Recession derails retirement plans

At 57, Charlie Johnson never thought he'd be starting a new business venture.

But the recession changed all that.

Johnson started vacationing in the lakes area when his father had a cabin here in the mid 1960s.

"This is where I wanted to end up," Johnson said.

With a background in road construction and real estate development, Johnson was able to retire here in 1993 and take up professional walleye tour fishing. He expected to golf and go motorcycle riding. Then the recession wiped out his Twin Cities real estate investments.

"I found myself going back to work," Johnson said.

Through a friendship with an owner of Jimmy's Pizza, a 40-store chain based in Willmar, Johnson found a business he wanted to start in Brainerd.

He has the franchise rights for the restaurant here and he purchased the former Taco John's restaurant site on Washington Street near the 13th Street Southeast and Gillis intersection in East Brainerd. He is in the process of getting the needed permits for his plans. Codes and regulations, even in the process of putting a new restaurant into a former restaurant building, have been more extensive than Johnson expected.

"It's a process," he said. "I'm learning as I go. Necessity is the mother of invention. I think it will be fun once I get past the paperwork stage."

Johnson said it is going to be interesting to be able to create something through his business plan and he expects to be hands-on in the operation. Pizza and cell phones, he said, are two businesses that seem to be recession-proof with the restaurant chains holding steady or improving. Pizza, he said, is an economical option for consumers.

Johnson's plans for the restaurant include take-out, delivery, take-and-bake and in-store dining. He was reluctant to talk about plans until the project gets full approval, but the restaurant is expected to include pastas, salads, chicken wings, calzones, lasagna and dessert pizza. Johnson said once he gets going he wants to create different pizzas that will help set his Jimmy's Pizza apart. Experienced friends are serving as a decoration committee to give him ideas for the restaurant's look.

"It will be a cute little store," he said.

A self-described pizza affectionado, Johnson said he is a bit finicky and a fan of Jimmy's Pizza products.

"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think the product was good," he said. "Service and quality is what I plan on offering."

While Johnson didn't expect to be a restaurant owner and operator at this phase of his life, he is interested in the new challenge.

"I really have high hopes for this store. I think it's going to do well," Johnson said, adding he hopes customers here find the restaurant interesting and enjoy the food.

Johnson didn't expect to live an extravagent lifestyle and said he did have 15 years of retirement at a time when he was young enough to enjoy it fully. Now he's ready for the new realities of the economy.

"Even if it does pick up, it's never going to be like it was," Johnson said. "Easy money is not to be had."

RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.