T-R FILE PHOTO Marshalltown native and businessman Garrett Goodman is shown with one of his renown hot dogs in the former Flying Elbow restaurant, 35 N. Center St. The building was demolished after the July 19, 2018 tornado. However, Goodman and spouse Dani have rebounded and plan to open a new expanded restaurant.

Thanks to the Marshalltown City Council and other supporters, Garrett Goodman and spouse Dani Goodman can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The July 2018 tornado created a tunnel of sorts for the Goodmans when it severely damaged 25 N. Center St., which housed their restaurant, The Flying Elbow.

At Monday’s regular council meeting, the Goodmans were awarded a grant of $12,166 to demolish 7 1/2 E. State St.

The Goodmans will rebuild a new expanded Flying Elbow restaurant at their property. The timing is fitting.

The city grant means the Goodmans can look forward to the end of challenges which started when the tornado lifted off. Like many of their central business district comrades, the Goodmans have worked to rebound.

“We want the downtown lunch market and downtown will need a place like ours,” Garrett said.

He lauded their bank — United Bank & Trust — and other local partners for investing in them and supporting their vision.

Additionally, a consortium awarded the Goodmans $10,000. It is interest-free with deferred payments.

“Tom Deimerly made me aware of the working loan program for small businesses impacted by the tornado and offered by MED,” Garrett said.

The loans are made possible through a partnership between MED, Consumers Energy Cooperative and Heart of Iowa Cooperative. The funds are part of each entities Revolving Loan Fund made possible by the United States Department of Agriculture.

“The loan was kind of them,” Garrett said. “It will help us in rebuilding. We have our eyes on other resources, since it is going to be expensive to do what we dream.”

The Flying Elbow

The Goodmans are no strangers to challenges — beginning in 2017 they worked extensively to remodel the building before cooking their first hot dog. The Flying Elbow was known for its professional wrestling-themed gourmet hot dogs, beers and wine. The business name is taken from professional wrestling lore.

When he got the idea to start making and selling gourmet hot dogs, keeping costs down was something he wanted to do. So Garrett got a food truck.

“The food truck helped me launch The Flying Elbow name,” he said. “We picked up 1,500 Facebook likes and 100 5-star reviews. We had a good run in the truck and made the decision that we didn’t want to close seasonally, so we started looking for a place.”

Thus the Flying Elbow restaurant was born.

Garrett envisions the new Flying Elbow will be better than the first.

“We plan to have everything we had at the Flying Elbow plus more,” he said. “I want to have a complete commercial kitchen. We think our customers will like some of the new things we will add.”

Family business

In the meantime the Goodmans have been out periodically in their food truck, and Garrett has been cooking at the local Wayward Social business. They served more than 500 of Garrett’s hot dogs during National Hog Dog Day in July.

The Goodmans believe in Marshalltown and back it up with their business ventures.

In 2017, Garrett and Dani purchased another local building — the former Standard Oil Co. property located at 502 S. First St.

“The property is plan C,” Goodman said.

The very long-term plan for the former oil company property is to turn it into an entertainment venue which will also serve beverages and food.

“I looked at 10 properties in Marshalltown,” he said shorty after he closed on the property. “And this is the one that stood out to me right away with some of the things I am looking to do with music events.”

Garrett comes from a business-oriented family, with relatives who had restaurants/taverns or insurance businesses.

“My great-grandfather, Milt Nicholson, had Milt’s Restaurant years ago. He had four or five other restaurants in town. My grandfather John Brennecke sold insurance.”

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Contact Mike Donahey

at 641-753-6611 or

mdonahey@timesrepublican.com