By Andy Smith, grandson*
My name is Andy Smith. I’m the second son of Charles and Ruth Lehr Smith. I have four brothers and one sister. My story is about a career move that my dad made that took us from El Dorado, Kansas to Knoxville, Iowa.
I sometimes wonder how our families’ lives would have been different if Lil’ Duffer Restaurant hadn’t appeared in the late sixties. The restaurant became central to almost the entire Smith clan. At one time or another all of us, except Amy, worked in the restaurant while it was Lil’ Duffer. My earliest memories of Lil’ Duffer restaurant go way back to when we opened in the mid-1960s! Dad had been involved in the Bike’s Restaurant in El Dorado, KS and had negotiated his way into management with the Lil’ Duffer Fast Food Franchise. I’m not sure how Knoxville was chosen as our final destination but local competitors and the size of town, and investors were certainly main considerations of this new franchise. Knoxville is a town about 50 miles SE of Iowa’s capital Des Moines. It’s population at the time of our arrival was about 6-7,000. The move from El Dorado was on! Franchises like McDonalds were already operating in larger towns and cities so the Lil’ Duffer franchise went into smaller markets in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. At this time all the we boys knew, (Amy was still a “dream” in my mom’s mind, she had five boys and really wanted a girl lol), was that we were moving from El Dorado – first to Topeka, Kansas, then to Ottumwa, Iowa for training then on to our final destination of Knoxville, Iowa. We arrived in Knoxville in the fall of 1966, ready to settle in. We quickly moved into a small red brick house close to the football stadium. Very soon after, dad took us to see the construction in progress. It looked like a red metal barn (I think the words “burger barn” were in the title.) Construction quickly moved forward and our family settled into our new lives. We boys were enrolled in the local Catholic School St. Anthony’s ( another story for another time, oh, those nuns!) Knoxville’s Lil’ Duffer opened on January 7th, 1967.
One of the biggest regrets I have, and I’m sure my brothers would agree, is that dad had to spend a lot of time at the restaurant. Anyone who has spent time in restaurant management can understand that. I think getting to spend more time with dad was one of the reasons (besides the money) that all of us boys eagerly started working with him just as soon as we were old enough! I’m not sure if Kelly or Dave was the first to step up on the milk crate and sack French fries during the noon rushes. I soon followed in their footsteps followed by Clay and Jay. We would also do jobs like separate hamburger patties and pick up the parking lot. By junior high most of us brothers had graduated to work the grill, bun table or fryers. I don’t think any of us worked the front counter, although we may have filled in a few times for breaks. Our main customer contact came when we needed to go out in the lobby and clean tables.
I think it was while I was in junior high that I began to work some evening and weekend shifts. Clay, Jay and Dave later started working shifts, too. We would close at 10:00 so I could be home by 11:00. During much of that time Kelly focused on the eating area. He would usually come in the morning and clean. When Amy came along she would sleep in a crib in the back office while mom and dad worked. Later she became a fry sacker too.
The franchise system was based on consistency; for example the menu was set and no changes were permitted. Supplies were ordered through preapproved companies. Later on we were able to add some menu items such as the pork tenderloin sandwich, a big hit. I can remember being promoted from picking up the lot outside to sacking French fries at lunchtime. We would weigh the individual bags of cooked French fries to make sure they were within specifications. I don’t know how many thousands of Styrofoam cups of frozen onions rings I weighed out but everything was about proportion control.
Another area that was of major importance was cleaning. It seams we were always cleaning some part of the restaurant. Dad’s famous line was “if you have time to lean, you have time to clean.” Not sure if he borrowed that line or made it up! When we closed up and the end of every night, everything had to be made spic and span for the next day. One of the worst jobs was cleaning the flat-iron grill. We had to use a mixture of vinegar and water on a hot surface. It created an interesting smell that took some getting used to. The grill had to shine and the grease traps had to be emptied at closing. Another fun job was filtering the fryer. The grease was emptied at a valve at the bottom into a large metal container through a filter. Many times it would splatter on our arms. I think we all still have burn scars from it. Every week or so, we had to dump the container into a large bin behind the building. One time my brother, Clay, was taking out a container and slipped and spilled hot grease on himself and the pavements. Accidents like that happened pretty regularly!
I think that the best part of the job, besides spending time with dad and mom, was working with a variety of people. The daytime crew was made up of mostly older adults while the nighttime crew was high schoolers. The Eaton clan showed up around 1970, with Uncle Jim and Aunt Biddy working an learning about the franchise. It was fun having them around and wished they had stayed longer. Working the evening shift with high schoolers was never dull. Someone thought up an initiation rite for new workers. It involved going outside with a wet mop to mop the freezer. They would be sent out by themselves to our walk-in freezer and told to mop the entire floor. Several minutes later everyone would go out an observe (laugh at) the worker’s exasperated expression, because the wet mop would stick to the frozen floor. Rumor had it that on some nights, after close, the crew would have battles in the parking lot with tarter sauce tools! They were big caulking guns! They always cleaned up the evidence.
In later years, several of us brothers took turns managing the restaurant. Kelly took the reins from 1976 – 1981. I stepped in from 1981 – 1983. Shirley Ward, a long-time employee, managed the restaurant from 1983 – 1986. Jay took over after Shirley, just as the franchise dissolved. He turned it into a successful sit-down restaurant renamed Mr. C’s after dad, which became a Knoxville institution that lasted until 2022. Jay will have to write that story!
In later years, with the restaurant business in my blood, I managed the Knoxville Country Club Restaurant for several years. After that I moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1991, where I got a management job with Sizzler Restaurants, a fast casual steak restaurant with a large salad bar. It was there that I met my wife, Emily. We had two girls, Caroline and Catherine, as we moved to Bellevue, Nebraska to run a new Sizzler restaurant opening there. In 1999 I gave up the restaurant business because there were too many hours and headaches, and became a middle school teacher in Papillion, Nebraska. I’m retired now in Florida and I sometimes kid my wife that we should start up a small restaurant. Her reaction is always the same, “Not just no, but H-E Double Hockey Sticks NO!” Would much rather go play some golf or go kayaking!
Below are comments from the Knoxville Iowa / Marion County Historical Photos Facebo0k group.
Tammy Brees Ford – Loved that place
Mary Ann Sterling – I worked there my Sophomore year in High School through my Senior year in College. 1966-1972.
Ruth and Charlie Smith were the best to work for.
Andrew Peck – I’ve seen old race videos and you could see this building when it was called Burger Barn. With a red roof and big white letters on the roof.
Owen F. Williams – 4 burgers for 1.00
Maryann Wilson Champlin -my lunch every day in hs!
Lorraine LeMay – I miss Charlie best boss ever and friend!
Deb Chambers – AGREE !! I compare my bosses i have had and only 1 over the course of my 51 years comes close to Charlie
Bobi Burton Mart – agreed! Joyce Douglas ranks right up there. She had high expectations but she genuinely cared for us and gave just as much effort or more than she asked of us! Great role models! Shaped us into who we are today!!
Lorraine LeMay – Me too think of him often always!
John McKay – Worked there!
Tom Shilling – Butch and I liked lil duffer barn burners.
Mike N Bette Cunningham – Owned for Many years by a Great family
Justin DeMoss – Best chicken sandwiches!
Linda Hall – Remember. We used to go there snd get because they were so cheap.
Bruce Clark – Thanks for the pic. I was a manager there for a while. Great memories
Chris M Frazier – I can remember Dad and I would sneak over to Lil’ Duffer sometimes for some soft shell tacos! Great memory!
Carolyn Burk – My sister Betty worked there and I got a puppy from them!!
Donna Kilgore – Best root beer floats in town!!!!!
Mark Hayes – I’ll bet that I drove around that building at least 10 times on many Friday & Saturday nights.
Bobi Burton Mart – Charlie (& later Jay) were great to work for! “If you got time to lean, you got time to clean” is still engrained in my mind! And those brown polyester smocks
Diane Ellis – oh my gosh Charlie’s favorite saying! He was a Great Boss!
Sarah Gerber – That is so funny!! I worked there in High School 1996-2000 and Jay was my boss. He said this exact same line and I still think of it to this day. I work with a few ppl I would like to use this phrase for.
Bobi Burton Mart – I cant just “lean” to this day. I have to have something keeping me busy!! One time our look out didn’t do such a good job of watching for the family wagon and he snuck in. I got to clean the bathrooms with a toothbrush, my coworker had to take everything off the shelves in the store room and dust them (dusting plywood is about as rough as cleaning grout with a toothbrush!). The boys got the freezer and cooler. Never leaned again!!
Tim Moore – I miss it
Melissa Anne Godsey – Oh how I miss the burgers from there.
Darcy Woodland – I loved working here
Park Woodle – About 1970 – remember 19 cent hamburger
Diane Ellis – I worked nights there in 1968 or so my Mom worked days and I would take Jackie to her when she got off and I would work till 9. Jim always said I smelled like a french fry when I got home!
Beth Clarke -I know I’ve told you this story before, but I remember when you’d bring tiny Jackie to Lil’ Duffer, and your mom would set her up on the counter and prompt her to say “bullsh*t.” And little Jackie would belt out “BULLSH*T” at the top of her sweet baby lungs!
John McKay – Worked there all through high school. Great place!
Beth Clarke – I worked right beside you, John!
Steve Edwards – Double cheeseburger every time I went there.
Marilynn Avitt – Yes I remember the yummy French Fries and how about the cherry pie ala mode!!
Kim Jolly – I miss it!
Diane Ellis – We were great role models huh
Doris Sloan – When we’d come visit from Cali it was always such a treat to go to Lil’ Duffers and we’d always get tenderloins cuz no one out there had em.
Chris Williams – Worked there one summer dropping fries and moved up to flipping burgers. I used to ride wheelies around the parking lot on my Honda 70 when I was younger.
Dana Orr Hall – I remember my dad bringing a whole sack of hamburgers and french fries home after he drove the ambulance at the racetrack on Saturday nights!
Joshua Hardie – Oh the cherry sodas i got from there. Awesome stuf
Beth Braida – Cherry sodas were thee BEST!!!spinning candy cane color stools on the front counter..we use to spin them all..mom wld yell at us..
Judy Mart – I went there so much,when working afternoon shift at V.A. that I once told Charlie “I, guess I,ll just take one of those dam duffers and a fry. Charlie laughed and after that he would always say how can I help you, do you want a dam duffer. Lol I still have a few mugs that he sold full of chilli.
Melissa Elko – I remember those days!! Mom and Dad took my sister and me there to eat!! Love the food!! It was a treat for us!!
Chris Houser – Craving a big duffer lol
Dwight ‘Charlie’ Mateer – Met my future wife in the parking lot and ask her out on our first date ! !
Steve Poulson – I was there!
Peggy Bailey – Worked there for my aunt Shirley Ward . She was a awesome boss too! I think Ruth Fridlington was the one that trained me.
John Howard – Awesome place… got some free as my sister worked there!Pam Pearsonoved that place
Becky Milledge Johnson – Loved it. Also, it was one end of Scoop the Loop!
Peg McClure Straus – It was earthshaking when that place opened. Fast food in Knoxville!! It wasn’t McDonald’s but close. However-that might have been the downfall to our beloved Pinky’s.
Maryann Wilson Champlin – Pretty sure I ate lunch there every day of high school in the 70s
Elaine Jordan – Constantly ate hotdogs and drank banana malts at this place! What a combo!
Peg McClure Straus – the tenderloin sandwiches!! I think fries were 15 or 25 cents. We loved going there for lunch in HS.
Mary Witt VerHeul – Started working there when I was in 9th grade
Mark Turner – Chili .99
Nancy Jo Beal – I have several of those mugs and the food trays
Mark Turner – look to see what they sell for ebay
Mark Turner – they were selling 45.00 a piece
Rory Colyn – Great cheeseburgers and fries, ate there alot for lunch during high school! Miss that old place!
Linda Shilling – Looks like its sitting there all by itself with nothing else around.
Peg McClure Straus – it was Waaaay out there by Fair Meadows , closer to the bowling alley & the “Buffet”.
Mark Swanson – its currently mr. C’s
Forrest James Parker – It was always a treat
Laurie Marconi Mikita – One of my favorites!
Bren McKinney Lewis – We went there a lot with mom and dad
Beth Gullion – Loved their cherry cokes
Beth Gullion – Great memories
Carol Evans – Yeah mom would eat her fries first and then complain about her sandwich always being cold!lol
Paul Wright – I remember when you could get 10 hamburgers for $1
Mindy Wood – One of my favorites!!
Lisa Graves – Loved their tacos! Lmao
Rhonda Lewin – Friday night treat!
Barry Kindred – unless Brad Carter was working, couldn’t trust his shenanigans EVER!!!
Kate Nelson – It was part of the loop we scooped!
Patty Loots – sure was! Six burgers for $1 sometimes!
Denise Flattery – Use to come from Illinois to visit Grandma and this was always a stop!!!
Amy Fee Wesner – Loved the red and white striped seats on the classic 50’s diner style stools, all in a row by the counter. I would see how many I could get spinning at once. The tenderloin sandwiches were great.
Tami Edwards Montgomery – Monday night I had dance lessons at Julia’s School of Dance and we would stop by and take home burgers for dinner. Always a treat!
Beth Clarke – I worked at Lil’ Duffer throughout my high school years. To this day, Charlie Smith was the best boss I’ve ever had.
Kevin Bishop – I still have my coffee cup from the duffer
Dianna Heaberlin Colgan – High school open lunch would mean an occasional trip there for a butterscotch sundae.
Sandy Hubler – Chicken Charlie’s on the square!!! My dad took me there!
Kathy Quivey Peffers – I worked there in 1967-1968. Great family and I agree, the best boss. A fun job.
Kim Allen – Us Goff kids grew up in Fair Meadows. We would cross the two lane highway after school for a 5 cent cherry coke!
Rhonda Berhow – I played there as a teenager and worked there later …fun times!!
Peggy Bailey – We really had some great times! Hope you’re doing well.
Traister Stoops – Went there is a kid and then it become mr. C’s
Please add your memories in the Reply/Comment section below
Lil’ Duffer Memories
By Jim Eaton, Jr.*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
In the early winter of 1969, Dianna and I moved from Baton Rouge to Knoxville. My uncle Charlie Smith offered me a position to run a couple of his Lil’ Duffer drive-in restaurants in Knoxville and Pella, Iowa. Dianna and I both worked in the stores in Knoxville and Pella–$100.00 per week (when I entered the Army that was reduced to $124.00 per MONTH!).
Ruth and Charlie were kind enough to put us up in their basement until we found a rental house. There was a lot of activity with all the Smith boys. We had a large German Shepard. We left him alone in the house one day when everyone was away. When we returned, we discovered just how thirsty he was—he drank all the water out of the fish tank, engulfing all the fish as he drank—not good.
I had worked in my father’s business, including drive-in restaurants, since I was five! I was a cook in the school cafeteria at Regis (full of spoiled, factitious, demanding boys) for two years, so I felt comfortable accepting Charlie’s offer. I had just graduated, gotten married and needed employment. The war in Viet Nam was raging. Corporations to whom I applied were not hiring draft-age males who did not have an exemption from the draft—mine expired when I graduated. So, I jumped at the offer.
At the time when we moved, the Duffer in Knoxville was somewhat isolated. There was a housing development somewhat behind it to the west, a road running along the south side (I think my directions are still correct after so many years), and a big, open field to the north. When we arrive for our first day of work, the lights were on, the doors were unlocked, but there was no one around. I finally located the two employees out in the field having a snowball fight. That was not the best way to start a working relationship.
Charlie had created a very effective and efficient system as describe by Andy. All I had to do was implement it. There was some initial resistance by the staff because I was not Charlie (I think he was devoting his time to creating Zipps, and may have been involved with the country club catering). He did not second guess me, but assisted in a couple of situation where there were hard feelings by some of the kids who had worked there for years. It wasn’t long before those relations smoothed.
The Pella restaurant was a much different situation. Pella was a very close-knit community that did not accept “outsiders”. It took time and much effort to develop customer relations. Further, the manager in place did not have the same philosophy as Charlie. I was sent over to “correct” the situation. It was a very difficult situation. Eventually, he moved on and Tony and his wife assumed management responsibilities before I left to play soldier. I think they did a fine job, at least to my knowledge.
There were many adventures during the few months we were there. The restrooms were on the north side of the restaurant, not visible from the counter. One Friday night I heard a lot of commotion from that area. When I went to see what was going on, I found multiple empty catchup packets on the floor by the door to the restroom. Apparently, they found great fun in placing an open packet just under the door then stomping on it. That caused the contents to spay over the person in the restroom and the wall. The joy seemed to go out of it when I convinced them to clean-up the mess in exchange for not calling their parents.
A number of high school students worked were employed during my tenure there. I was impress by how responsible most of they were. They took their jobs seriously, showed up when scheduled, and cooperated in scheduling so those who wanted specific time off for special events got them. They all had the highest respect for Charlie. He had hired them before I arrived, and apparently knew or got to know them individually.
There was some chicanery at times. I noticed that one of the adults would always wait on her children when they came in, and that was almost every day. Soon their friends were being waited on by this lady. Upon closer inspection, I found that she “forgot” to charge them for their meals. That was a very sensitive situation. She was a very good worker, a friend of Charlie’s, well like by many of the other employees.
While I was in Knoxville, I “won” the draft lottery. After passing my physical at the AFEE station Des Moines, I enlisted in the Army on a 90 day delayed entry program. Dianna wanted to return to Great Bend, Kansas to stay with her parents while I finished basic. During that time, my parents had arrived in Knoxville for my father to learn the Lil’ Duffer business. It was a great time for my mother and her sister Ruth. One story my mother told after they moved from Knoxville was a prank she and Ruth played on Charlie. They thought it would be great fun to sew the fly of Charlie’s underwear closed. They then laughed for hours envisioning the confusion he must have had during the rush hour when he normally had to use the facilities.
The Duffer was a great little restaurant that fed many, trained many, and provided for many as attested to by all the Facebook comments.
Lil’ Duffer Memories
By Roger Eaton, grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
This my first job that paid an hourly rate – 30 cents per hour. I cooked and sacked French fries. My (summer) shift was three hours,11:00 am – 2:00 pm. I worked three hours and didn’t even make a dollar. At ten years old, I was too short to lift the baskets from the deep fryer, so I stood on an inverted milk crate. My job involved getting the French fries from the freezer, filling the (fryer) baskets and cooking the fries. When they were perfectly cooked, I lifted the basket from the 300 degree oil and dumped the fries into a stainless-steel pan. After applying the correct amount of seasoned salt, I used the special tool to sack the fries. The sacked fries went under a heat lamp. I probably cooked and sacked a million French fries.
I became interested in working at the Duffer because my cousins worked there. Clay Smith was my best friend and helped train me. His brothers Andy and Kelly saved their pay to purchase a Honda 50 Mini-Trail (mini motorcycle). We would trade best practices, especially sacking hamburgers. They had a streamlined method for sacking them and would race to see who was the fastest. I was pretty fast, but mine didn’t stay wrapped. Sometimes, the hamburgers were a little mutilated in the process. Those were usually returned by the people working at the counter. The fastest hamburger sacker was Tom Whitt. He was in high school.
After my shift, I picked-up trash on the parking lot for fifty cents. It only took about fifteen minutes to complete that chore. I didn’t have to pick-up straws or cigarette butts. The restaurant was owned by my Uncle Charles “Charlie” Smith. Many days I would join Clay and Andy at the (nearby) Knoxville Raceway to ride their minibike around the track, after my shift. We logged a few miles around the ½ mile oval.
I saved every penny to purchase a Honda Trail 70 (mini motorcycle). When I had accumulated around one hundred fifty dollars, I asked my brother Mark for a loan to cover the other half of the purchase price. He lived in El Dorado and didn’t want to loan me the funds. Rather, he became a half owner.
This modest-sized family business was the busiest restaurant in town. It provided a positive experience for countless people – customers and workers. Being part of the Lil’ Duffer crew provided me with a great foundation for the rest of my professional career. I learned to arrive at work before my scheduled time, in the right clothes, with clean hands and focus on my assignment. At work, it was “big boy” time. I learned to enjoy my job and applied that approach throughout my career.
By Maggie (Eaton) Gurley, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
I remember a good looking high school guy came in once, ordered a shake and I kept looking at him while making his shake and the spiny thing that rotates to mix the shake went right through the bottom of the cup! I was so embarrassed!