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Roundtable: Recovery, rebuilding and what comes next
November 2, 2026
LAKEWOOD – It was just over a year ago when Darin Thompson first laid eyes on his escape from corporate America.
After 17 years working in oil and gas in Houston, Thompson decided he was ready for a change.
“Corporate life was corporate life, and I finally got fed up and thought, ‘Let’s do something different,’” he said.
For Thompson, his “different” lay tucked away at 18398 Waubee Park Lane in Lakewood.
There, the Waubee Lake Lodge offered him an opportunity he thought too good to be true – until, he said, a phone call with a broker assured him the established supper club on the shore of Waubee Lake with a 17-suite hotel, four cabins, three lake houses, and numerous event spaces was, in fact, “legit.”
“I asked [the broker] a couple questions just to feel out what I thought was suspicious,” Thompson said. “He said, ‘No, that’s right.’ … He got me the numbers, and it looked solid, like it was a really well-run business – and it was beautiful.”
With just one visit to Waubee Lake Lodge in October ’25, Thompson said he was sure he’d identified the ideal career pivot.
After spending the following February and March working alongside Russ and Mary Kralovetz – who had owned the venture since 2009 – Thompson said he closed on the business April 1.
The timeline, he explained, was intentional, providing a runway under the former owners’ tutelage to ensure he learned the ins and outs of what Waubee Lake Lodge’s longtime, passionate patrons appreciate and expect.
For Thompson, the timeline wasn’t just his preference; he said it was the only way he’d agree to the purchase.
“I told Russ, ‘We close April 1, or we don’t [close]’ – because I wanted to have a ‘down’ month to six weeks before it got busy, to really get my feet wet as the sole owner, not as a transition person,” he said. “So, this was a super fast close from the time we signed the papers to make it to April 1, but it all went off well.”
Looking back on his first seven months of ownership, Thompson admitted the early goings had “some hiccups along the way, and bumps and learning opportunities, of course.”
“But overall, people tell me they’re really pleased with the smooth transition and how we’ve maintained what Waubee was before we took over, and that’s our goal: to continue that and continue to grow Waubee into the next generation.”
Lone Star State to Lakewood
For Thompson, Waubee marks his first foray into the restaurant and hospitality industries.
“I’ve been to eat at restaurants; I’ve stayed in hotels,” he joked about his prior experience.
After earning a telecommunications degree and working in IT, then returning to school to study mechanical engineering ahead of working in food manufacturing, Thompson said a friend from college recruited him to Houston.
With a sense his time in gas and oil had run its course, he began considering his next step.
“I was in corporate for most of my career, and I just couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “And I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and be self-employed, have a business.”
While sitting on his dock, contemplating his options, Thompson said he determined two basic criteria: he needed to love his work and needed to be on water.
He began searching the web for business ownership opportunities that met those criteria, which he said primarily presented businesses in Florida, California, and the Pacific Northwest.
However, his Upper Midwest roots – born in the Twin Cities, undergrad at Purdue – led him to search around the Great Lakes.
“On a whim, I plugged in Wisconsin, and Waubee Lake Lodge popped right up,” Thompson said.
He said the business had it all – “like a diamond in the rough.”
“They’ve got a good market, they’ve got a good business model, facility’s been well maintained, there’s value in the real estate,” Thompson said. “So, yeah, that just seems like a no-brainer. And it’s up in a beautiful part of the country we kind of had on our radar anyways.”
When he and his life partner, Jonathan, flew north to see Waubee in person, Thompson said the entire experience was reassuring.
“It was peak [autumn] colors, they had a wedding going on, orange leaves were falling on the bride as she’s saying ‘I do,’ the restaurant was busy, and the building is in fantastic shape,” he said.
Thompson also noted the traffic on the drive from Green Bay to Lakewood was, compared to Houston, “fantastic.”
Following his idyllic first impression, he said it was then a matter of purchasing the business from the Kralovetzes.
“It was up for sale for a few years, honestly, but Russ, to his credit, was not just going to sell to the highest bidder; he wanted to make sure the buyer was the right fit for Waubee, and for Lakewood and Oconto County,” Thompson said, “so there had been a number of offers, as I understand it, that didn’t go through.”
Ultimately, the Kralovetzes went with Thompson, though he said he never asked them why they chose him over the other parties who were also interested at the time.
Now seven months into ownership, with ongoing approval from Russ (who always stops in when he’s in town) and – most importantly – the enthusiasm of Waubee’s patrons, Thompson said he knows the former owners made the right choice – and so did he.
“For me, being a mechanical engineer and working in project management for General Mills, and as a drilling engineer where you’re basically a project manager as well, I looked at this like, ‘Okay, I’ve got a project plan,’” Thompson said. “So, I’m executing my project plan, and it’s a whole lot of fun because I’m actually working with great people in a beautiful area, I don’t have to put up with all of the stuff from corporate, and I get to enjoy what I do, every day.”
Northwoods hospitality
Thompson said Waubee’s fervent supporters are a credit to how well the Kralovetzes ran the operation.
But how would its perennial patrons feel about a new owner coming in – particularly, one from Houston, who has never run a restaurant or lodging before?
“I tell you what, they’ve been awesome,” Thompson said. “I absolutely love our new friends up in Lakewood. … Everybody has been so welcoming and helpful in the Northwoods – exceptionally so.”
Not only has he not experienced “any sort of exclusionism at all,” but he said when he put out the call for help with a recent promotional video shoot, he received enthusiastic support – even from Waubee regulars who live out of town and weren’t planning on being there that weekend.
“They said, ‘No, Darin needs help – we’re going to go,’” Thompson said. “I can’t explain how heartwarming it was to realize the connections we’ve got in Lakewood.”
He attributes the warm welcome to his decision to uphold the previous owners’ operation, particularly the food.
“When it comes to the supper club menu, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?” he said. “People love what’s on the menu; we’re not going to take anything away. We might add, but in the near future, I don’t see us taking anything off the menu.”
Thompson cited examples of additions such as fajitas for Cinco de Mayo and beef brisket for the upcoming deer hunting season.
Whether offering classics or new creations, Thompson said credit for meeting his and his customers’ standards is due to the business’s staff – the vast entirety of whom has been with Waubee since the previous ownership.
“It’s been great because I have great people,” he said. “My general manager and office manager are fantastic. All my staff are great.”
Following Waubee’s always-busy summer season, and after finally taking off a bit of time for a vacation – during which “everything was seamless,” thanks to his reliable team – Thompson said he has no plans to sit back and enjoy a relatively mellower winter.
“I think my staff would say that’s not my mindset…,” he said. “I think my staff would say my foot’s still on the gas.”
Among the ways Waubee can grow year-round, Thompson said he sees untapped potential for it to host corporate retreats, and is currently marketing it to companies with 50–500 people in and around Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Minneapolis, western Wisconsin, and North Central Minnesota.
In addition to the building’s large banquet hall, Thompson said Waubee has smaller rooms for breakout sessions, 40 private rooms, and plenty of outdoor space for teambuilding activities like yard games and water activities in summer, ice fishing in winter, and access to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest trail system all year.
While already a popular venue for weddings, celebrations, and other family events, he said hosting business retreats would help lessen the resort-style facility’s reliance on weather in winter.
“If we have snow, we love our snowmobilers; we just can’t bank on Mother Nature anymore.”
From generational regulars to brand-new guests, Thompson extends a warm greeting: “Welcome home.”
“Waubee Lake Lodge really has become a home for so many people, and Jonathan and I are just tickled to have the privilege to steward the next chapter of Waubee.”
The property’s past is chronicled dating back to the 19th century at waubeelodge.com.
Beyond what he considers “a wonderful history,” Thompson said Waubee Lake Lodge’s foundation is built upon a loyal local following, and a team that takes pride in making people feel welcome.
“Our goal is to build on that foundation – preserving the character and hospitality that make Waubee special while continuing to elevate the experience,” he stated. “We want people to discover Waubee, fall in love with this part of the Northwoods, and leave already looking forward to coming back.”
