Choosing Time: A New Chapter for Le Rêve and The Warehouse
By Christer and Gina Johansson
Over the past several years, Sheridan has become home to The Warehouse and Le Rêve, and as we prepare for another chapter, we wanted our community to hear directly from us.
After much consideration, we have decided to step away from restaurant ownership and begin looking for the right people to carry Le Rêve and The Warehouse forward. Both restaurants remain open and operational as we begin this process, and we look forward to finding the right people to continue what we've built.
This wasn't a decision we made overnight, and there isn't one single reason behind it. When we entered the restaurant business, we knew we were taking a risk. Neither of us came from restaurant backgrounds, but we saw opportunities to create something different in Sheridan and believed deeply enough in those ideas to pursue them.
We've had incredible moments along the way. We've watched The Warehouse evolve as we learned more about what our community wanted from the space. We watched Gina's vision for the historic Cady Building become Le Rêve—a restaurant we hoped would make an ordinary dinner feel like an occasion. And just months after opening, Le Rêve was recognized as one of 30 James Beard Foundation Best New Restaurant semifinalists in the country and earned AAA Four Diamond recognition. Those are moments we will always be proud of.
There have also been hard lessons. The restaurant business is demanding, and despite continued investment, changes and a great deal of work from our family and teams, the businesses have not reached the level of financial sustainability we hoped they would.
Beyond the business itself, our lives have changed, too. Last year, our family lost our daughter, Mikaela. You can't experience a loss like that without it changing you. For us, one of the biggest changes was our perspective on time.
Restaurants require a tremendous amount of it. Even with wonderful people around you, ownership follows you home. Something always needs attention, a decision needs to be made, or a problem needs to be solved.
We have reached a point in our lives where we want to spend more of that time differently—with our family, with each other, traveling, enjoying this community and simply having the freedom to decide what an ordinary day looks like.
More than anything, we would love to see Le Rêve and The Warehouse continue to be places where people gather, celebrate and make memories under new ownership.
We're grateful to the employees who have given so much to these restaurants and to the people who have supported them—those who became regulars, brought their families and friends, celebrated milestones with us, offered encouragement and gave us grace when we didn't get everything right.
These restaurants and the people we've met through them will always be an important part of our story. We're proud of what we've created, grateful for the memories we've made and ready to embrace a little more time for the next chapter of our lives.
— Christer and Gina