going to need to uh do any any damage control on that one? Reopening, or is it just kind of like a fres fresh start or carrying on what the garage has been? Do you have any thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00
9:33

You know, we think uh Hyatt Garage is a great bar. It was it was we have no problems with how it was it was being run. We're we're gonna still hire DJs, we'll respect the music the DJs play. Uh we want a fun atmosphere, and uh we will control, you know, work with the DJs uh on however they view fit for the for that night.

SPEAKER_01
9:50

So so will you allow Milwaukee rap?

SPEAKER_00
9:53

Yes, we will allow Milwaukee rap.

unknown
9:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01
9:54

And what does Brady Street mean to you? You're you've been very invested in it.

SPEAKER_00
9:58

Yeah, Brady Street is is a street that um is a Milwaukee nightlife hub. Um we love the street. It has it has its challenges up ups ups and downs, but uh we all work really hard. Uh my partner Daz, who who owns us with us, he's on the Brady Street bid. Uh we're invested in the neighborhood. We take great pride in what we do. We try to run a very clean operation.

SPEAKER_01
10:19

Nice. And any is there an opening date right now?

SPEAKER_00
10:22

We are hoping, we're saying October 15th. It's a Thursday. We're gonna open up maybe some live music and then go into a DJ set at night.

SPEAKER_01
10:29

And it seems is this a little under construction? Are you doing doing anything?

SPEAKER_00
10:33

There's there's uh a water issue, the based on a water main issue that's getting the fixed right now that uh we knew about during the DLC.

SPEAKER_01
10:39

Okay, so nothing nothing exciting changed to the structure, just a water issue being fixed.

SPEAKER_00
10:44

A water issue being fixed. Um we're gonna we're gonna clean up, put a little bit of our touches to it to have a more fresh, cleaner opening.

SPEAKER_01
10:50

And you need to get the liquor license by the 15th. Is that the only question, Mark, on the opening date right now?

SPEAKER_00
10:56

The only question is the liquor license. Uh, we met with the aldermen. Um we're moving towards the process of just the liquor license, and there's no fast way of doing it. The timeline is a timeline.

SPEAKER_01
11:06

So on the the garages statement, it said they were still paying employees for two weeks and I think offering two weeks severance. Have you talked to the staff yet? And are a lot of them going to remain on board?

SPEAKER_00
11:17

We are uh meeting with the staff this week or this coming week after the holiday, and uh we'll we'll work through that. We are we're hoping to retain as many people as possible that want to be part of our team. Um and whatever whatever gaps we got to fill, we'll go to the hiring.

SPEAKER_01
11:30

Great. Any uh any closing message to the people of Milwaukee?

SPEAKER_00
11:33

No, well uh we'll hope to see you all here on Brady Street uh Garage and I.

SPEAKER_01
11:38

Hey everyone, thank you for tuning into this episode of Milwaukee Uncut, and a big thank you to Scott for letting us inside the garage and sharing his story. And before signing off, just want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncut possible Annex Wealth Management, Nicolay Law, and Drink Wisconsin Bleed Beverage Company.