Considering the oil spill and a crippled economy, which is still recovering, this would not be a time when many business owners would be eager to try out a new business venture.

Alice Bretz and Charlene Haber, sisters and co-owners of Wolf Bay Lodge, dove in headfirst and took a risk to open a new location in Foley earlier this month. According to Bretz, the decision was a good one. After a fire displaced the business from Elberta in 2008, Bretz said reopening in Foley was like coming home again.

After the fire destroyed the original Wolf Bay Lodge location, Bretz and Haber wanted to rebuild there, but circumstances would not allow them to do so.

“We wanted to rebuild where we were but it got to be, they were giving us a hard time with permits, and we had spent so much money, and we hadn’t even put a shovel in the ground. So I told Charlene, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to work the rest of my life for all of this and go through this. So we decided that we weren’t going to do it,” said Bretz.

Instead of closing up shop for good, they found a space for the lodge in Orange Beach at Zeke’s Landing. After the Foley branch opened earlier this month, the Orange Beach location closed for remodeling and maintenance, according to Bretz, but she expects Haber to have it reopened in January.

After moving the restaurant down to Orange Beach, Bretz said a new opportunity presented itself.

“Skip Davis, a Realtor here in Foley got us in touch with the City of Foley, so we went and met with them and they looked at a joint venture that would bring employment to their area and they needed a place for meetings and conventions, that is when we came up with the banquet facilities. We met with city officials and we came to an agreement so we decided to go ahead and try it,” said Bretz.

Bretz and Haber could not wait to get back to this area and closer to home.

“We wanted to get back into this area because this is where our home was. When Foley proposed this area, we liked the location, we felt it would be better if the business was in Foley because we were so far out of the way the last time. So that is how we came to do this,” said Bretz.

The new location in Foley, according to Bretz, is very similar to the original lodge, just bigger. With a larger kitchen, they were able to bring back all of the dishes served at the original lodge as well. The location in Orange Beach did not allow as much space to cook in. The new location in Foley has a double-sided kitchen, which includes two fully functioning kitchens. The second side is only used when the restaurant is especially busy, like this holiday season.

“When we went to Orange Beach we had to take some dishes off because the kitchen area that we had down there was so much smaller,” said Bretz. “We couldn’t do our pizzas and our flowering onions. So we brought all of that back and everybody is thrilled and they are going over so good. I am even glad to get them! Everybody is glad we have gotten our pizzas back, and our flowering onion. We have sold a lot of them.”

Al Mullek, party coordinator for Wolf Bay Lodge’s Foley location, said diners have been pouring in since the doors opened earlier this month. The restaurant has also been booked solid with Christmas parties. The restaurant’s banquet facilities are new for this location and according to Mullek, accounts for half of the new building.

“At last count,” said Mullek, “there were 140 people employed here. It is quite an operation.”

Bretz and Haber are pleased with how the new location is doing so far.

“Everything is really working out well and our banquet facilities have really taken off. There has been a lot of interest in them. In fact the mayor came in the second night and said everyone is hugging. I said it is so good to be home and to see all of the familiar faces,” said Bretz.

“That is what we missed. We missed our local area. Don’t get me wrong, the beach is fun, but it is tourists. Here it is more of a home community. We have enjoyed seeing everybody and I am glad to be here.”

The new location in Foley has also proven to be a challenge. According to Bretz, the operation in Foley is much larger than anything they have ever attempted before, so it is taking a little bit of getting used to. She said the highest number of employees on staff before never went over 75. Almost twice that work at the new location.

The Foley location has gift shop, like the restaurant housed in Elberta, but Bretz said this one is much more elaborate.

“We were able to do more with it since we were starting from scratch and it wasn’t an add on. It has done very well. Everybody really likes it. We are really pleased with that,” said Bretz.

Bretz could not be happier with how things turned out.

“It kind of tickled me when we got our address here on Miflin road, because we were in Miflin, Alabama when we started,” she said. “I am so glad to be back. I think everyone in Foley is glad to have us back too. It is more than we expected. It feels like home.”