Co-owner, lakeside sports bar · Curly's Waterfront Sports Bar & Grill · Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Ryan Gardner
Ryan Gardner, co-owner with wife April Gardner of Curly's Waterfront Sports Bar & Grill on Pewaukee Lake. Purchased from Kevin "Curly" Kleczka's estate on March 1, 2023 after roughly 22 years as an employee and general manager. Not Kevin Kleczka (founder/namesake).
Net worth
$450,000
September 18, 2026
About
Ryan Gardner co-owns Curly's Waterfront Sports Bar & Grill, the lakeside Pewaukee staple he and his wife April bought from Kevin "Curly" Kleczka's estate on March 1, 2023.
Gardner started at the door in 2000 after friends took him there on his 21st birthday, then worked bartender, shift manager, assistant manager and about a decade as general manager before the purchase.
Kleczka had renamed the rebuilt waterfront bar in 2000 and died in March 2022. Estate contacts told Gardner that Kleczka wanted him to own it someday; Gardner said he did not want the brand he had spent 22 years building sold out of the community. Local coverage frames the handoff as an employee-to-owner succession meant to keep a City of Pewaukee lake-view hangout intact.
As co-owner of a single lakeside sports bar rather than a restaurant group, Gardner is the operating principal on a well-documented Pewaukee address. The Freeman, CBS 58 and OnMilwaukee pieces lock the 2023 purchase, April as co-owner and the W272 N2696 Lakeview Boulevard location—without a published person-tied work email.
Companies and affiliations
- Curly's Waterfront Sports Bar & Grill
Notable facts
The Freeman reported that Ryan and April Gardner purchased Curly's Waterfront Sports Bar & Grill on March 1, 2023 after Kevin Kleczka's death in March 2022, following Gardner's 22 years at the bar from door security to general manager.
OnMilwaukee's hidden-gem profile identifies Ryan Gardner as co-owner of the Pewaukee Lake sports bar and notes the couple's community fundraising, including a Pewaukee High School scholarship.
CBS 58 covered Gardner's employee-to-owner succession at the long-running Pewaukee waterfront restaurant.
What questions can this profile answer
- What makes Ryan Gardner notable?
- Ryan Gardner co-owns Curly's Waterfront Sports Bar & Grill, the lakeside Pewaukee staple he and his wife April bought from Kevin "Curly" Kleczka's estate on March 1, 2023. Gardner started at the door in 2000 after friends took him there on his 21st birthday, then worked bartender, shift manager, assistant manager and…
- What is Ryan Gardner's estimated net worth?
- Ryan Gardner's estimated net worth is $450,000 as of 2026-09-18.