Apr 7

Written by: ngreditor
4/7/2010 9:34 AM 

Twenty years plus of food and service: City Cafe

(First of a series about Newman Grove businesses)

Kenneth Purscell

The noon rush is over and, since this isn’t a Wednesday, there won’t be an evening meal. But Phyllis Weitzel is still busy, getting things cleaned up from this day and preparing for tomorrow’s dining.

The City Cafe serves as an informal gathering spot for much of Newman Grove. So it is important that everything be ready next morning for the breakfast and coffee crowd. Still, Phyllis was gracious and took time to talk about the Cafe’s twenty years in Newman Grove.

“I actually started here fifteen years before I bought the cafe,” Phyllis says. “I cooked for the people who owned it, Mike and Lucy Carruthers.” But the path to her current role was not straightforward. She left the cafe to work at the J & E Family Center and at a second-hand shop.

At one point, the cafe had come up for sale. “A friend and I debated about buying the restaurant,” she says, “but we didn’t do it.” Years later, while she was working at Barnes, the store was up for sale again. This time things turned out differently. “I made a little circle and came back here.”

That was two decades ago, a long time in the restaurant business. What is the secret of the Cafe’s longevity? Phyllis doesn’t really offer any secret except that she loves what she does.

“I enjoy the work; I enjoy people. There is a lot of work, hard work. But you find satisfaction in a lot of things. Owning the cafe there’s a freedom to do things how you want to do them. There are rewards of having your own place.”

Being in some way the social center of Newman Grove has played into both her love of cooking and her joy with people. “[People] have been very good at patronizing the cafe,” she says. “And I enjoy having people around.”

She particularly enjoys offering the breakfast buffet. “That is my favorite,” she says. “And that’s why I do it for my birthday.”

On those occasions when she isn’t cooking, Phyllis does scout around other places. “I do check out the—well, not really competition, but other cafes and restaurants. I have to see what they offer, compare different menus and prices.

“You can tell that I like all kinds of food,” she continues. “But I’m not fond of fast food places. That’s why from the very start I had waitresses here.”

And that is one of the features that make the City Cafe special. “I didn’t want to just throw food at people. I wanted to make sure that customers would be served.

“For the anniversary last year I counted about 120 people who worked here over twenty years. It’s always fun to see them when they’re back.”

Have any of her waitresses become restaurateurs themselves? Phyllis laughs. “I don’t know of any,” she says. “Maybe it scared them away a little, knowing just how hard work it is. But there have been a couple who worked a little for other restaurants.

“There was a lot of stuff I didn’t know about going into your own business when I started,” she says. What had she learned? “Government tax forms! Government forms!” she exclaims. “That was an eye opener.”

She says that she didn’t realize the role the calendar played when she opened for business. “I started about three quarters of the way through the month. So I had monthly and quarterly and annual reports to do right off the bat. The paperwork was unexpected and it was big.”

But Phyllis and the Cafe survived that frustration, and she has some advice for others starting out.

“Always take pride in what you set out to do. Be sure to enjoy your work. Never be afraid to work hard. But they do need to know it’s going to take a lot of their own hours. With me being here a majority of the time, things can’t get out of hand. But I enjoy the work.”

It is always clear that Phyllis enjoys the Cafe, even when it comes to her remarkable decorations. “I do it because I enjoy it,” she says. “When I spend so much time here, I might as well have it decorated as I like.”

Phyllis won’t let this reporter say where the dishes, nutcrackers, Christmas scenes, and other seasonal decorations are stored. But she has fun bringing these things out and displaying them. “I hope I can continue for awhile,” she says.

Life is not only work. Phyllis and Joe have been married for 45 years. They have 5 children, 8 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. Easter weekend was spent with family.

“Be sure to say,” she instructs, “that I couldn’t have done this alone. I couldn’t have done this for twenty years without either my patrons or my help. They’ve made all this possible.”

Copyright ©2010 Newman Grove Reporter