Sisters Becki Steier, left, and Kelli Steier, right, are all excited to be finally opening their new restaurant, Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen, in Blue Earth.

Two Blue Earth sisters are fulfilling a long-time dream by opening up their new restaurant this week.

Becki Steier and Kelli Steier purchased the building which previously housed the Blue Earth Hometown Restaurant, and the Country Kitchen restaurant before that, and have totally remodeled it.

It will officially open this week, on Tuesday, Nov. 23, with the new name of Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen.

“We had a soft opening two weeks ago, and we have now been open for take-out only, due to some COVID issues,” Becki Steier says. “Now we will finally be open to everyone for inside dining.”

It has been a long, hard road to get to this point, the two sisters say.

It was a year ago, in November of 2020, that the owners of the building, three brothers in their 80s who do not live in the Blue Earth area, contacted the sisters’ father, Tim Steier, about selling the building.

“Our dad had contacted the Steege brothers before about the building,” Kelli Steier says. “They were getting back to him to say they were open to selling it.

On Dec. 12, 2020, a deal was struck, with a March 1 closing date. However, many complications stalled the actual purchase, and the two sisters finally were able to take over ownership on April 1 of this year.

“Workers from Ankeny Builders, who we had hired as our contractor, were in the building doing demo later that same day,” Becki Steier says. “And they found a lot of issues with the building.”

From wiring and plumbing to inadequate heating and air conditioning, from old and outdated kitchen appliances to a collapsed floor area, they had one issue after another.

“We can’t say enough about Ankeny Builders and the sub-contactors they hired,” Becki Steier says. “Whenever there was a problem, they solved it. And Mic (Ankeny) had lots of great ideas for the remodeling work.”

Still, the project was thought to take just a couple of months, and the Steier sisters were expecting to open last July.

“Yeah, that didn’t work out,” Kelli Steier says. “Now seven months later we are finally ready to open.”

Not only were there so many problems with the poor condition of the building, they were hit with the supply chain slowdown.

“We just got some of the kitchen items in September and October that we ordered in May,” Kelli Steier says. “And some came damaged and had to be returned.”

Becki Steier adds that some items still have not arrived, but they are non-essential to the operation of the restaurant.

To begin with, Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen will be open every day from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will be serving an upscale brunch on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Beginning Dec. 13, they will start being open on Monday evenings. After the first of the year they will add fine dining on Friday and Saturday nights.

They have a beer and wine liquor license so they can serve drinks with their meals.

“Our goal is to serve great, home-cooked meals, in a family friendly atmosphere,” Becki Steier says.

The two partners in the business each have their roles. Becki Steier is the business manager, doing the books, ordering, etc. Kelli Steier is the restaurant manager, running the day to day operations.

“I still have my business, B.S. Studios, downtown,” Becki Steier says. “But this is something I have always wanted to do.”

In fact, she says she had considered buying Double Play in Blue Earth about seven years ago. However, she decided against it, as she did not want to do it alone.

“I really didn’t want to own a bar,” she explains. “I have been a bartender in the past, and I did not really want to do that again.”

As for her sister, Kelli Steier has been working in the restaurant business for years.

“I started working here, in this building, when it was Country Kitchen, when I was 17 years old,” she says. “I have worked here pretty much ever since, even when I was also working as a hair stylist.”

The two owners say they are very happy they were able to hire a full, talented staff to work at the restaurant.

“Sarah Smith is our kitchen manager, and she has 20 years experience,” Kelli Steier says. “Cain Widhalm is our head chef, and he came here from Princeton, Minnesota, to work with us.”

They have a full staff that are fully trained and who the two sisters say are “Amazing.”

They also both say they are proud of their menus, and that they keep their food items as fresh as possible, cut their own meat items, have fresh hamburger that has not been frozen, and follow a lot of old family recipes.

“This is a labor of love for us,” Becki Steier says. “So we want everything to be just right and the food to be very, very good.”

The two sisters say they are dedicating the restaurant to their parents. They are using their mom (Barb)’s recipes and putting their dad (Tim)’s career in their business name.

“We also have lots of photos of our family farm in the restaurant,” Becki says. “And we have the side room named the Pilot’s Lounge, in honor of our family being involved in aviation.”

Now, after a year of hard work, the sisters are getting all excited to finally be opening the doors to the public and letting everyone get a good look at all they have done and enjoy their great home-cooked recipes.