Sauce’d at Swanie’s to Close After Eight Months, Owner Cites Off-Season Costs

Jim Herrmann wrote that Sauce’d at Swanie’s Resort on Middle Cormorant Lake will not renew its lease and will close after eight months, posting the announcement on the restaurant’s Facebook page Thursday, Feb. 26. “It is with a very heavy heart and significant disappointment that I need to inform our new and old wonderful friends and customers that Sauce’d will not be renewing our lease for the spring and summer season,” Herrmann wrote, signing the post with manager Zee Argunson.

Herrmann said the decision stemmed from winter operating costs he could not absorb while maintaining the restaurant’s menu. “We have enjoyed being on the lake immensely and will miss all of you. However the off‑season just proved too costly and made the entire adventure simply unaffordable for the menu we were trying to maintain,” Herrmann wrote; Sauce’d opened at Swanie’s in June 2025 and operated for eight months before the announcement.

Customers reacted quickly on social media: the Facebook post drew about 75 reactions within a few hours, and many commenters praised Sauce’d food and staff. Several people asked how to handle unused Sauce’d gift cards; the restaurant’s account replied directly in the comments that a new operator would be asked to accept existing cards and added, “If they don’t, we will buy them back from you.” Herrmann provided James@saucedonthelake.com as the contact for gift-card redemption.

Herrmann confirmed to a local outlet that Swanie’s Resort will bring in a new tenant to operate the restaurant space at 12668 County Highway 5, Lake Park, but he would not disclose a name or timeline. “Yes, there’s a new tenant coming in and they’re fabulous and everyone will be happy,” Herrmann told The Forum, according to the restaurant’s announcement; no opening date or operator identity was provided in the confirmation.

Herrmann pitched Sauce’d as “Little Italy on the shores of Middle Cormorant Lake,” serving authentic Italian-American specialties such as real lasagna, half‑pound meatballs, pasta and hand-helds during its 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours with limited afternoon service on weekdays. Herrmann, a native New Yorker who spent summers at his grandfather’s cabin on Gosslee Beach at Pelican Lake, said he rented a cabin at Swanie’s, met owner Brad Olek and proposed the Italian pub concept; Herrmann has said of the operation, “The three of us are a team.”

The announcement was co-signed by manager Zee Argunson; some reports spell the manager’s name Zee Arguson. The restaurant did not list a final service date in the Facebook post, and Herrmann did not provide financial figures for the off‑season costs. For gift-card questions and buyback arrangements, contact James@saucedonthelake.com.