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Speakeasy restaurant turns Minnesota gas station storefront into $5M business
The Farmer's Cellar opened in May 2025 and generated nearly $5 million in revenue in its first year, helped by a steady weekend flow despite weaker demand for eating out.
Tony Donatell transformed an empty storefront beside an Amoco gas station convenience store in Lakeville, Minnesota into The Farmer's Cellar, an upscale restaurant and cocktail bar with a speakeasy concept, CNBC Markets reports.
Donatell, 46, owns the Wondrous Collective restaurant group, which includes 12 businesses in the Twin Cities area, and opened The Farmer's Cellar in May 2025. Documents reviewed by CNBC Make It show the venue, which also includes the speakeasy, the convenience store, and the gas station, brought in almost $5 million in revenue in its first year.
CNBC Markets notes the concept draws near-constant lines on Friday and Saturday nights. The story also points to broader pressure on consumers, citing a YouGov report from October 2025 that 37% of American diners were eating out less often than a year earlier, plus Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing the CPI for eating out up 3.4% year over year as of July.