The hospitality industry has gone through countless changes in recent years, and the local restaurant and taproom, Wolf’s Ridge Brewing has certainly not been immune to them.
We'll learn more about how the father-and-son duo behind it all have evolved the business over the last 13 years.
After caring for her first dog, Trooper Casie Goldstein decided dogs need a place where they can be cared for that pet parents can also trust. She founded two pet-centered businesses all for the love of dogs!
When 18-year-old Brooke Gates visited Liberia for the first time two years ago, she visited a school where a young student asked her for help with tuition.
Now, a rising sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, she has helped more than 50 K-12 students pay their tuition through the Brooke Gates Project.
We're talking with all of them on this edition of Fascinating Ohio.
Guests:
- Bob and Alan Szuter, owners, Wolf's Ridge Brewing
- Casie Goldstein, founder, The Wag and All Paws Retreat
- Brooke Gates, CEO, The Brooke Gates Project
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to All Sides with Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides on WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. For more than 13 years, Father Alan Szuter and son Bob have been running the show at Wolf's Ridge Brewing. From a pandemic to economic uncertainty to tariffs, the duo has continued to adapt and evolve. Just recently, they opened a new location in the historic Worthington Inn. And joining us now to discuss the past, present, and future of Wolf's Ridge, our owners, Bob and Alan Szuter. So just so we can differentiate your voices, welcome to All Sides Bob.
Bob Szuter: Happy to be here.
Juravich: And welcome to the show, Alan. I'm also delighted to be here. So what made you decide 13 years ago to start a brewery? Who came up with the idea first?
Alan Szuter: Well, it was really kind of my thing. I was a business consultant and had always enjoyed good beers. But as I traveled, I started to run into a lot of local craft beers and really enjoyed trying the different beers. And then eventually found out that a lot of the small breweries around the country would allow you to visit and actually encourage you to the visit. So I'd seek out those breweries.
And you know kind of get into the whole craft beer culture. It was the perfect mix of art and science and I started home brewing and that kind of got out of control. So as I kept doing a little bit more of that and I met more of the people involved in craft beer I really started to Notice the the culture and it was such a such a fantastic culture still is such a fantastic culture Not what I was used to seeing in my my business career Between companies, but everybody was so helpful and so inclusive and so supportive They would do just about anything to help other craft brewers out.
Juravich: So your dad comes to you and says, hey, I have this idea. I want to open a brewery. And you say, sure, sure. What do you say?
Bob Szuter: Yeah, what do you say it took me took me a minute when he first proposed it My wife had to sit me down like a week later and said hey, we're gonna talk about this It sounds like a pretty pretty cool opportunity. I was living in Chicago at the time I had graduated from here at Ohio State and with a finance degree and worked in some various finance roles in Chicago and had fell in love with hospitality during college when I worked at a hotel here and then Subsequently in Chicago got to experience the the hospitality scene there. It's just fantastic.
So I think my heart knew that I wanted to do something on my own at some point. So I'd been talking with my wife for a while there about that. And when my dad came and said, hey, I think I want to do this, he kind of recognized that it would be beneficial to have a retail component to the brewery. So to be able to not only support the cash flow of the business, but also be kind of a marketing front. So that's the voice and the brand is the experience that we provide at our locations.
So, you know, it just made sense to have a restaurant. So that's kind of how that something I'd been interested in really wanted to go into further. So we both quit our jobs at the late 2012 and move back here and- Which is-
Juravich: Which is not scary at all, I'm sorry, right, yeah. Did you want it to be just beer or were you open to this food idea?
Alan Szuter: Actually my wife Mary who's been incredibly supportive throughout this entire journey was you know her and I were looking for locations we live in Dublin so we've been looking around old Dublin for locations and really couldn't find anything so I was not sure what I wanted to do and I went to a craft brewers conference out in San Diego right about that point in time and ended up having lunch with Greg Cook who's one of the founders of stone brewing of an established west coast, very large west coast brewery. Also from Pataskola. Also, yeah, from Pataska. Everyone's from Ohio somehow, yeah. Everybody of note. Yeah. So he convinced me that I should visit his restaurant in Escondido, which I did, and came back convinced that we needed to have a restaurant to it. And uh...
Juravich: What's it like working father son? How's that been?
Bob Szuter: It's had its challenges. I think it's forced us to kind of confront some, on my side anyway, some insecurities and just things that you might have hard time discussing. You've got to get through that, right? You just have to deal with it. My mom and I have had disagreements over the years, but she's been very involved with the business for most of the time, and same thing. I believe it's kind of strengthened our bond as a family. You know, it's my sisters involved, Kathy heavily in the operations, and you know, it's forced us to be, you know to kind of confront those things and be a little bit closer, so.
Alan Szuter: From my perspective, the family relationship allows a level of trust that I'm not sure that I could have with anybody else. I mean, there's really good people out there, but when it's your own family, the high level of the trust that you can ... Yeah.
Juravich: Why did you name it Wolf's Ridge?
Alan Szuter: We were actually Dublin Brewing Company to begin with, but then we couldn't find a suitable location in Dublin to do that.
Juravich: Uh oh.
Alan Szuter: So then we started looking a little bit bigger and we kind of wanted an old building, an old historical, maybe not historical, but you know something with a story to it and a feel to it and ended up downtown Columbus. And my wife Mary is a huge history buff and we were kind of researching the area and ended over at the library and talking to some of the librarians over there. And they pointed out that that area was previously known prior to Columbus really being established was known as Wolf's Ridge. Or Wolf Ridge, there's a lot of different. Like the name
Juravich: Like the neighborhood was called that or what do you mean?
Alan Szuter: Well, it was just a wilderness and there were a few settlers up there.
Juravich: And literal wolves, okay. Literal wolves, yeah. I'm picturing what it looks like now, so I can't, yes, okay, so we're talking hundreds of years ago there were wolves.
Bob Szuter: Right, right, lots of them.
Juravich: Okay, so you found in the library somewhere that it used to be called Wolf's Ridge, and you thought that has a nice ring to it. Yeah, yeah. So tell me about opening that first business back in 2013-ish, what was the climate like then in the craft brewing scene versus now? Like how did 2013 feel versus now.
Alan Szuter: Yeah, it felt great. I think that there was a lot of, obviously, excitement. We were relatively early with the quote-unquote boom here in central Ohio, and Ohio in general. At the time it was us, and 7th Sun, and Land Grant was soon after us. Obviously, Columbus Brewing has been here for a while, and Elevator was just down the street. So, we felt pretty, pretty good, pretty optimistic.
And you know, the response was fantastic. You know, we won Best New Restaurant that year, opening in 2013, beating out the Pearl, which was pretty exciting for us coming into that year. And it was great. It was kind of a beginning of an upswing there within craft.
Juravich: So as you said though, Kraft has exploded since then, right? You were able to just list off four or five and that was it in 2013, but now it would take us the whole rest of this hour to name all the breweries. So how are you adapting to continue your success in this more saturated market?
Alan Szuter: Uh, so a few ways, uh, you know, we're trying to, you know, on the, on, uh restaurant side, that's been very successful for us. So we're, trying to continue to build on that success. So, you now, when we opened up, uh we expanded within our space downtown over the years, uh you know finally in 2018, opening a private event space after we had opened the tap room and that's in that area as well as the restaurant and then opened up under story, which also has a private event space, uh and, and a few spaces, um, in that location.
And then obviously most recently with the Worthington Inn, that has allowed us to kind of continue to grow that and further differentiate what we're doing. So it's not fully relying on wholesale beer distribution. It's not relying on one location. We also try to just differentiate again within those spaces to have private events and do things like that. And that's been successful for us.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio From All Sides on 89.7 NPR News, and we're talking about Wolfsridge Brewing with owners Alan and Bob Suter. Alan, how do you, you're the brewer here. How do you make your beer differentiate in this more saturated market? Because you could stand out if there's only five local breweries, but how do stand out now?
Bob Szuter: Well it's becoming increasingly difficult and back then you could make a lot of different beers. You didn't have to worry too much about how much it cost to make them because people were literally lining up to buy them. We do bottle releases twice a year and we would have lines around the block when we would open those. But as it became more saturated and as you kind of hit the upper limit on what you can price in the market.
We had to really start paying attention to costs and you know, we've we've done a lot of work It took us a couple of years to kind of go through recipes go through processes We built out a production brewery Which allowed us to start? Built Producing and buying in bulk which reduced our costs significantly. So we've really heavily focused on trying to get the cost down And then just making sure that we have a high quality product to begin with but it is it is More and more difficult and a lot of the craft breweries have been having a tough time out there
Juravich: Tell me about right now, this economy, because I did a show talking about brewing and there was a discussion of like the tariffs. I mean, do your ingredients cost more? Does aluminum to make your cans cost more, are you having trouble with that too?
Bob Szuter: Yeah, we've seen cost increases. Because we've been signing larger, longer-term contracts with a lot of our suppliers, we have been able to negotiate some of that down. But as an example, our aluminum, our cans, which is a fairly large factor in our production costs, went up. It was close to 40% increase. That is a lot a percent. OK. It's huge, yeah. And there's, you know, that's.
Juravich: But you can't charge 40% more for a can of beer. No offense, but I mean, come on. Yeah, yeah. Can't do that. All right, well, let me talk about happier times. You recently opened a third location located inside Worthington Inn. Bob, can you tell me what led to that new place? How did you end up talking about being in the Worthingdon Inn?
Alan Szuter: Yeah, so I had a relationship over the years with a broker by the name of Ed Fellows with Capital Equities. He's been kind of a good friend of ours. And he had a connection with a group that was purchasing the condo, the building from the previous owner, the Shaw family. And he kind of came to us and said, hey, would you be interested in looking at this?
And first took a look and I was like, yeah, he's kind of cool. But then thought more about it. I was actually like, this is really cool. You know, it's a very, you know, didn't, didn't kind of realize initially the opportunity that was there, just the history in that space. So we explored that around April, May last year, and really just kind of fell in love with the group that was purchasing it, and a bunch of local Worthington folks that wanted to bring something back to that community, reinvigorate that space and just make it alive again.
And that very much aligned with what we wanted to do. You know, so we don't own the real estate there. We're operating in that building. And, you know, very excited to be a part of that community.
Juravich: So I read about the history of the Worthington Inn. Most people remember it as a restaurant, but in its history it was a bed and breakfast style hotel. At one point there was like a third floor ballroom. So this must be a massive building.
Alan Szuter: It is, it is. I don't know the total square footage. So in 2021, after it had previously closed as a Worthington Inn, the previous owner had converted the whole, the rest of the front building, the main building to condos. So the upper floors are separate condos that aren't associated with the Worthingtons Inn as people used to know it.
So we operate on the first floor and then the basement. But within that entire building, there are 18 total units. So there's some residential units in the back. We operate the most square footage of any one tenant in the space, but it is quite a big building.
Juravich: So no more ballroom. That's the con. Okay. Okay, I was just going to ask you about it. We mentioned event space and I was like, is there a ballroom? Okay. No.
Bob Szuter: Well, there used to be a radio station there, too, just the kind of... Really? Yeah, there was a local radio station, and actually, our son-in-law's grandfather, our son- in-law and my daughter, our daughter are part owners, too of Ulceridge. But his grandfather worked in the radio station and used to play tee-up music for his bride-to-be.
Juravich: Fascinating, really? Okay, that's not in the history that I read on your website. You should add that in there. Right, right, right. Okay, so on your web site though, you say you want Wolf's Ridge at Worthington Inn to honor the history and legacy of the space, but offer a refreshed dining experience. So Bob, tell me, how are you blending the old and the new?
Alan Szuter: Yeah, so absolutely trying to connect with that community and bring back some of the excitement energy that they had with that space, some of those memories. People celebrated a lot of special occasions, whether it was weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, things like that. So we want this to be a space that you can do that.
And we tried to design it as such to make it feel a little bit more elevated and pair certain foods with that experience. At the same time, we are trying to push things forward a little but. We like to do things kind of like. Quote, Wolf's Ridge way, which is to be a little bit more creative and inventive with the food.
So we're slowly adapting and adjusting the menu to push the culinary side a little bit and let the passion of the kitchen show through, as well as the bar team and the beer that we serve as well. That's a big focus of ours.
Juravich: And Alan, you have a special beer you're brewing for this place called the Innkeeper.
Bob Szuter: We do, it's an English pale ale. It's a little bit different from what Americans would typically associate with beer because it's served at a much lower carbonation level and warmer than Americans are typically accustomed to. And you serve it. It's cask ale. You serve it using a beer engine, which creates a great foamy presentation for it. But it also tends to take a little more of the carbonation But ends up being a very, very smooth and drinkable kind of a beer. So we've made that kind of the house beer.
Juravich: It has a great name, yeah, I love it, yeah. So you have your original location downtown, you have Understory, and now you have Wolf's Ridge at the Worthington Inn. Is that it? Are you, is there gonna be more? What's the plan?
Alan Szuter: For now, yes. Let us recover from this one. It's always a big project, getting something new, running off the ground. So we've got some things to work on. But we try to say no to a lot of opportunities so that we can't say yes when the right ones come along. And fortunately, we were able to do this. And we'll see what comes next. And
Juravich: And so both both understory and the Worthington Inn, you were going into a place that had other stuff going on. Talk to me about that versus like, did you think about, you know, having all your own space, maybe building your own building? Or did you like the idea of going in somewhere else that's maybe owned by someone else?
Alan Szuter: Yeah, we've looked at doing large-scale production facility build-outs and things like that before we'd gotten into the space that we have on Hague Avenue. It never made sense financially, so we really looked at the numbers there, and it was really hard to make that work. We've been very inspired by old buildings and cool, unique spaces, so we want to be a part of those as much as we're able to.
New builds haven't excited us much as kind of putting life back into some old spaces within the city. So that was why we wanted to be downtown and be where we are there and understory fit that bill, which we're celebrating five years this year. I'm very excited about that. Oh, it's been five years.
Juravich: Oh, it's been five years already. And UnderStory is in a building that used to be called, what is it, like the Columbus Open Air School or something?
Alan Szuter: The open-air school, yeah. Yeah, so we're a couple other tenants in there, Emmitt's, and then a few small businesses in there as well. But that's a very cool space, unique building right off the Olentangy River Trail just north of campus here.
Juravich: Well, we've been talking with the owners of Wolf's Ridge Brewing, Alan and Bob Szuter about the success of their company. And I want to thank you both for your time today. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having us. And coming up, we're going to talk with the founder of Columbus's first indoor-outdoor dog park. That is when Fascinating Ohio from All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from all sides in WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. After caring for her first dog, Trooper, Casie Goldstein decided dogs needed a place where they can be cared for that pet owners can also trust. So she founded two pet-centered businesses all for the love of dogs. Founded in 2018, All Paws Retreat is a dog daycare and grooming center. And then starting last September, The Wag, Columbus's first indoor outdoor dog bar and social club opened. And Casie joins us today. Welcome to All Sides.
Casie Goldstein: Thank you, happy to be here.
Juravich: So tell us first of all about your dog, Trooper. How did he become the catalyst of businesses for you?
Goldstein: No, for sure. So when I grew up, I had four dogs. So I was born the same year that two of my dogs that my parents had were also born. So dogs were all my everything. I tried to take one to college, they wouldn't let me. They ended up adopting the one that I had. So when moved here, I was itching for an animal. I had a cat, love cats, but that's not the same thing as like a loving companion.
So as soon as I got my own house, I was like, okay, we're getting this. This is this is the dog and looked online. Saw him in this cute little outfit. He was just eight eight weeks old went to New Philly Didn't know what I was really getting into but they put him in a bucket and they're like here you go. Do you want him? I'm like, well, you can't say no now
So he's just the loving like light of like if you think of your dog's best friend the companion He loves everybody. He's happy to see everybody. She's just he's awesome
Juravich: a little dog, big dog.
Goldstein: No, he's a German shepherd Norwegian elk count like he's he's about 90 pounds.
Juravich: Well, I was picturing him still in the bucket, okay, so he was tiny then.
Goldstein: So he was tiny. He was tiny then he has grown up and now he has two siblings that are also fur babies and a 14 month old baby baby. So we're we have a live house. You have a full
Juravich: house. All right, so you created All Paws Retreat. Tell us what that business is, what services you offer there.
Goldstein: Sure. So All Paws is a dog daycare, boarding, grooming, and training facility. Basically anything dog while you're not there, we kind of take care of. We also have a pet retail shop, both in store and online.
Juravich: And did you, did you always want to be a business owner? I mean, it sounds like you were always a dog lover. So, okay. But like, you can own a bunch of dogs. You don't have to necessarily make it your life's work. So where did that come from, to the idea of owning dog focused businesses?
Goldstein: Yeah. So if we go back to, I graduated the University of Central Florida. There, I took an entrepreneurial class. And that was interesting because it's not business. I feel like I was going in for marketing. I originally wanted to be a doctor, then pivoted to marketing. I don't know why, but really loved, like, it was just very logic based.
But this was the class that like really challenged me. And it was cool to see somebody's ideas come into practice. And I think the project we worked on was GoFundMe for, or Kickstarter, sorry. For a beer pong floating device. It was so college, but it stuck in my mind just kind of like, OK, you can create your own path.
Came here for a job in corporate America and loved working in corporate American, but I was always itching for trying to find a solution to somebody's problem. So I would go in hospitality, go to a restaurant, be like, oh, this could be better. We took my dog to two local, two to three local dog daycares. And, um... One was very technology capable, but didn't have the personal relationships. They didn't know which trooper I was picking up. And I had to describe who he was.
And to me, he's unique. He's our kid in dog form, right? I went to a few local mom and pop shops and they were great, but I didn't the technology and the visibility. There wasn't communication as to what was happening throughout the day. And so what I decided to do was create a service that would take the pet parent along the journey, tech enabled, but small business. So we know all the dogs inside and out.
When you pull up, we don't even. And we should say hi to the parent, but we know all the dogs and they come running and it's super cute. But yeah, we've built the business based off of more of that personalization and making sure you as the pet parent were sound, because that in theory to the dog.
Juravich: So talk to me more about that. You emphasize transparency, the comfort for the parents throughout your daycare website. This is obviously very important to you. Tell me about having a daycare that truly cares. Did you have an experience with one that maybe felt less personal or is that just what you wanted?
Goldstein: Yeah, so this world is more like franchise-y, right? So the dog daycare world doesn't have great tech, and it's also very money-based, because it's based on volumes. Same thing with kids, right. So from the dog standpoint, I thought there was lack of compassion and empathy for the pet parent that was going on the journey. And if you look at the 2018-2019 time frame, that was pre-COVID. As COVID came, more humanization came into the pets.
So now we humanize them as our specific dog that should go with us everywhere. But they're our kid, right? And so it wasn't necessarily like, it was the not having the emotional leverage over at the franchise, and then from the dog standpoint over at The Mom and Pops, they did have that emotional connection, but they didn't have the technology or the transparency. So merging the two of those just only felt right, and that's kind of the space we play. Let's talk about your second business.
Juravich: So you decided one business wasn't enough and you have a second business called the wag. Tell me about that
Goldstein: Yeah, so seven years later, we decided to do something different. It's actually been in the works for about three years. I had a customer come to me and say, this concept exists, but you guys can do it better. And so one of the things we didn't talk about was the safety and cleanliness. So not only are we transparent, we also pride ourselves in making sure that the facility is catered to the dog at the daycare.
So he was like, you know, they're doing it, but it's really like open space and they have a bar. It's more for the human than it is the dog, and it's not really putting them at the forefront. So I looked for spaces, looked at concepts. I went to like five, six different states and visited a bunch of other dog parking bars that exist and decided that I was gonna do it.
The way I was going to do it was a 50-50 split. So 50% for the dog and 50% you, both important. It's about the dog with the humans in mind, basically. And so that's the space we built. It's a 10,000 square foot facility with an acre in total, so indoor-outdoor space. It's all weather. It's built like I would from the daycare component for the safetiness of the dog.
Juravich: But for fun for humans too. This is Fascinating Ohio From All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking with Casey Goldstein, the owner of the WAG and also the owner of All Paws Retreat. So at first glance, when you think of the wag, it's a dog park, but it's also a bar, but it also has an indoor-outdoor space. It's also huge. You just said, I looked at a picture of it and I couldn't get over how huge it is. So tell me about your vision for this space, because when you have a space that big. You can sometimes maybe do too much. Yeah, tell me about the space.
Goldstein: Yeah so I hear you on the too much because we also have grooming and we have the private event space and I think one of the things we do struggle with is like communicating who we are. So what I really want to be is a social club for humans and dogs but we're the place for connection right and so dogs make connections for people and we want to facilitate that in a clean and healthy and fun and exciting way.
So the space is wide and open but it's purposeful right because dogs are energy beings? And when you have tight spaces, or you're putting them in a constraint space, they freak out. Or they revert, because if you take away their space, they back up type of thing. So we kind of built it based off of dog psychology and the way of keeping it nice, open, and airy, allowing for it to feel that way, too.
So the energy kind of is pulled out. The bar's in the middle, and so we have half the space in the back side, the dog space, and the front half is the human space.
Juravich: Which is the on leash side. Well, and let's talk about the decision you made where since dogs are interacting, you want it to be safe. So talk about this idea where you, you have like regulations, basically. Like you have to register the dog because if the dogs are playing together, you want to make sure that they're vaccinated. I mean, tell me about that decision because if you think of a tip, like most dog parks don't check your dog's papers, you know?
Goldstein: No, for sure. It's part of one of our core values, is just making sure that the dogs are playing, or not playing, but the dogs are safe and we're providing a better experience than you would at a standard dog park. So you do have to register, you have to be up to date on rabies, bordetella, distemper, flea and tick, and that's just to make sure that we're covering the baseline.
The others are making sure they're good with all humans of any size, age, shape, form, gender, and then also good with dogs of any size. And that's really just to make sure that we are keeping the best interests of our members at hand. If you have a negative experience at a bar, you might go back. If you had a negative experiences at a bar with a dog, you likely are never gonna go back So it's to keep everyone safe and make it, like that's for us. We take pride in the work that we're doing.
We make sure that it's clean. We have non, like our bathrooms are clean, which is weird because bars usually don't have clean bathrooms. So we look at it that detail, but it's really to make sure that we making good connections and we're right by the dog. We also have the park attendants too that are monitoring them constantly.
Juravich: So you, so basically the dogs can be off leash. I mean, that's the point. They want it. You want them to be able to play with each other. Is that, is that the idea? I mean do people come with leash dogs? Like, yeah, tell me about that.
Goldstein: Yeah, so in theory, what I want to be is a bar forward with the dog park as an amenity, but people love that dog park side of it and that's where our members come from. So the idea is that they can be off leash and running around, exhausting their energy while you're also playing too, right? And so there is that on leash side.
We encourage people without dogs to come because all humans are free. It's the dogs that we're kind of qualifying and making sure it's member right for them. But yeah, you can come in and hang out on the on-leash side. There's equal parts inside and outside for the on leash side, as well as the off leash side. And we love people that come with friends. Okay, so.
Juravich: Okay, so you have like a separate leash, non-leash section or something like that. Yeah, the first.
Goldstein: The first half for the humans is all leashed and the second half for the dogs is all off leash. So the off leash for the dogs kids have to be 12 or older. It's kind of their area to be fun and be wild but you know if you're gonna get hit you're likely gonna drop your drink so it's kind of like a beware in that section. And then the other side of it is on leash and it's more for the human so kids are allowed as more community vibes.
Juravich: Okay, so, and this membership thing. So people pay a small fee, they register their dog, and then they can bring the dog there. And then you said humans are free. Tell me more about that, yeah.
Goldstein: Yeah, so we want people to come. It is proven that if you are around dogs in general, and dogs also get the same vibe from us, that your dopamine goes up. And so when I see people walking in without a dog, or maybe they had just lost a dog or they're at college and they can't have that dog, they walk into the facility and they light up because they're seeing this dog that has this carefree mindset and they're able to love another people's dogs.
So we want those humans to come in. We are a bar. We wanna create those experiences and those events that anybody wants to come to. Tonight we're doing a hot dog run with Columbus, oh my goodness, running company and the Short North Running Club. And they're coming and they're bringing 250 people, probably a dozen dogs, and we're just gonna have a fun time. And so the goal is just to bring the excitement and fun with the dogs as the connection point, but not as a requirement.
Juravich: Okay. And the you mentioned that you have, you know, other things going on there. So one of the things you offer at the wag is also grooming. And so people could make an appointment and basically like sit there and you know read a book, drink a beer, hang out with their friends while their is getting groomed, is that your idea?
Goldstein: Absolutely, yes. So I added grooming because one of my clients was like, oh, so you're doing a dog park and bar. That means I can drop Pippa off and I can drink while she's doing that, right? And I was like... I mean, in theory, it wasn't grooming, but now it is grooming because if that's what you're gonna think when you think of a dog parking bar, then we're gonna add grooming as a service because yeah, it makes people's lives easier.
They can sit, they can work. We have Wi-Fi throughout the entire space, indoor and outdoor. So it's really... Just a vibe for them to enjoy while their dog's getting groomed, or you can leave and come back. We'll give you a 20 minute warning.
Juravich: Um regulars do you have dogs that are there often like you have your regular friendly dogs they're my
Goldstein: They're my favorite. So we have 411 members that are monthly members, and a lot of them come every night, if not every other in some form or fashion. We have trivia, we have, I'll name that tune, things to get people excited and come.
Juravich: All the typical bar things, yeah.
Goldstein: Yeah, all the typical bar things mixed in with dogs, but your dog can come. They don't have to stay at home. We have tons of tiny little little ones. My favorite right now, don't tell anybody, is Hank. He's a tiny little Yorkie puppy, and he's just so spunky. He's opinionated. He wants to be with the big dogs. He is just like this energy and this light. Like, it's really awesome to see him come in.
Juravich: I don't want to be negative, but do you have like a, do you have a bouncer of sorts where, cause I mean, you know, everyone thinks their dog is an angel until you're until this dog is around another dog and then they're not an angel. So do you have dogs that you've had to say you can't come back or something like that?
Goldstein: Yeah, we have. It's actually a lot less than I thought. So quick tangent, there's a temperament test that a lot of these dog park and bars do. And in fact, it works really well in an environment that you can control all of the variables. We can't control any variable except the space.
And so I do the profile, we do a in-person tour, and we're looking for behaviors and body language because dogs speak every second that they're kind of moving to see if there's anything that's a red flag. And we walk by other dogs on leash. And then when they get to the off leash side, we have somebody with what we call their pig boards.
And so the pig board is learned from the daycare of like a separation. So instead of pulling and getting a nice little slice to your hand, you have a board as a separator. So we greet everybody at the door with a board to allow them to come in slowly and not be bombarded by a bunch of dogs. And then that attendant introduces themselves and watches the dog as they move and make sure that they're the right fit. We've had a few dogs that don't work, but you're putting your money where your mouth is. You're taking the path to make that account. So a lot of those dogs, we don't have issues with.
Juravich: So what do you hope for the future? I mean, you have these two businesses. I mean are you gonna open a third business or what is your hope for your future? What do you see in five years?
Goldstein: In five years, I would love to have another business of some form. I love the WAG. I think it's awesome. It's so new, so it's hard to, we're trying to figure it out, but I would love to see that in the future. I also am very entrepreneur in spirit, so I'm looking at the tech side of what we do. I'm trying to find out how I can create something on the back end to make the businesses easier and more connective, making that engagement between pet parents even better. Okay.
Juravich: Okay, so yeah, but you you did allude to wanting to have a third business. Would the third business be another like all pause the the grooming daycare situation or another bar?
Goldstein: It might be a combo of both because it does make sense. But I don't know, we'll see. I'm curious to see, I love the membership and being able to be with the people and the dogs nonstop. The daycare, we don't have that people connection as much but it is a really good business too. So it might be combo of the two.
Juravich: And so tell people, I guess we just kind of like glossed over it, like where is the wag and I'm assuming you're open all the bar hours. Yeah.
Goldstein: Well, we're more of a happy hour bar, but so we're located in Grandview at 1330 Norton Avenue, between 3rd and 5th, kind of by the giant eagles, where I tell people. So we're open Mondays and Tuesdays at 1 till about 9. On Wednesdays, we are open at 11 till 9, and then Thursday, Friday, we open at 11 till 10. Saturday is 10 a.m. To 10 p.m., and then Sunday is 10a.m to 8 p. M.
Juravich: And then the location of your other business, All Paws Retreat.
Goldstein: Yeah, so we're in Franklinton. We're at 154 South Yale, just by the furniture bank over there.
Juravich: We have been talking with Casie Goldstein, the owner of The Wag, Columbus's first indoor-outdoor dog bar and social club, and also All Paws Retreat, which is a doggy daycare and grooming center. Thank you so much for your time today, Casie.
Goldstein: Yeah, thank you for having me.
Juravich: And coming up, we're going to talk to a college student who started a scholarship for K-12 students in Liberia. That is when All Sides continues with Fascinating Ohio on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides on WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. When 18 year old Brooke Gates visited Liberia for the first time two years ago, she visited a school where a young student asked her for help with tuition. Since then, she made it her mission to provide scholarships for Liberian students. Now a rising sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, Brooke has helped over 50 K-12 students pay their tuition through the Brooke Gates Foundation. And she joins us today. Welcome to All Sides Brooke.
Brooke Gates: Thank you for having me
Juravich: So why were you visiting Liberia in the first place when you went two years ago?
Gates: So when I visited, I was 17 and it was in 2024. And since I was 12 years old, I've been doing humanitarian work with my mother and her organization, Library for Africa. I've the youth ambassador. So with her doing the work that she does in Liberia and me being the youth Ambassador, I went alongside with her to Liberia in 2024 and we visited multiple schools and amongst one of the schools that I visited. There was some students that asked me if I could help them with school fees, so overall I was there because I was on a humanitarian trip with my mother.
Juravich: Yes. Okay. So your mom took you and you went to a school. So was your mom there for the library part, trying to get books into the school or something like that? Yes, exactly. We were there. Our main focus was for the Library. Okay. But whenever the student came up to you and said, I'm having trouble affording school, I mean, tell me about that. Like what did that mean that they have to pay a fee to go to school? Tell me more.
Gates: Yeah, so I was on my way to leave, and so they came up to me and they were like, we need help with school fees. By the grace of God, will you please help us with school fee? And so I said yes, without knowing how I would help them with school fees, but they were, like, it's only 100 to $150 for a child to stay in school for the whole year. So I'm like, okay, yes, I'll help you. And...
Juravich: So they literally asked, they said, do you, we need 150 or about $200. And you were like, okay. Yeah. Yeah, they, I was like, yes, I'll help. Okay, so it started with this one child, but then how did it turn into more children? Cause I could see the one-on-one interaction, but then did that child tell other children, or like what, tell me what happened.
Gates: So it was a group of girls who initially asked me, it was like four girls. And then that was only one school that I visited, but I visited like five other schools. And amongst those other schools I visited I asked the principals to pick out 10 kids that showed financial need. And we went from there.
Juravich: Okay, so where did the idea to come up with your own foundation come from? Did it come out of necessity because more than one kid asked you and you were like, wait a second, I don't have that much money. Or did you instantly know you just wanted to do more?
Gates: Well, I knew like when I got home back to the United States. I was like, okay I told her that I would help her. So how am I gonna fulfill my promise? So with help from my mother we created the brick gates project and I've just been Sharing my mission with people in Dayton, Ohio And people have been a great support
Juravich: Okay, so basically you decided to start the foundation because you wanted to be able to help more students, is that right? But maybe you couldn't fund each one of them individually on your own. Exactly. Okay. Can you tell me about schooling conditions in Liberia? Because obviously now we've learned it's not free public school like we're used to in the United States. So, which, you know, it's free, there's taxes. But anyway, tell me about schooling in Liberian.
Gates: So from what I've experienced when I was there, they had little to no books. The teachers get paid $2 a day. With the school fees for the students, if one student doesn't pay their school fees, they just don't go to school for the year. I know there is one student that I supported who is a senior in high school but is 22 years old because he couldn't go school in the past years.
Juravich: Yeah, and what about the conditions of the school or I mean do They are they are they nice buildings or like what kind of like facilities are they?
Gates: Often it's not that nice, but there are some schools that they're better off than others it's like The roofs are held up by tree branches. It's it's nice
Juravich: for a school. How did you initially fund the scholarships? I mean you created this project to this foundation and did you have fundraisers? Did you have one big donor? Tell me about the tell me about funding the foundation.
Gates: So a lot of donations came from family and friends and people who heard about what I do in the Dayton community. And I had a fundraiser last year called Walk for Scholars. We had keynote speakers. The mayor of Dayton came out. And that was really lucrative for the business. And people that hear about what I do on my WHO interviews that I've had recently, they've reached out and donated. It's all about just people. Reaching out and supporting.
Juravich: What does it mean to the students? Like, you know, if you gave them a scholarship, have you been back to talk to them about it since then? Or is it all like just through email or something?
Gates: I've been back last year. I went back and they had like a big ceremony. They're very grateful They they wrote me some letters Yesterday, they sent me a bunch of letters talking about how grateful they are And it's not just on email. I talk to them like daily I have their I have some of their phone numbers and we get on a call every month and we talk about like cultural differences Educational differences, we just communicate because we're all young people so it's easier to communicate with each other
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio on all sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking with a rising sophomore from the University of Cincinnati, Brooke Gates, who started her own scholarship fund to fund school tuition for K-12 students in Liberia. So tell me about, do the students have to apply for a scholarship, write you an essay? How do you decide who receives the money?
Gates: So initially, like I said, I had the principals choose the students for me that demonstrated that they needed financial help. And to keep them in school, I require to see their report cards. If I don't get a report card, then I can't continue supporting the child, because that's my proof that they went to school. So, and I just ask the teachers to send me videos of the children, them in the school doing schoolwork.
Juravich: When you pick a child to give a scholarship to, are you trying to stay with them to get them through graduation? Is that what you mean? Tell me. Tell me, yeah.
Gates: That's exactly what I'm trying to do. There have been dozens of students who have graduated. Like this year, there were, I think, five seniors that graduated, and two of them are going off to college. Yeah, so my goal is to stick with them until they graduate.
Juravich: Yeah, okay. So you you helped 50 students in this path since you started this right? So some of them are probably younger and some of the maybe we're just trying to get to the end Is that yeah, okay? And what do you have a goal of how many more you hope to help? I mean 50 more, you know
Gates: I mean, if financially, if I'm able to help 50 more, I would love to help fifty more. But right now, I just want to focus on the students that I am supporting. But if I have the opportunity to help more, then I'll definitely hop on it.
Juravich: Okay. So can you tell me more about the political climate in Liberia? You know, is it considered a politically stable country? Is it a poor country? People might not know much about the country.
Gates: From what I've heard, it's either you're poor or you're rich, there's no in-between. And like politically wise, the students tell me that the government is tricky there. There's a lot of corruption and that they don't prioritize education there. That's what the students have told me. When I was there last year, I saw a riot. There was like a protest, not a riot, but it was a protest of the students. They were in the streets. Protesting that the teachers were not getting paid. And so, since the teachers weren't getting paid, the teachers we're not coming to school, so the students couldn't learn. So, there's a lot of...
Juravich: Of work that could be done. Well, speaking of work, that could be done, I mean, we talked a little bit about the conditions of the school, but I saw pictures on your website. Tell me about the restroom renovation that you helped to fund.
Gates: Oh yeah, I visited a church when I was there, and the pastor, he said that we should use the restroom at the hotel because they have no restroom in the church. And so he was like, would you mind donating for us to build a restroom, and we'll put your name on it. And I was like okay, sure, yes, and so that was simple, we just donated money for the restroom to be built in the Church. And they made two restrooms. They made a women's restroom and a men's restroom.
Juravich: Yeah, yeah, okay. So is this the same fund the same through the same like scholarship fund use that similar money to help with the restroom
Gates: No, that was out of my personal money.
Juravich: Oh, you just funded the restroom. Oh, OK. Wow. Well, what made you decide that you wanted to do that? This is the second time now, so just because someone asks you and then you say yes is fine.
Gates: Oh, that was a one-time thing, I just, I don't know, because when I went there, they were so nice and everybody was very welcoming. And I was just like, okay, well, it doesn't cost much for it to be built, so why not? Okay. You're a rising sophomore at the University of Cincinnati. What are you studying? I'm studying business economics right now and I'm thinking about minoring in political science because I want to go to law school after.
Juravich: Okay, well, so tell me about the connection of what you're studying and basically you're finding your place in this world of wanting to help people in a country that's so far away that maybe, you know, you're loosely connected to, but I mean, tell me about like what you are studying and your plans for your future and that kind of thing.
Gates: Well, with my pre-law path, I'm thinking about being like an international lawyer doing international law. So definitely me traveling to Liberia and being able to experience countries outside of America definitely impacted that decision.
Juravich: Does your mom's library program, is it in more than one country or just Liberia?
Gates: It's just in Liberia as of right now.
Juravich: So this has to be a lot to balance, creating a foundation and you're going to school and you were doing this all, you were only a freshman basically this whole time. How do you balance it all?
Gates: I have a lot of help from my mother. She's been a tremendous help. Like when I'm in college, she helps me stay on track with everything regarding BGP, the Brick Gates Project. And so it's definitely a big lift off my shoulders and I'm able to focus on my schoolwork and focus on projects.
Juravich: Yeah, and did you have to learn quick a lot about just running a nonprofit and that kind of thing?
Gates: Well, it's not a non-profit.
Juravich: It's just a fund. Yes. Okay. Got it. It's just a fun. So if people are listening right now and they want to learn more about the fund or maybe even make a donation to the fund, how do they find it?
Gates: They can visit my website at www.TheBrookGatesProject.com or my socials at TheBrook Gates Project. And I have a GoFundMe, which you can just type in TheBrookeGates Project and yes, everything can be found on my website.
Juravich: Yeah, so what are your hopes for the future? I mean, how much could you grow this? Because I'm thinking that you could do more than just scholarships. If you were able to build a bathroom and a church, I'm sure you could help with the schools too. So like, what's big picture here?
Gates: Yes, in the future I would love to help like renovate the schools because they don't look that nice and the students and the principals they actually really want their school to be renovated. That's one of their biggest goals. So that would be a goal of mine and to expand to another country maybe in a different continent or just expand and help other people. Okay.
Juravich: What kind of reaction have you gotten? Because you said you visited again this past year, but then you also were in contact texting and calls with the students. What do they say about the idea of just having help and feeling secure and the ability to go to school?
Gates: One of the students that wrote me a letter, I remember her saying that she was so grateful that she could go to school consistently without having to worry about not being able to go to school because she can't afford school fees. She's very grateful to me and to everybody who's donated and she said that I will keep you in mind for my future and you have inspired me to help people here in Liberia and young people. So, they're just very grateful.
Juravich: So hopefully they can pay it forward too. Yes, exactly. We have been talking, this is Fascinating Ohio on 89.7 NPR News, and we've been talking with a rising sophomore from the University of Cincinnati, Brooke Gates, who started the Brooke Gates Foundation and it is her own scholarship fund for school tuition for K-12 students in Liberia. Thank you so much for your time today. Thank you. You've been listening to Fascinating Ohio from all sides on 89 7 NPR news. And I want to say thanks to the All Sides staff, producers Marcus Charleston and Erin Esmont Rabinowitz. Our student producers are Iza Huck and Brianna Fortunet. And our student producer from Denison University is Ellen Hansen. Video production by the Ohio Channel, board operation by Chris Johnston and Trey Hayes. This has been All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. I'm Amy Juravich. Thanks for joining us.