Coming Together to Keep the Branding Iron Open

PRESTON, MINN – Most small towns have an iconic restaurant or cafe that has been in operation for years, even if it’s changed owners a few times. 

In Preston – the county seat for Fillmore County – that restaurant is the Branding Iron, a community favorite since a group of Decorah, Iowa investors opened the doors in 1970. 

Several decades later when the restaurant couldn’t find its next owner, a group of community members and two former Branding Iron employees came together to creatively find a way to keep the restaurant open.

Restaurant for sale

In early 2019, former Branding Iron owner Steve Bahl was ready to retire after owning and managing the restaurant for decades. Under Bahl’s ownership, the Branding Iron kept a reputation for offering delicious steak, fish and more fare and being a gathering place for groups and events. 

When a new buyer could not be found, the restaurant closed on January 19, 2019. The community was at a loss seeing this iconic restaurant’s doors locked – and that’s when two separate groups came together to find a way to keep it open.

Upon learning the Branding Iron was up for sale, former staff members and married couple, Dale and Becky Koch, began to consider leaving their Mayo Clinic careers to purchase the Branding Iron. Both had both worked in the restaurant as teenagers in the 1980s and continued working there as adults up until 2011 and 2013. 

At the end of 2018, they watched as no buyer stepped forward and felt the restaurant was too big for them to manage. Nonetheless, their kids encouraged them to consider buying it.  

Dale Koch had always dreamed of owning a restaurant and with the encouragement from their kids – Kyle, Korby, Kayla and Kasey – Dale thought, “we should go check into it”. He set up an informational meeting with Steve Bahl. Unbeknownst to the Kochs, a group of Preston area community members was trying to find a way to keep the doors open as well.

Community commitment

Gary Hellickson, Mike Schwarz and Sheila Craig were all thinking of ways to make sure the Branding Iron didn’t close permanently. They’d watched neighboring communities lose their famed supper clubs and they didn’t want the same fate for Preston. 

Hellickson met with Bahl to determine the dollar amount needed to help purchase the Branding Iron. The group decided to ask others to create a lending group where each person could put in $10,000. As Hellickson said, “The three of us started driving around the neighborhood and were kind of being selective of who to ask to be a lender. We couldn’t hardly find anyone to say no. It was bizarre.”  

Hellickson didn’t know that at the same time, Dale Koch was investigating ownership of the Branding Iron. After a phone call, the two connected and learned of each other’s plans. 

“The most important piece of the puzzle was finding Dale and Becky Koch,” Gary said.  

Forming the lending group

Sheila Craig, long time Branding Iron hostess and community member, shared, “We didn’t want to lose the Branding Iron for the town.” The group of lenders recruited Harmony lawyer Greg Schieber of Nethercut Schieber PA to help them become the Friends of Branding Iron LLC.  

According to Craig, “The group agreed upon five people to serve as a Board of Directors, and the group elected two people with roles.” Craig served as treasurer and Dave Mensink served as CEO. The other board members included Gary Hellickson, Dale Loeffler and Dawn Hellickson.  This eventual group of 36 were not investors, they were lenders. Each member had a certificate of units in the LLC of $10,000. 

In the group dining area of the restaurant hangs the original Branding Iron sign with framed remnants of the original carpet that the Kochs found when doing a renovation. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

“It is a diverse bunch of people,” Craig said, “not all are connected as some heard about the lending opportunity and wanted to join in.” The Kochs shared that they didn’t even know all of the lenders as they were from all over, not just from Preston.

In February 2019, the lending group and the Kochs held an informational meeting at the Preston Golf Course and lawyer Schieber was there to explain the plan. People wrote checks that night.

“That was when I realized this was going to be a reality when folks were writing out their checks,” Dale Koch shared. He answered some questions from the lenders and plans moved forward. A total of $360,000 was raised to help the Branding Iron stay open.

The interested potential owners, the Kochs, and the motivated lenders, the Friends of Branding Iron LLC, came together to open the Branding Iron up again just a few months after it closed.  

As Dale Koch explained, “It was definitely a good door that opened up to be able to finance the purchase of the Branding Iron.” 

And when COVID-19 hit, the lending group helped the Kochs by not requiring any payments in 2020. The lenders and owners communicated when needed to make things work.

The dining room of the Branding Iron Restaurant in Preston. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

The perfect new owners

Even though it was scary to leave their jobs and benefits at Mayo Clinic, the Kochs were confident and ready to be owners of the Branding Iron. Two of their sons, Kyle and Korby, work for them and it has become a family business. 

“It takes the people to make it work, you cannot do it yourself,” Dale Koch stated “Some long-time employees taught us things like ordering supplies.”

Becky Koch shared that the previous bookkeeper was able to teach her some bookkeeping and office tasks. Former owner Steve Bahl helped the first couple of days they were open and he even came back to cook when they needed help one day.

The grill at the Branding Iron sits next to the dining room, where patrons can watch the chefs at work. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

A successful combination

Once the lending group knew the Kochs wanted to be owners, there was relief knowing they were the right people with experience to take on ownership. They are hard workers and had great experience working in the kitchen and front of house from their years working at the Branding Iron.

Lender and Board Member Dave Mensink shared, “They really put their nose to the grindstone. They knew what to do, and it is just a great story that they went above and beyond. No one had to worry about anything.”

The Kochs were able to pay off the loan in six years, earlier than the term of ten years and, in October 2025, the Friends of Branding Iron LLC held a dinner at the restaurant to celebrate the early pay-off.

“Not everything is a success in your life,” Hellickson stated, “but this was successful.” 

The perfect combination came together when community members formed a lending group because they didn’t want to see this icon close and two former Branding Iron employees wanted to realize their dream of being restaurant owners.

And now, thanks to the past and current owners of this restaurant, the Branding Iron has a reputation for being a delicious and memorable dining experience.

Gary Hellickson sums it up best: “We didn’t save the Branding Iron, the Branding Iron pretty much saved itself.”