From an Empty Storefront to a $5 Million Gas-Station Speakeasy

When Tony Donatell first bought a gas station in Eagan, Minnesota, the property looked dark and unpromising, but it had a kitchen. Seventeen years later, he has turned that experiment into a template. In May 2025, he opened The Farmer’s Cellar in Lakeville, a Prohibition-style cocktail bar hidden behind a faux soda cooler inside a gas station convenience store renamed The Farmer’s Grandson.

CNBC Make It reviewed documents showing the combined site—the speakeasy, the convenience store and the fuel station—brought in almost $5 million in revenue in its first year. The bar alone generated just over $1.7 million from its May 2025 opening through April, while the store and fuel operations contributed about $1.4 million and $1.9 million respectively. Donatell says the business has been profitable since the speakeasy opened, and the convenience store, which had been losing at least $10,000 a month before he arrived, now benefits from customers buying snacks while they wait for a table.

The draw is deliberate. The entrance is a working-looking cooler door that opens into a dim room with chandeliers, leather chairs, an antique wooden bar and a copper bathtub—a nod to Prohibition bathtub gin. Donatell says guests are seeking experiences in a tough economy, and bartenders use centrifuges, dry ice and liquid nitrogen to turn classic cocktails into a show.

Why The Farmer’s Cellar Keeps a Weekend Queue Despite Restaurant Cost Pressures

Why the hidden-entrance speakeasy is drawing a weekend line

Donatell’s stated bet is that dining is no longer just food—it is discovery. With 37% of Americans eating out less often, according to a YouGov report cited in the piece, and 61% treating eating out as a special treat, a venue that offers a theatrical entry and inventive cocktails gives people a reason to spend. The hidden cooler door turns first-time visitors into unpaid storytellers, which helps explain the near-constant Friday and Saturday line.

The 70% beverage mix that keeps the concept profitable

The Farmer’s Cellar is not dependent on full dinner service. Donatell estimates roughly 70% of sales come from beverages, including beer, wine, soda and liquor, with food limited to light bites such as crispy chicken sliders and crab rangoon dip. High-margin cocktails are the economic centre of the model: they generate revenue without the same food-cost and kitchen-labour intensity as a full menu. This matters in an environment where the National Restaurant Association estimates total average restaurant expenses have risen 36% between 2019 and 2026.

How one strong concept is lifting a wider hospitality group

The success is not only about one bar. Donatell says the speakeasy’s immediate performance has helped level up the Wondrous Collective, which operates 12 businesses around the Twin Cities. He is already converting an adjacent storefront into the Withdrawing Room, a Victorian-inspired event space that will handle private parties and overflow seating on busy nights. That is a specific expansion strategy: use a proven, high-footfall concept to fill neighbouring real estate rather than opening an untested format elsewhere.

Practical Lessons from The Farmer’s Cellar’s First-Year Playbook

For restaurant and bar operators facing the same cost pressures, The Farmer’s Cellar offers a few narrow, transferable lessons:

  • Build the menu around high-margin beverages. About 70% of the speakeasy’s sales come from drinks, and Donatell credits that mix with keeping the business profitable despite inflationary food and labour costs.
  • Use adjacent real estate to cross-sell. The Lakeville convenience store was losing at least $10,000 a month before the bar opened; waiting customers now buy snacks, helping flip the store’s numbers.
  • Sell discovery, not just dinner. Donatell says guests are looking for experiences in a difficult economy. The hidden entrance and theatrical cocktails are the specific mechanisms that create a weekend queue.
  • Let a proven format subsidise other venues. Donatell says the speakeasy’s immediate success helped strengthen his 12-business hospitality group, and he is expanding next door rather than chasing an untested location.