Nicole Kidney’s road to owning a restaurant was a winding one.
By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
Nicole Kidney; daughter, Adalynn; fiancé, Kevin Kramer; and his son, Lynn, stand near the Pedal-In sign along Highway 44. As the sign states, the restaurant offers sandwiches, wraps and ice cream, plus much more.
Nicole Kidney is entering her third summer season as owner and operator of the Pedal-In, located on Highway 44 in Panora, adjacent to the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Formerly known as PJ’s, Kidney bought the restaurant in August 2022 and opened to customers Nov. 22, 2022.
Kidney’s road to owning a restaurant was a winding one.
“I grew up all over, mostly in the western part of Iowa. My dad worked for Fareway and got transferred around to several towns. I graduated from high school in Greenfield, even though my dad was transferred to Carroll my senior year,” Kidney says.
Bob Kidney finished his 50-year career with Fareway in Carroll. He and his wife, Joan, bought a pontoon and boated in the Carroll area before purchasing their Boulder Cove condo at Lake Panorama in 2013. After Bob retired, they sold their Carroll home and moved to Lake Panorama fulltime.
A couple of years later, Nicole also left Carroll and moved into the basement of her parents’ condo. “I wanted to save money so I could eventually move out on my own with my daughter,” she says.
Nicole Kidney; her daughter, Adalynn; Kevin Kramer; and his son, Lynn, are shown in the covered picnic area on the east side of the Pedal-In building. The bikes behind them were donated to help tie the restaurant to the nearby Raccoon River Valley Trail.
After high school, Nicole attended DMACC, graduating with an associate’s degree in business.
“I didn’t have any goals or major ideas of what I wanted to do, but I thought a degree in business could be beneficial someday,” she says. “Turns out, when you decide to buy a restaurant, even years later, that degree comes in handy.”
When Kidney moved to Panora, there weren’t a lot of job options.
“PJ’s was hiring, so I put in an application. I was very honest about having absolutely zero restaurant experience and still got hired,” Kidney says. “I worked there on and off for the next five years with the last two years nearly fulltime. Then I worked for two years as a bartender and server at Lake Panorama National.”
When Kidney saw a sign at PJ’s that the business would be auctioned off, she talked with her parents and friends and decided to attend the auction. The rest is history.
Kidney had a long list of things to do before she was ready to open. Deep clean from floor to ceiling, paint picnic tables, update the outdoor bar, repair broken tiles in the dining room, replace tiles in the bathrooms, and install a vent and return air system to keep the place cleaner and smelling fresher. She also bought two new fryers and a new prep table.
Nicole Kidney preps a large twist cone that combines vanilla and chocolate soft serve ice cream. Kidney says ice cream cones, sundaes and shakes are popular year-round.
She came up with a new name for her new business that honors the Raccoon River Valley Trail just steps away. New signs and décor feature bicycles. A painted wall mural of the trail that had been hidden by metal panels was uncovered and updated.
Developing the menu was another task for Kidney to tackle.
“I already knew what menu items were popular at PJ’s. I knew it was going to be a tricky transition for people to even get used to calling my restaurant Pedal-In, so I wanted to keep the transition as simple and easy on customers as possible,” she says.
“I kept everything that was on the previous menu and added a couple of things,” she says. “Since opening, I’ve gradually added a few more things as I’ve gotten requests from customers. Sometimes a sales rep lets me try a few free boxes of food items and see what feedback I get from customers. That’s how our Wisconsin cheese curds came to be on my menu, and those now are a favorite for many.”
Kidney says her most popular sandwich, by far, is the hand-breaded tenderloin. Other favorites are bacon cheeseburger, Philly sandwiches, chicken tenders, and the bacon ranch and southwest wraps. And, of course, there is ice cream.
“We sell tons of ice cream all year long. It can be 20 degrees below zero, and people are still coming in for ice cream,” Kidney says. “We offer all the candy flavors you can imagine, as well as lots of toppings. We also come up with a special shake each month.”
Monica and Lyle Stutzman hand Nicole Kidney her “first dollar” earned at Pedal-In. The Stutzmans live at Lake Panorama in a Boulder Cove condo and are close friends with Nicole’s parents, Joan and Bob Kidney. The Kidneys also live at Boulder Cove.
Daily specials usually are a regular menu item with fries and a drink at a discounted price. But, sometimes, the special is truly special.
“When I have time, I like to do homemade hot meals for specials, such as ham balls and mashed potatoes and green beans, chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and corn, lasagna and garlic toast and salad, and meatloaf and baked potato and veggies,” she says.
Another special is the Pedal-In Friday night, in house, all-you-can-eat fish fry. The hand-breaded pollock comes with baked potato, salad or coleslaw, roll with butter and a drink for $14 and is served 5-8 p.m.
“Our fish fry is hugely popular. We offer it nine months of the year, taking off the three summer months,” Kidney says. “We dedicate one of our two fryers for the fish for allergy and taste reasons, and that’s not possible in the summer when we’re so busy.”
Kidney has 10 to 12 employees most of the year and 14 to 18 during the summer.
“Staffing is up and down. Either I’m struggling a bit to cover all the shifts without me working several doubles, or I’m getting too many applications and have to turn people away,” she says. “With summer fast approaching, I’m looking for servers, cooks, cooks’ help and back of house help.”
Some members of the Pedal-In staff are shown in front of the restaurant. Pictured left to right, Alex Morris; Meagan Sprague; Johnny Mrozek; owner Nicole Kidney and her daughter Adalynn, Nicole’s fiancé Kevin Kramer and his son Lynn; Amy Derry and Brynnlie Bloomquist. Staff not pictured are Brenda Halterman, Jennifer Sanders; Nancy Sanders, Piper Godwin and Weston Boecker.
Kidney describes her current staff as amazing.
“We are more like a family than co-workers. I don’t even feel like their boss most days,” she says. “I love that they can joke around and poke fun, all while focusing on their work, giving the customers attention and serving great food. What more can I say about my staff? I seriously couldn’t run the place without them. They are a key part of why I’ve been so successful.”
Family members also play key roles at Pedal-In.
“My parents spend three months in Florida each winter, but they help out a lot when they are around,” Kidney says. “Dad likes to tinker with things, mows the yard, does dishes. Mom helps serve and cook. They both help do the little jobs like plant flowers or sweep the patio area.”
Kidney’s daughter, Adalynn, is 10 years old and in fifth grade.
“Adalynn loves to help at the restaurant. It started with her wanting to clear tables and do dishes, then it was learning how to make ice cream, and then she pestered me for months to learn the point-of-sale system,” she says. “Now she has her own code and thumbprint into the system so her name prints out on the tickets. There have been a few days that, due to sickness or staff schedules, I’ve had Adalynn serve while I cook, just the two of us.”
When Nicole Kidney purchased the building that is now the Pedal-In, this mural on the west wall of the restaurant was covered with a sheet of metal. She had the metal removed and hired a local artist to touch up some spots and add the name Pedal-In beside the building.
Kidney says her fiancé, Kevin Kramer, is a huge help at the restaurant.
“Kevin works for Carsten’s Livestock, but he has a degree in construction and loves building and fixing things. That’s been so helpful because I don’t know a lot about fixing equipment or even where to start to find the problem,” she says. “He’s saved me a lot of money in service calls by figuring out the problem and fixing it.”
Kidney says Kramer has learned to cook and also sometimes runs the register and serves ice cream.
“He will come in and help me close after a busy day and has recently helped with payroll and scheduling,” she says. “He knows how to show up at the right time and pitch in, or give me the hug I didn’t know I needed, and then all is well and back to work.”
Kramer’s 10-year-old son Lynn also is in fifth grade, with Adalynn.
“He’s a great kid and will come help out if we ask, but he doesn’t typically volunteer to be at the restaurant. Although, he’s never said no to eating any of the food or ice cream there,” she says, with a smile.
Pedal-In offers a Friday night all-you-can-eat, in house, fish fry September through May. The hand-breaded pollock comes with baked potato, salad or coleslaw, roll with butter and a drink for $14 and is served 5-8 p.m.
Since day one, Kidney has used Pedal-In profits to aggressively pay down her loan and make upgrades to the restaurant building and equipment.
“After opening, I bought a new ice maker and hopper, Pepsi machine and cooler, mini fridges to keep ice cream toppings in, four new upright freezers, and added an additional return air to help with air flow for heating and cooling,” she says.
Last year, a second insulated backroom storage space was added for things like ice cream toppings, pop, oil and other things that would freeze in the existing backroom.
“Recently I took out the wooden benches and replaced those with padded booths that go around the outside walls, with a couple tables in the middle,” Kidney says. “We also added new entryway flooring, replaced locks, replaced the back door with a solid insulated door, added insulation and put a new roof on the backroom, and added insulation in the walls we could get into, to help keep the seating area warmer during the winter months.”
Kidney says there is another addition she hopes to make, someday.
“We are thinking about the possibility of a drive-through,” she says. “I know as a single mom, when you have your kiddo sleeping in the backseat, you can’t leave that kid alone to go inside. Or people who have a hard time walking inside. I’d like to take care of those customers. I would like to make this a reality someday.”
This S’mores shake was a recent monthly shake special. It features vanilla ice cream, crushed graham crackers, Hershey’s syrup, and marshmallow cream, topped with mini marshmallows, crushed graham crackers, drizzled marshmallow cream and a Hershey’s bar piece.
One of the things Kidney likes about owning Pedal-In is getting to know her customers.
“I love hearing their feedback or how they’ve known about the building being there for decades, before it was a restaurant. I also like getting to know my staff. They each come from different walks of life; it’s interesting to learn about their backgrounds,” she says. “I also learn a lot from my staff who have more restaurant experience than me. I encourage them to share their ideas. They help keep fresh ideas flowing and the place running smoothly.”
Kidney, who is 40 years old, says she doesn’t plan to retire or sell the business anytime soon.
“I plan on owning and operating Pedal-In for many years to come,” she says. “It’s not the easiest job in the world. It requires a lot of time on my phone and laptop and going through paperwork, as well as showing up and working shifts daily, but I enjoy it.”