Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Longmeyer-Wood.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was a government attorney (D.C. and DHS) for almost 20 years when I left the government to focus on other things, including starting the Casual Pint. My business partner was in IT and spent a number of years overseas with Georgetown University. When he came back to D.C., he was looking to invest in a small franchise. He and my husband have been friends since they were in kindergarten. The Casual Pint was the perfect franchise to invest with. It reminded my husband and I of our favorite craft beer and good food place in Edina, MN – we lived there for about 3 years when our kids were little. This place – the Pig & Fiddle (sadly no longer in operation) – but it was our go-to spot on Sunday nights. They had the best craft beers, an excellent menu, and it was the place the neighborhood went to hang out, meet up with friends, chill. It has a real sense of community. And with the Casual Pint that is what we wanted to create – a place of gathering, community with great beer and food.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
While I love good food, good beer, conversation, and hanging out with friends never having owned or worked in the hospitality industry we literally didn’t know what we didn’t know. We had our vision of what we wanted to create, but how to do that was a challenge. The first 12 months were an experiment in all the areas – beers, food, entertainment. We talked with and listened to our customers always asking what beer and food they wanted. We learned immediately we needed to carry more ciders and Sours – what we liked in beer is not always what our customers want. We listened to their suggestions on food specials and incorporated new items on our menu. Also that first year, we invited many different musicians to play at the Pint and, again, listened to our customers on what types of music interested them. After 12 months the result was a better set of beer, ciders, sours, and wine. Welcoming food suggestions. A diverse array of entertainment through the week (trivia, music, game nights, supporting local non-profits). We had a goal of creating community and by listening to our community we have created a great space.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Casual Pint Dunn Loring?
We are a craft beer bar and restaurant. We specialize in great beer, good food, and community.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Our backgrounds – I was a government attorney and my business partner a former IT guy and art school drop-out. I tease him about that but it is our ace in hole because he designs and draws all our beer signs. We post those to our IG page and it gets us lots of followers from the breweries and our customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dunnloring.thecasualpint.com/
- Instagram: @casualpintdunnloring
