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Reese Gardner found his niche in the nation’s capital.
He’s not a politician but a successful businessman.
“He is a fun-loving guy, a savvy business guy. He is good at what he does, being a restaurateur. That is the right business for him. He has become quite an entrepreneur in this city,” said friend Dan Allen, a UBS Financial Advisor in northern Virginia.
Gardner, 41, who grew up in the Juniata Gap area and graduated from Altoona Area High School in 1992, is founder and owner of Wooden Nickel Bar Co., which owns and operates several restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area.
His company presently owns four and will open two more in the near future.
While growing up, Gardner said he was intrigued by advertising.
“I had a dream of being in advertising. I was always creative. I wanted to be the logo and slogan guy. I am still intrigued by marketing and advertising. That is what I always gravitated toward,” Gardner said.
He also was interested in the bar business.
“I really enjoyed being in the bars, what each was doing and how they marketed it. As a kid, my dad would take me to the Varsity Lounge near the high school. He used to give me a handful of quarters to buy a burger,” Gardner said. “I thought that bar was the coolest place ever. I thought I would always own a bar.”
Gardner, while working more than 55 hours a week, attended Penn State Altoona for one year, but decided college life wasn’t for him.
After working at several jobs in Altoona – Sears, The Gap and Courtesy Motors – he moved to Pittsburgh in 1997 and worked at PNC Bank and Bally’s Health Club as a manager.
Gardner moved to Lancaster in 1998 to open his own health club. He worked and managed his health club for two years. After owning his own health club and working numerous hours a week generating and building the business, he decided to sell the club.
In 2000, he moved to D.C. to work as a general manager at Sport and Health, a large health club center. He was promoted to district manager of corporate sales in 2001.
In 2005, Gardner left the health club business to work as an operations manager in the night club business in downtown D.C.
After several years of promoting and generating business for several nightclubs in D.C., he decided to open his first venue in 2010 named Mighty Pint on DuPont Circle.
Mighty Pint was a Pennsylvania-themed bar – Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and Penn State.
In October, Gardner re-evaluated his company and venues. He no longer wanted to be in the bar business, so Mighty Pint was converted into a more casual upper-scale dining experience, called “Second State.”
The menu is a farm-to-table scratch menu from farms less than two hours from D.C. with a focus on Pennsylvania. The Keystone Burger and The Pittsburgher can be found on the lunch menu.
In September 2011, Gardner purchased Wilson’s Tavern, a former Irish restaurant located in Clarendon. Gardner’s younger brother, Jordan Bickel, who moved from Altoona to Arlington in 2010 to work for the company, became general manager of Wilson’s Tavern.
However, Wilson’s closed in 2014 when Arlington County approved that it could be torn down and replaced by a hotel. Bickel moved to a corporate position in the company and works in all aspects of the business.
Irish Whiskey Public House was the second venue that opened in 2012, a three-level Irish Pub with an outdoor patio.
Gardner visited Ireland to ensure the look of the venue and its whiskey selection was unique.
“I wanted to get the traditional feel of an Irish pub rather than an American pub,” Gardner said.
Irish Whiskey has been voted number one Irish pub in D.C. several times since its opening and recently was awarded Open Table Diners Choice in 2015.
In September 2013, the third venue – Copperwood Tavern – opened in The Village at Shirlington in Arlington, where Gardner has lived for the past 10 years.
Copperwood Tavern is also a farm-to-table scratch kitchen menu, featuring prime cuts of local game, farm-raised poultry, beef and fresh fish.
It also has a local touch – behind the bar a deer head shot near Tyrone hangs and a pitch fork belonging to Gardner’s late grandfather John Finochio, who lived in Altoona, hangs on the wall.
Copperwood Tavern was named one of the top 50 restaurants in northern Virginia magazine in 2014 and Open Table Diners Choice award in 2015.
The fourth venue, Orange Anchor, a nautical- themed restaurant on the Georgetown Waterfront, opened in February.
Two others will open soon.
Union Social, a train station theme decor in NoMa, is scheduled to open in late August, and in 2016, Copperwood Two will open in Ashburn, Va.
“I have always been enamored with the architecture of train stations. My dad was an engineer, I have always been intrigued by trains,” Gardner said.
Copperwood Tavern is the most popular of his restaurants while Orange Anchor is Gardner’s personal favorite.
“I can take my boat (he owns a yacht) to work. To take your boat to work is pretty cool,” Gardner said.
Gardner fondly remembers growing up in Juniata Gap and enjoying the outdoors.
“I also remember the good family values and spending weekends dining at my grandparents, watching the Steelers every Sunday, the friendships I had through elementary school,” Gardner said. “I remember going to the Horseshoe Curve. Back then, there was Bland’s Park and Lakemont Park. I remember deer hunting and enjoying deer jerky and venison. Also riding four-wheelers and snowmobiles.”
Gardner, who only gets back about once a year, is remembered fondly by those back home.
“As a child, Reese was quiet. He was good at individual things. He liked to bowl. He didn’t go to college and made his own way. He always had a drive,” recalled Gwen Paden, a friend of Gardner’s mother, Nancy, who has known Reese since he was 5 years old.
“He was mild-mannered and had an infectious smile, was very intelligent and very caring,” said longtime neighbor and family friend Jackie Rieger. “He would sit and talk to you. We knew he had the potential to be something. I am so proud of him.”
Matt Benson and Gardner met in first grade at Pleasant Valley Elementary. They were reunited about eight years ago at Christmas at Al’s Tavern.
“We have remained in touch and are very best friends again. He is living in the same area that I am,” Gardner said.
“Reese is a generous guy. He likes to have a good time; he is the life-of-the-party kind of guy. Reese is the kind of guy that if you need him, he is there,” said Benson, a Realtor in Reston, Va.
Hard work has been the key to his success, Gardner said.
“My work ethic through high school – I learned from my blue-collar background and applied it to the D.C. area. I am personable and goal-oriented. When you see a door open, make sure you walk through it,” Gardner said.
His grandfathers – George Gardner and John Finochio – and mother Nancy Kanzleiter – were his role models while growing up.
“Both of my grandfathers were hard-working, dedicated guys. I got my work ethic from them,” Gardner said. “My mom’s the one who got me started at Sears. She was a single mother who worked very hard and was very inspiring to me.”
Gardner has a plan for the future.
“I have a goal to have 10 restaurants, and have a revenue goal in mind. Once I hit 10, I will stop and smell the roses for a while. Then I will retire and hand them off to my brother (Jordan Bickel) to run,” Gardner said.
Bickel admires his older brother.
“He is very driven. He is the kind of guy who would do anything for anybody; he is very selfless. When he says he is going to so something, he does it,” Bickel said.
Those back home are not surprised by Gardner’s success.
“He was ambitious, yet very compassionate. You could tell he was going to be something,” Rieger said.
“He is living proof dreams can come true if you put a lot of elbow grease into it. He really had the need to put his mark on the map and he did,” Rieger said.
“He has worked really hard for his dreams. He always had the drive to have a restaurant in the city and on the waterfront. He kept setting goals and kept reaching them,” Paden said.
Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.