Owner To Retire, Sell Oak Park Heights Restaurant After 48 Years

OAK PARK HEIGHTS, MN — The longtime owner of Joseph’s Family Restaurant in Oak Park Heights is planning to retire and sell the business.

Joe Kohler, who’s worked in the restaurant industry for more than 50 years, recently announced he’s calling it a career and will hand off the business to the Leon family, which owns several other restaurants, including Devil’s Advocate in Stillwater.

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Kohler, 67, said on Facebook that he is planning to retire and sell the restaurant June 1. The restaurant will continue with the same name, menu, staff and operating hours after the sale, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.

Kohler said he started running the restaurant in 1974, when he was 19 years old. He said he started thinking several years ago "about how I could exit this lifelong adventure and still feel good about leaving."

Several people reached out in November about buying Joseph's Family Restaurant and running it just as it has for the past 48 years, Kohler said.

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Kohler said the offer meant he could retire "while at the same time making sure my team could continue having jobs and income." Kohler's son, Joe Jr., is also set to continue as manager of the restaurant after the sale.

"This truly felt like a blessing for me," Kohler wrote April 12 on Facebook. "This is a best case scenario for everyone involved and so it seems it’s time."

Kohler said he "will truly miss everyone" and said the restaurant's employees "made and will continue to make Joseph's Family Restaurant a great success."

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