SUAMICO, Wis. —Logan Higgins has worked at Chives Restaurant since he was 16 years old. In 2005, he met a fellow youngster who was new to town: Packers rookie quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“When he was a rookie, he would host the team at his house on Wednesdays,” “He lived at the time pretty close to the restaurant, so every Wednesday we would go to his house and cook for him and his teammates.”
From there, Rodgers’ affinity for Chives only deepened. Higgins says that for the past 18 years, on nearly every Friday night you would find Rodgers dining in at the restaurant.
But that’s all coming to an end. Rodgers Wednesday announcing on the Pat McAfee show that he intends to play for the New York Jets next season pending a trade from the Packers – taking him to New York City during the season rather than Green Bay.
“It’s sad. I’m losing a friend, I’m losing the Friday nights at Chives with him,” Higgins said. “Overall, I’m pretty bummed out. If it’s the right decision for him and the organization, that’s great.”
Higgins said that Rodgers has been a major factor in the restaurant’s success over the nearly 20 years the Suamico restaurant has been open – from hosting his private events and birthday parties to ticket giveaways to the boost he gave Friday nights during the season.
“We’d get a lot of out of towners coming in to try to get a glimpse of Aaron,” he said. “His presence at the restaurant was huge for us, people coming out to just hopefully get to run into him.”
Higgins took over the restaurant at an inopportune time – March 31st, 2020 was when he gained full control of the restaurant, which was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
“Everybody was super supportive, the amount of carryout orders was insane,” he said. “I had to bring more staff than I had expected in to do just the to-go orders.”
Higgins said once the restaurant was able to reopen after a few months, it has been thriving since the days of the closure. And even though for a while he couldn’t come in and eat due to NFL restrictions, Rodgers also continued to support Chives as it recovered from the pandemic.
“I can’t thank him enough for everything,” Higgins said.
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