Anyone who believes the restaurant business operates smoothly probably never owned a restaurant. In the best of times the restaurant business proves chaotic, unstable and daunting. Throw in a recession with plenty of question marks dotting the future and the economy gives many restaurant owners reason to throw in the dishtowel.

In a country where 60 percent of restaurants fail in the first five years, Tacoma’s Steve Nogler decided to keep the dishtowel in his hand. Last weekend, after a temporary shutdown to reorganize, Nogler reopened the Herban Café on Sixth Avenue. He made the conscious decision, despite a stock market in the throes of schizophrenia and business credit drier than a gin martini, to keep the dream alive because, for a lack of a better term, it’s worth it.

“It’s my belief that we are doing the right thing,” Nogler says. “I know it’s possible to do this and that we can do it. We are not going to get rich, but we can make a life here.”

Nogler says many business owners remain tightlipped about their financial situations for various reasons, but he’d rather be honest and tell people he has yet to make money owning the Herban Café. He needs business now to stay afloat. In fact, he says if foodies enjoyed Tacoma’s rise in dining options over the past five years, and they want to see that continue, they need to eat out despite the recession — and they can start at his place.

Raised in Chehalis, Nogler entered the world of dining at a young age working at Roy’s Chuckwagon — an all you can eat classic in Lewis County — as a teenager. He later spent years honing his craft for Restaurants Unlimited, owners of the Palomino in Seattle and Stanley & Seaforts here in Tacoma. That work drew the attention of Mackay Restaurants, which put Nogler on point to first open the El Gaucho in Tacoma as general manager followed by opening Sea Grill in the same position down the street. Then Nogler’s career took an interesting turn. Mackay bought the rights to cater and operate a café at Windmill Gardens in Sumner, a popular garden nursery and location for weddings. Nogler received the nod to run the operation, which he did until he turned the tables and bought the Windmill rights in late 2005. Now on his own, Nogler learned the benefits and freedom of self-management, something that tasted as good to him as the food he and his wife turned out of the kitchen. Boosted mostly by the guaranteed catering business, Nogler built a solid business in Sumner — but then his luck hit the rinse cycle.

Beyond the focus of this story, Nogler remains in legal proceedings with the ownership of Windmill Gardens over a fallout they had regarding operations. I’ll leave it at that only to say Nogler expects the issue to land in court later next year. Regardless, on October 29, 2007, after closing the café and packing up his equipment in Sumner, Nogler and his wife signed the lease to operate the Herban Café and Pinwheel Catering at 2602 6th Ave. in Tacoma.

“We decided to open our own place with the plan to have a non-genre specific menu and serve the freshest product possible,” Nogler adds.

He did just that until finally this past summer — month after month in the red took its toll.

“We built a great following of customers,” Nogler says. “We just didn’t have enough of them.”

Nogler says they stopped to retool. They decided to branch into breakfast and lower their price-point, while finding ways to be more cost efficient. They continue to develop their catering business and hope the changes will resonate with diners.

Still, Nogler understands the challenges, but, restaurants are what he does.

“I’ve always done this — I’ve got no other marketable skills,” he laughs.