Community support part of Buckhorn business model

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a periodic series of articles from the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico about area businesses working to support their neighbors.

Sometimes you don’t have to look far to find the philanthropic hearts of a community. Tucked away in quiet San Antonio, New Mexico is The Buckhorn Tavern, owned and operated by Ernie and Stephanie Sichler. Snapshots of how they give back can be seen everywhere. Since a public library does not exist in their small town, a little free library is set up in front of the restaurant for the community to use. They host “Warrior Wednesdays” where ten percent of the restaurant’s proceeds are donated to participating local nonprofit organizations. They even recycle and sell the aluminum cans used at their restaurant and give the profits to San Antonio Elementary School to purchase books.

The Buckhorn Tavern didn’t always belong to the Sichlers. Stephanie, who is from Las Cruces, NM, was on a work trip in Albuquerque in 2019 when she heard the news that the restaurant – which was located in her husband’s hometown–was officially closing. With Ernie’s strong food and beverage background and passion for cooking, they knew they could not let this beloved New Mexico establishment close its doors and decided to embark on the journey of becoming restaurateurs.

They packed up their lives and moved from Las Cruces to San Antonio, NM, quickly rolling up their sleeves to begin the process of bringing the restaurant back to life. During this process, they got to truly know the team of staff members that worked alongside them and realized there were many obstacles the hardworking people in their community had to face. Several of their staff members were not able to attend trade schools or community colleges, and some didn’t even have the opportunity to complete high school or receive their GED’s.

Stephanie had previously worked at the Community Foundation of Southern NM and always said that one day she wanted to be able to give back and make a difference. The idea to create The Buckhorn Tavern Scholarship Endowment Fund to help the community she and Ernie now called home seemed like a natural fit. The scholarship was established to not only provide tuition assistance but also help with transportation issues that sometimes can be a barrier in a small, rural community. “As business owners, we have seen the problems employees can have with transportation and how it can even be hard to get to work somedays,” said Ernie. The scholarship will not only support tuition costs for trade schools, community colleges, or GED test fees but will also cover the transportation costs to help recipients get to GED testing sites in Los Lunas or Albuquerque.

When asked why they felt it was important to give back, Ernie and Stephanie said “Being business owners in a small community and being able to support our employees, friends and neighbors is important–it is how we grew up. Our community supports us by being our employees, by walking through our doors and ordering a burger, and through this scholarship, we are now able to support them.”