On a windy, late fall afternoon, Mike, the bar manager at The Barrel, places a cinnamon stick on the handle of a red mug and pours a hot beverage into the cup. Steam drifts off the golden liquid of hot whisky with a hint of honey and lemon. A hot toddy, one of the winter specials at The Barrel, is the ideal drink for warming up after a day on the trails in the notorious winds of Estes Valley.
Two patrons sit at the bar inside The Barrel, chatting with Mike about their morning adventures. In a quiet corner along one of the iconic Bavarian beer garden benches, owner Ingrid Bush shares her insight into how she arrived at this point on her path to business ownership. Bush admits that the path included bumps along the way that caused her to pause and evaluate the right business direction.
In September, Bush received the $5,000 Ready, Set, Grow Grant from two other successful businesswomen in Estes Park, Harriett Woodard of Bank of Colorado and Julie Abel, realtor and owner with Signature Home Team. The goal of the grant is to empower women of Estes Valley to succeed in their business endeavors, and Bush recognized the value of the money to heighten the presence of her bar.
“I heard about the grant from the Chamber newsletter and a Chamber member,” said Bush. “Because of where we’re located, I now have two new neighbors. So, we are getting new signage because our signage is very dark, even though we have a light on it. You really can’t see the sign so I’m going to get a new sign from Kent Smith.”
Bush’s plan involves installing two new signs on the building, which includes an outside container bar and an indoor Bavarian-style beer garden and hall. One of the signs will replace the sign over the main entrance on Moraine Avenue. The second sign will be added to the north facing wall to bring attention to the business from that direction.
The construction for The Loop the last two years and a move in 2018 to their current location at 251 Moraine Avenue also impacted the bottom line of the business.
Bush talked about lessons learned as a result of the challenges put in front of her the last few years.
“Going through the move from downtown to this location, it taught me how much stronger a person I am,” said Bush. “There are a lot of hoops of fire that I had to go flying through and put out on a daily basis. Working with this construction person and that contractor, and getting everybody on the same page, it all taught me how much more I can actually do than I had previously thought.”
And then The Loop project started in early 2023, which impacted not just the customer traffic at The Barrel but all of the businesses along this section of Moraine Avenue as the project rerouted the nearby intersection into a roundabout and changed the traffic pattern in front of the bar into a one-way street.
“It was tough because people would just drive on by,” said Bush, referring to The Loop construction. “They would be so frustrated because they were sitting in traffic, and they wouldn’t come back in this area. I am looking forward to this coming summer to find out how it will affect us because now there isn’t a way to come directly back here. Instead, you have to go around to get here.”
And that is where the new signage comes into play for The Barrel.
“The sign plan is to have a flat face illuminated sign over the door,” said Smith of Smith Design Studio. “We are using current technology for both signs consisting of LED illumination. The graphics will be white on an opaque black background, which emphasizes the message. With the change in traffic pattern, it is critical to have this main identification visible enough to attract motorists.”
According to Smith, the second sign is designed to increase visibility towards Elkhorn Avenue and bring attention to The Barrel coming up the hill, emphasizing that having a good sign that works for the business every day is a keystone to advertising and locating a business.
“It is planned to be a classic style individual letters, which have their shape filled with low intensity light bulbs,” said Smith. “This type of sign letter was popular from about 1900 into the 1950s, although many were phased out as neon gained popularity into the 1930s.”
When asked about lessons learned in running her business, which she owns with her husband Lou, Bush emphasized that profit margins and cost of goods sold are key indicators of how your business is doing.
“You have to make sure you are hitting those numbers correctly, and not putting something on that you’re not making money from it,” said Bush. “I pay attention to what is selling. I won’t put something on that isn’t moving. I pay attention to my clientele constantly because my clientele in the summertime changes every single year. It’s constantly changing. Then during the wintertime, we have more locals. I’m always paying attention to what is moving.”
Bush is eager to install the new signs but is waiting for some work being done on the outside of the building first. In the meantime, she continues to advocate for the best community she could have hoped for to establish her business.
To keep a successful business on the right path, Bush stresses that a business plan should always stay in draft mode so you can quickly adapt to whatever bumps – a pandemic, a wildfire, a construction project, new neighborhood businesses – may rise up along the way.
In the U.S., nearly 40 percent of all businesses are owned by women, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy.
In Colorado, the percentage rises to almost 45 percent, based on a 2021 U.S. SBA report. A research study by Clarify Capital in 2023 announced that the Centennial State took the number two spot on their list of best states for women to own a business.
For more information about business resources available in Estes Park through the Estes Chamber click here.
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