The Rhined
Dave & Stephanie Webster, Owners of The Rhined
Stephanie and Dave Webster have been cultivating spaces for people to eat good cheese and drink good wine for years. Six years, in fact. That’s well over half a decade of constant education and growth, welcoming new guests and team members into the family, and adding a third to the ownership team last fall with the birth of their son, Wallace.
“It's the longest and shortest six years of our lives,” Stephanie says. "It's hard to say just six years ago we were filling up the cheese case for the first time and working through the liquor license process and it feels like so long ago.”
In a parallel context, the first six years of a person’s life see the most drastic change in almost every way. Every business can be viewed through this lens of immense growth and the sacrifices made by its caretakers. Almost at their six year anniversary, they began the journey of parenthood, another significant beginning in their lives. Bringing Wallace into the world forced them to change their relationship with work.
“Before the baby, we worked from the time we got up to the time we went to bed nearly every single day. And we liked it!” she says. “Now, with him, there’s no way to do that. You have to be really present with him. He demands it.” The first few months of parenthood overlapped with the holidays, which are notoriously busy and lucrative for food businesses. Being able to fully rely on her team to thrive without her is an invaluable gift.
Stephanie speaks very highly of her team. They are a force of nature, not only able but willing to run the store in her stead and to her high standard of quality. “We’re here today not because of me and Dave,” she says. “It’s because our team has accepted and embraced the culture. They understand what we want to create and they want to create that, too.”
Several team members have been along for the ride since the beginning. But The Rhined they know now is not The Rhined they knew several years ago. It’s gone through many iterations of itself since opening. “I remember thinking about our break even,” Stephanie says. “We thought, ‘if 10 people come in and buy a glass of wine and a charcuterie board and a piece of cheese to-go, we will not lose money.’”
A year later, to celebrate their first anniversary, Stephanie spent three weeks studying in Comte caves in France. She came back to a still-standing shop, which was her sign to start planning for a second one. The opening of Oakley Wines and more recently, Bloom Room, were simply extensions of the original plan to be a source of cheese, wine and good conversation in a lovely space.
“Sometimes I’m sad that I can’t just sit here and experience this place through the eyes of a guest. I just want to be a guest here.” Realizing your dream can be bittersweet. Creating a place that didn’t exist before is an incredible feat. But as the owner of this dream, Stephanie is responsible for maintaining it and keeping it grounded in reality. Most days that looks like living vicariously through The Rhined’s guests instead of enjoying the spoils herself.
“Every guest that comes in is excited to be here,” she says. “It’s a happy place. That’s one of our guiding principles, actually. We are a happy place.”
Published July 2023