Hawkeye legend Nate Kaeding brings hospitality vision to eastern Iowa

Nate Kaeding sits with his back resting on the mahogany brown diner chair facing the shrine-like wall at Hamburg Inn No. 2. Adjacent to his coffee mug that sits on the white laminate-covered table, dozens of classic photos and memorabilia take space on the wooden panels that surround the 90-year-old diner.

Kaeding and Gold Cap Hospitality purchased the restaurant in Aug. 2023. Since the community staple reopened the following October, families have gathered in the redesigned space that blends nostalgia with reinvention.

Much like the Hamburg Inn, Kaeding holds a familiar presence in Iowa City. The Iowa City West graduate was an All-American placekicker at the University of Iowa from 2000 to 2003 before spending nine years in the NFL.

Iowa’s all-time leading scorer and two-time All-American, Kaeding made his mark on the gridiron as one of Kirk Ferentz’s flagship players, but the Hawkeye legend’s top priority today is in real estate and development.

Kaeding spearheads Gold Cap Hospitality, which owns several popular Iowa City restaurants, including the Hamburg Inn, Pullman Bar & Diner and St. Burch Tavern. The former professional football player also works in real estate and hospitality for Hodge Construction, a construction management and real estate development company based in Iowa City.

His most prominent project of late is a development highlighted by an AC Hotel by Marriott in downtown Cedar Rapids. The hotel will be the first built in the area in more than 50 years.

“Neighborhoods become better places to live and work if they’re anchored with really awesome hospitality concepts − patios, string lights, cold beer, a place to hang out, bring your dog – people just love being around those places,” Kaeding said. “Our vision is to play a part in creating those anchor hospitality places, but then also help and develop the other buildings around there as well.”

Kaeding’s commitment to community development is what makes him one of the Iowa City Press-Citizen’s People to Watch in 2025.

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Becoming an Iowa City hero

The athletic accolades are as long as one of Kaeding’s signature field goals.

He helped kick-start an Iowa football resurgence that exploded with a game-winning field goal in the Hawkeyes’ 2001 Alamo Bowl victory, the first bowl win of Ferentz’s Iowa career. He was a key player in Iowa’s breakout 2022 season that saw the Hawks finish as co-Big Ten champions while compiling an 11-2 overall record. Kaeding was a magnet for postseason accolades. He secured the 2002 Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top kicker and was a finalist again in 2003.

The Coralville native graduated in 2004 as Iowa’s all-time leading scorer with 373 points and was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers.

A two-time Pro-Bowler and a one-time All-Pro who spent the majority of his NFL career with the Chargers, Kaeding retired from football during the 2013-2014 season because of an injury. Like many professional athletes, he was unsure of what his next steps would be after hanging up his cleats.

Ultimately, he reinvented himself.

With strong ties to his hometown, the former Hawk gravitated to the business world. Kaeding moved back to Johnson County and earned a master’s in business administration from the University of Iowa in 2015, which laid the groundwork for his entrepreneurial career.

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How football, construction and hospitality intertwine

It’s impossible to duplicate the feeling of competing in a sold-out NFL stadium, Kaeding noted, but the intensity of the business world nearly makes up for it.

“If you asked most professional athletes, they’d be on the same boat if you ask them, ‘what do you miss about sports that’s irreplaceable?’ It would be that locker room after a big win and the coaches there giving out game balls …or running out of the tunnel on a Monday Night Football game or the adrenaline of kicking a big field goal,” Kaeding said “Those are things that you can’t replace in the business world, but there are ways to compete and there (are) ways to build things and create things and still hang wins on the scoreboard.”

Much like a great football team, a successful business model has several moving parts. Gold Cap Hospitality fits that mold. Each employee, from business partners to in-house restaurant staff, has skills that complement one another.

“The main piece is just having a great group of partners: not only the folks that are business partners, but just the team of people that we have working day-to-day within these restaurants,” Kaeding said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to build teams in a very similar way (to football) where I can bring a skill set in and around the strategy, branding, marketing and the concept creation.”

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Bolstering a thriving restaurant scene in Iowa City

All three Gold Cap-operated restaurants are threaded by a common goal: maintain a space that creates experiences for customers and adds value to the community.

Pullman Bar & Diner and St. Burch Tavern sit in the heart of downtown Iowa City. While a one-minute walk separates both restaurants, they both serve burgers, salads and steak to name a few. Each also serves breakfast items.

Hamburg Inn No. 2 is stationed on the north end of downtown. The 90-year staple serves all-day breakfast, including omelets and pancakes. Other platters include sandwiches, burgers and fried chicken.

Pullman Bar & Diner, which opened in January 2015, was a frozen yogurt shop before Kaeding and Gold Cap Hospitality took over. He said the rebranding focused on mixing a classic diner look with chief food-forward, local ingredients and prep cocktails.

St. Burch Tavern’s connection to downtown Iowa City, near the intersection of Iowa Ave. and S Dubuque St., resonated with Gold Cap and prompted the company to rebrand Atlas Restaurant and Bar in 2018. The new name was inspired by “Burch,” the first recorded mascot of the University of Iowa.

A history buff with a bachelor’s degree in history, Kaeding said Hamburg Inn No. 2’s rich history and community impact made it a great addition last year to Gold Cap Hospitality’s collection of restaurants. They wanted to reposition it as a fabric of the community and celebrate its history.

Kaeding and Gold Cap Hospitality strive to create quintessential spaces where people can congregate while adding to the Iowa City experience.

“There’s something special about a college town and particularly about Iowa City,” said Director of Hospitality Stephanie Breitbach. “Every town has history, but so much of our town is weaved into the University of Iowa. It just creates an opportunity for a really special situation where you’ve kind of got that big city feel because you have so many people from different areas coming in, learning how to be an Iowan and learning the cool things that Iowa City itself has to provide. But I think important to us to not just be a part but help build it.”

Kaeding’s passion for real estate extends beyond Iowa City

Kaeding focuses a significant chunk of his time on real estate development. Kaeding has been an investor and developer in the 1st and 1st West Project in downtown Cedar Rapids alongside Matt Swift, the CEO and co-founder of Big Grove Brewery, and Joe Ahmann, the president of Ahmann Companies,

The development, which aims to boost the local economy and add to the downtown scenery, broke ground in May 2022. Big Grove Brewery and Pickle Palace − which both opened in the last year − have served as the primary attractions during the first phase of construction.

Kaeding has devoted the last few years to developing an AC Hotel by Marriott as part of the Kingston Yard Development. He calls it “the last piece of the puzzle” in a planned mixed-use construction project that also includes an apartment, a courtyard and other commercial spaces.

Kaeding has partnered with co-developers Kinseth Hospitality Companies to ready the hotel for construction, which begins in the spring of 2025.

Ben Kinseth, the Vice President of Development and Finance at Kinseth, said the goal is to bring hospitality assets that benefit the Cedar Rapids community and increase its appeal. It’s also important to expand hotel offerings that resonate with guests while also making it a hub of success for team members and stakeholders.

According to Kinseth, the deal is still being worked through while the architectural plan for the 123-room hotel is being finalized. Kinseth Hospitality Companies is the main sponsor behind the construction, while Gold Cap Hospitality is the co-developer alongside its investor group.

“Having great partners have always been a central theme and it doesn’t get any better than Nate and Gold Cap; they’re the best of the best,” Ben Kinseth said. “They’re very smart about what they do; they’re involved with great design in many other projects, they’ve got a great network there with Nate and his long history, whether it’ll be athletics or business, so Nate is a phenomenal partner.”

Kaeding keeps an eye on growth

Kaeding considers three questions when approaching new projects: What doesn’t exist that needs to exist? What do people want that they can’t get? And what doesn’t the community have that members deserve to have?

He believes Iowans deserve amenities and resources that improve everyday life and bolster a vibrant community. The former kicker said the commonality between football and the life of a small business owner and entrepreneur is constructing lasting partnerships and creating something impactful.

“It’s not being afraid to level up: Let’s create nicer things (and) cooler things,” Kaeding said. “For me personally, it’s finding the right people but not being afraid to push the envelope in the right way.”

Marc Ray is the high school sports reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He can be reached at MARay@gannett.com, and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: This former Iowa football star is making waves in the hospitality biz