Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant

Lore & Background

Al Johnson was born in 1925 on the North Side of Chicago and spent childhood summers in Sweden, where he became fluent in Swedish and interested in Swedish culture. During World War II, he served as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne and was among the first American servicemen to enter the Auschwitz concentration camp after its liberation in 1945. After leaving the military in 1946, he attended Marquette University and worked at a Woolworth's dining counter, where he learned the system of wait staff shouting orders to cooks—a practice still used at his restaurant. He later moved to Door County, worked as a short-order cook at Johnny's Cottage Restaurant in Sister Bay, and in 1949 bought a former grocery store to open Al's Home Cooking, now called Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant & Butik.

In 1973, Johnson traveled to Norway with his wife Ingert Maria Forsber and commissioned a log structure to be built in Norway, shipped across the Atlantic, and reconstructed in Wisconsin by Norwegian carpenters, who added a sod roof. Ingert, who grew up in Österbymo, Sweden, redesigned the interior in traditional Scandinavian style and added a gift store called Al's Butik. After the renovation, Johnson's friend Harold 'Winkie' Larson gave him a pet goat named Oscar, placing it on the roof as a joke; this inspired Johnson to use goats on the roof as a marketing gimmick. The goats graze from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on sunny days from May to October, with about 30 goats rotating on the roof. The restaurant has two cameras for a 'Goat Cam,' and the goats are removed at night or when temperatures reach 80 degrees, living on a nearby 40-acre free-range property.

Al Johnson died in June 2010. Today, three of his children and several grandchildren run the business, which includes the restaurant, Butik, and newer operations: Stabbur (a beer garden opened in 2015), Kök (a quick-serve operation opened in 2016), and SKÄL (a Nordic-inspired store opened in 2020). The restaurant employs about 119 workers, a quarter of whom are international students on J-1 visas working for about three months during the summer.

Reader's Guide

Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant is significant as a family-owned business that has shaped the identity of Sister Bay, Wisconsin, drawing tourists far exceeding the local population. Its rooftop goats, introduced as a marketing gimmick in the 1970s, became a trademarked symbol in 1996, influencing other businesses like Tiger Mountain Market, which pays a fee for the right to promote roof goats in several U.S. states. The restaurant's history reflects the founder's Swedish heritage, military service, and entrepreneurial spirit, with the building itself—a Norwegian log structure with a sod roof—serving as a tangible link to Nordic traditions. The business has expanded over decades while remaining family-run, and its use of international student workers highlights its adaptation to seasonal demand. The restaurant's legacy includes not only its cuisine and goats but also its role in launching the career of textile artist Carol Gresk, who designed the curtain fabric featuring goats on pancakes. Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant remains a notable example of how a small-town eatery can achieve lasting cultural and commercial impact through distinctive branding and family stewardship.

Did You Know?

• The restaurant's system of wait staff shouting orders to cooks was learned by Al Johnson while working at a Woolworth's dining counter.
• The goats on the roof are removed when the temperature reaches 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In 1986, textile artist Carol Gresk designed the restaurant's curtain fabric featuring goats on a mountain of Swedish pancakes, and did not charge for the work.