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December 09. 2009 6:00AM

A victim of the economy, Tim Rohrbach took circumstances into his own hands and last month, became the owner of a well-known Minnesota restaurant and bar.

Rohrbach and his wife, Dawn, purchased The Magnolia Bar and Steak House, located along Interstate 90 in Luverne, Minn., from Amy Dispanet VerSteeg and husband Brad VerSteeg. Since taking ownership, the Rohrbachs have made one slight change, renaming it Magnolia Restaurant and Bar.

In January, Rohrbach was laid off from his job at Hutchinson Technology. “From there, I went looking for a job,” the Brandon man said. But with an extensive background in the restaurant industry, Rohrbach decided it was time to go to work for himself.

“I’ve been a cook, a waiter and a manager in a restaurant. The only thing I never was, was an owner,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to be a risk-taker. I probably wouldn’t be able to do this any other time, but here was an opportunity for me to take a risk.”

Rohrbach previously worked at restaurants in Aberdeen, Minneapolis and Rapid City.
While the business name has been changed, both Rohrbach and Dispanet VerSteeg say the clientele shouldn’t notice the switch in ownership.

“Basically, the majority of the steak house is going to stay the same,” Rohrbach said.
Dispanet VerSteeg is helping with the transition. “There’s obviously going to be a training period,” she said, “and they want to keep a lot of this the same, but he should be able to make it his own, too.”

The staff of nearly 40 will remain and no immediate changes to the menu are planned, Rohrbach said. Magnolia’s famed steaks, French onion soup and onion rings will remain on the menu.
However, Rohrbach does intend to implement some changes beginning early next year. He plans to extend the restaurant’s hours, first offering noon lunches and later adding a breakfast menu.
“There’s a need in Luverne for something like that,” he said.
Rohrbach said he may also explore catering.
“I have a lot of experience in catering,” he said. “And I find that fun because you’re working with a party and feel like you’re part of it.”
Catering also offers Rohrbach the opportunity to dabble in his passion for art. Six pieces of Rohrbach’s scratch art (reverse of pen and ink) now hang on the restaurant’s walls.

“I’ve always thought I’d like to own a restaurant and put my artwork in it,” he said.

Dispanet VerSteeg was elated to sell the three-generation family business to another family. Working at the family business since she was 13, Dispanet VerSteeg said the decision to sell didn’t come easily. But after 18 years in the business, she said it was time for her family to come first.

“I have a little girl and didn’t want to wake her up at 18 and send her off to college,” she said.

The Rohrbach’s mission now is to maintain the reputation The Magnolia Bar and Steak House has built over the past 71 years. “We’ll be keeping the same quality of food and will cut our own meat daily,” he said. “The onion rings, French onion soup and T-bones are the most popular with the locals. My goal is to give people excellent food and service, and if we do that, they’re going to come back.”

Dispanet VerSteeg is confident the Rohrbachs will continue to offer quality food and personal service.

“That was really important to me and I think the Rohrbach’s understand that,” she said.

Like the Dispanet family, the Rohrbach family will also be involved in the business. Their eldest son, Derrick, a student at Southeast Technical Institute pursing a degree in business, is expected to step in as assistant manager next spring. The Rohrbach’s three other children, Ryan, a junior, Desiree, an eighth grader, and Jarred, a sixth grader at Brandon Valley, will bus tables and wash dishes.

“This is a family business,” Rohrbach said. “Right now, we’ll teach them good work ethics and it’s up to them if this is something they want (to pursue).”

The Magnolia Bar and Steak House had been in the Dispanet family for 71 years. The business was founded by Dispanet VerSteeg’s grandfather, A.C. Dispanet. In 1938, A.C. Dispanet opened Magnolia Bar in the tiny southwestern town of the same name. Dispanet later added a menu and changed the name to The Magnolia Bar and Steak House.

In 1972, A.C.’s son, Tim, and his wife, Susan, purchased the business. A fire on Jan. 3, 1988, resulted in relocating the bar and steakhouse to its current location at the intersection of I-90 and Highway 75. In 2000, Amy and Brad VerSteeg purchased the family business from her parents.
The Rohrbachs look forward to a long association with the Luverne restaurant and bar.
“The locals and people from Pipestone to Flandreau, to Iowa, Canton, Tea and Lennox know about the Magnolia restaurant,” he said.

Current hours for Magnolia Restaurant are 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday thru Saturday; the bar is open 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tuesday thru Saturday. Reservations are accepted for groups of 12 or more.