Cookie's Brown Bag

In 1948 a young couple was married in Topeka, Kansas; a town in Kansas who's name everyone knows, but there's really nothing Topeka is famous for. For some reason the name of this dusty little town is the one most people know when they think of Kansas. Other than Kansas City of course.

Maybe Topeka should be famous for the wedding of George and Opal "Cookie" Braund on July 10th 1948. July 10th.

You see, after George & Cookie's marriage, they moved to Wisconsin and George got a job as a bus driver and then the couple bought what would become known as the Busy Bee Café. Later it was more known as George & Cookie's Busy Bee Café.

I don't know the full history yet, but what I do know is that when they first bought the restaurant George was driving bus. Cookie presumably ran the restaurant while George was at work. At the time there was a narrow back room beyond the restaurants kitchen. That narrow backroom was George and Cookies home when they first opened the restaurant.

I would like to think that the restaurant was Cookie's dream and Cookie's happiness was George's. I'm a sucker for romance.

So I would like to believe the restaurant was bought so Cookie could pursue her dream while George worked his "real job" as a bus driver to help take care of the bills.

1948. My Dad was five years old. My Mom was two. I wasn't even thought of. It was a time when there were still real gangsters. A lot of small towns still had dirt streets. Elvis Presley was 13 years old and McDonald's was months away from opening it's first restaurant. 1948.

Eighteen years after George and Cookie first swung the doors on the Busy Bee Café, I came into the world kicking & screaming and causing a ruckus. Well at least that's how I remember it.

Another seven or eight years later I began having memories of the Busy Bee Café and the two little older ladies who were always there. They weren't OLD but older than my parents. Who were pretty old to me when I was a kid.

I grew up in Appleton, WI. My Grandparents on my Dad's side lived in Mauston, WI which is also where my Dad was born and raised.

So we would go to Mauston and visit and my brother Randy and I would venture out.

There was a cool park that had a twisty slide and there was an island in the river that had goats living on it and on a certain weekend of the year there would be a huge BBQ chicken grilling thing. If you were there at the end and you were a kid, they'd give you free BBQ chicken! I can almost taste it thinking about it! [On a side note, this "Chicken-Q" still happens! The twisty slide is gone, as are the goats, but the park is still there and getting a facelift right now!].

There was also the Busy Bee Café. Just a couple blocks down from Grandma and Grandpa's house, with the two ladies, either outside talking and drinking coffee or sitting just inside the door talking and drinking coffee.

The Busy Bee was one of the few things open when we were there on the weekends so my brother and I would wander in (our sister Toni occaisionally too). We'd look at what they had even though we didn't have any money.

I know now the two ladies names were Cookie & Delores.

I had always thought for some reason that I heard I was related to one of them. Turns out I could be because a gentleman I recently talked to told me that Delores' last name was Klicko and the she had a brother named Vern. Vern Klicko being another of my grandfathers, so it's quite possible.

Outside the Busy Bee there was an old Coke bottle machine. The kind you'd put in your 10 cents, open the door and pull a bottle of coke. These machines were all over back then. Gas Stations ( I can still remember the smell of the old gas stations that had the grease monkey mechanics garage's onsite!), grocery stores, wherever people would walk by them on a hot summers day.

We loved to get a bottle if we had a dime.

Sometimes we didn't have a dime and would look at the machine sadly until one of the ladies would give us a glass of pop inside.

I never met George back then. All I ever saw were the two ladies.

Fast forward to 2006.

The Busy Bee has now been in Business for 58 years.

As life goes, I somehow ended up living in Kendall, WI and working at the Harley Dealership in Mauston.

Every day I would drive past the Busy Bee and be in awe that it was still there.

Sure, it looked a little old and in need of some paint, but it was still there!

There was an undated banner above the window that said "Celebrating 50 Years-George & Cookie's Busy Bee Café "

As of today, July 18th, 2013, there is still a Coke machine (although can's now) outside and that banner is still hanging above the windows.

There's a problem with that:

Their 50th Anniversary of marriage AND the Busy Bee was in 1998. As it turns out, Cookie had passed on in 2000.

15 YEARS that banner has been hanging there. Through hot summers and cold winters. That's a good banner.

It seems like after Cookie passed on nothing ever changed.

I often thought I would stop and eat there.

As a kid I remember the pop, but I only remember eating there once. It's where I developed my love for the open faced roast beef & mashed potatoes. The Busy Bee is one of the things I believe lead to my love of food and cooking and restaurants.

Present day, a lot of times I would go by in the morning and be in too much of a rush to stop for breakfast, so I'd come back at lunch time and it would be closed.

This went on for years. I'd often think of things that could be done with the Busy Bee to modernize it and get people in. And if the owners would like to retire.

Finally in early 2012 after I thought I might finally be over my last ill-fated attempt at restaurant ownership, I decided I WAS stopping for breakfast.

I stopped, opened the screen door, and immediately let go of the door and walked away.

It wasn't what it was when I was a kid.

It was kind of messy and there were just two old 50's tables. One large, round ruby red one in the center of this tiny space and one turquoise rectangle one on the side. Both tables were full and it didn't look like a restaurant, it looked like a bunch of friends at someone's kitchen table.

Since I was mostly there wondering about talking to the owners of a place I thought would be starving for business and ready to get out, seeing all of those people scared me a bit and I turned around and high-tailed it.

Fast forward again to July 2012.

I had just begun talking to Kris. Just begun to feel the sparks, both between her and I and within myself.

The restaurant dream comes back alive.

Not without further help though.

I'm dreaming again and happy and I decided to make some lunch for everybody at work. Something I used to do frequently but hadn't in a couple years.

I decided to make some specialty pizza's.

My co-worker and friend Sharon tells me I should have a restaurant.

I've heard that from a lot of people and blew it off. I told her I'd love too but I didn't have the right credit or money and I got my heart broke the last time I tried.

When she said it, at the time she said it with things going on with Kris it got me thinking though.

Next time I saw her she said "what about the Busy Bee? George has got to want to retire by now". I said I had looked at it and couldn't see it even being a little Bistro. Sharon said that was too bad because all of the people who work downtown and out in the industrial park and the hospital could use something because Subway & McDonald's & all those places were too much trouble on a short lunch with traffic.

Within an hour, not only the potential of the location but a concept and name came to me.

First, that's a large group of people who are brown bagging it every day because they don't have time to get anything. If they had fast food close by it would be a good thing. If they had good REAL food fast it would be even better.

So you cater to worker lunch hours. 10:30-2:30.

The Busy Bee isn't going to be a good sit down restaurant because parking is terrible downtown. It's also too small inside to handle many tables.

So fine dining is out. All dining is out.

To be successful you're going to have to have something fast and you're going to mostly have customers that walk from work. This is fine for right downtown. The other workers are still going to have to try to park.

How do you get past these downfalls?

Delivery! Deliver to all of the big places and get your walk ups from the closer, smaller places.

What do you do for food that can be fresh and good AND delivered?

Hmm...

Well, they're brown bagging it now so...

And there came the idea. Cookie's Brown Bag. 1.) to honor Cookie and her life spent in that restaurant and 2.) because you serve a brown bag lunch that is infinitely better than what they're bringing from home!

A sandwich, chips, fruit, dessert, whatever and a drink. And you serve it in brown bags! Brown bags that you individually stamp with the Cookie's Brown Bag logo. No pre-printed stuff!

The kicker? Every bag, no matter what you order is the same price. Tax included. No foolin'.

Very quick and easy. You know if you're getting a Brown Bag it cost's $X. Easy to plan for, easier to ring out orders, less time per customer.

And the idea's flowed from there.

I told Sharon I had an idea and she told me she knew George and I could just go talk to him.

I couldn't bring myself to do it until I had discussed the restaurant dream with Kris.

Suddenly I decided one day I was going to stop and talk to George.

And I did.

On a hot July day I pulled up and parked and George came shuffling out of the Busy Bee with a handful of posters he intended to hang.

I told him who I was. I told him who my Dad & grandpa were and a light came on.

He was happy to be talking to an adult who had been influenced by the Busy Bee.

When I offered to buy the place, George became a different person.

He clammed up. He had things to do. George was very upset by my proposition.

Cookie died in 2000 and George had been running the Busy Bee ever since to keep her memory alive. He loved her that much.

Eventually George quit updating the menu's, advertising etc. You can internet search all you want, check the yellow pages, you will not find the Busy Bee Cafe in Mauston anywhere. Pretty soon George was cooking and making breakfast for his friends.

George didn't know JACK about making money with a restaurant.

He was a bus driver.

So, he would just make breakfast for anyone who came in.

And never charge a dime.

So the inspector's left him alone. George wasn't running a restaurant, he was serving friends in a building he owned.

I can't find Cookie's obituary but I did find a picture of her grave stone. Guess what's on it?

That damn bee. Right side.

Obviously the Busy Bee meant something to Cookie.

---

And it did to George as well.

Fast forward to March 29th 2013.

Three days after the most incredible birthday I've ever had, George dies.

I had no clue until Sharon told me.

So I began to think again.

I stopped by the Busy Bee to peer in the window. Nothing had changed, but there was a For Sale sign in the window.

I memorized the number, but didn't call. Kris stopped and got the number for me too, not realizing I already had it committed to memory.

I still didn't call.

I sure kept thinking though.

And I kept stopping back to look in the window. Every couple of days. I began to see it start to empty out. All of the stuff that George & Cookie had collected over the years, disappearing and showing that the dining room was actually bigger than it had looked.

Finally I decided nothing could happen if I didn't do anything. I was also starting to worry that if it got stripped too much, it would be to costly to be a restaurant again.

So I called the number. No answer.

I didn't leave a message.

I waited a few days and tried again. Again, no answer and I left a message.

I began thinking maybe it just wasn't meant to be or they didn't really want to sell it.

One day I'm at work and suddenly my cell phone rings.

"This is Dick returning your call about the Busy Bee", the voice on the other end said.

I was caught off guard to say the least.

I talked with him a bit and said I wasn't sure but I thought I had an idea and I'd like to take a look around the whole inside and see the kitchen and things to see if I thought I could make it work.

He didn't want to show it to anyone till it was more cleaned up and he had also arranged for it to be inspected to see if it could still be used as a restaurant.

I explained that I had many years of restaurant experience and cleaned up some really bad ones so I wasn't worried about that. I also told him I could give him a good idea what the health inspector would say.

Well, he had to talk to this person and get the keys from that person and it would be easier if we wait till after August 1st when the inspector came.

I agreed and told him why I was interested. Basically the story I've told you.

So we agreed he'd call after the inspection and we'd arrange it.

As I'm on my way home that night, my phone rings and it's Dick again.

Wanted to know if I would have time to take a look the next day because, as it turned out, he would have the keys.

I said sure and we agreed to meet at 9:00AM the next morning before I went to work.

We were both a few minutes early.

I walked in the front door into the dining room.

The walls need to be replaced and the carpet needs to go. I knew all this from looking in the window.

I wanted to see the kitchen.

I told Dick that and he brought me into the kitchen.

Where my worst fears were realized.

The restaurant equipment was gone.

No grill. No stove. No refrigerator. Nothing.

Except the three compartment sink. Whew! At least that was still there!

The reason I feared this is that buying equipment for a restaurant kitchen is not cheap. If it's existing, you've cut out a lot of initial expense.

It also has the vent hood where the grill should be. But, it's not the kind with a sprinkler system and those are VERY expensive. On the upside, the types of food we will be preparing do not require equipment that would require a sprinkler system.

I know a guy I have dealt with for years at many different restaurants for used equipment, so this becomes a non-issue to me.

It needs a lot of work but it can be done relatively inexpensively and I really think the idea of the Brown Bag can be successful there.

I told Dick I thought it could work and that I'd definitely be interested once the inspectors report was in.

We talked.

He told me how he got put in charge of everything. He was George's best friend and they had known each other since he was 11 years old.

Dick told me some of the stories I've told you. Like George & Cookie living in that small back room. Like wiping out on a bicycle riding with George as kids. Like working there off and on and in these past few years coming into the restaurant at 6:30 in the morning to cook for every one who came in so George could sit out front and talk with them.

The history of the building and George and Cookie came alive for me.

I love history.

So Dick and I agreed to keep in touch and see what the inspection reveals. I also volunteered to help with cleaning up if he wanted. I told him, "it'll take a guy your age a long time and I could have it done in a day and I'd be happy to help". He agreed that it was way too much work for him, but he said he had time but would keep the offer in mind.

When I got home that night I found George's obituary and a few stories written about him, and I found the picture of Cookie's stone which I think is actually a shared stone.

There is so much history with the Busy Bee.

George and Cookie weren't the first people in there. I'd like to find out what it was before 1948!

The Busy Bee was the longest continually running business in Mauston.

George was a huge high school sports fan and big supporter of the kids.

There's all kinds of stories.

The Busy Bee is a landmark and should be preserved along with it's history, and continue to provide food and happiness to the people of the community.

The book on the Busy Bee Café is ready for another Chapter.

I would like for my family and I to write the next chapter.

It can happen.

I didn't see anything that a health inspector would say that would stop it from being used for food service.

I'm not in a great financial position, but ok. I have a friend who I told I might need some help if I decided to pursue a dream with food. He agreed to back me if I came up with something I really believed in. Double checked last night and he's still on board.

I have another possible source of help if necessary.

It can happen.

The idea's are flowing as for the operation itself. I'm still not having the food idea's I want (well I've got a few idea's), but mostly the business operation of it is what idea's I'm getting.

Like I'm mentally designing a box that our delivery person can use to carry multiple Brown Bags into the bank, or the hospital. I'm planning a delivery schedule where certain places get deliveries at certain times to account for varying lunch hours.

That way I don't have to send a driver out with single orders and wait for them to come back for the next. Route 1 starts at this time, route 2 at this time, blah, blah. That way while deliveries are being made, we're working on the next set of deliveries for when the driver returns. And taking care of the walk in customers.

While there'll be no inside seating (or not much) there is a nice little courtyard between the Busy Bee and the next building. It's full of flowers and green grass and it's owned by the City of Mauston. Who places picnic tables there in the spring and summer. Bonus! Outdoor dining for those who have time to stay out of the office!

Speaking of summer: George was a big fan of kids and they apparently loved him too. So to honor George I have this idea for "George's Free Lunch".

George's Free Lunch is exactly what it says. Free lunch for kids who may not eat at home when school is out. They get a Brown Bag like everybody else.

Of course theirs isn't a gourmet sandwich that cost's a lot to make. They get a choice between a bologna sandwich or PBJ and the chips, fruit, whatever. Free.

They have to sign up with a parent and have a card. The parent has to sign that they can get the lunch and whether they have any food allergies.

How do we afford to give a way lunches to kids?

With a little help from our friends of course!

Bologna & peanut butter sandwiches are cheap to make.

I'm a big fan of local businesses working together, especially to benefit the community in which they operate.

So all of the businesses in town will be able to sponsor George's Free Lunch. Each month a different business donates some relatively small amount to cover the lunch program. They get featured as the donor, they get in on our ad's, website, social media, and they help provide a service to the community and the children growing up there. What business isn't going to sign on for that for a couple hundred bucks? One newspaper ad cost that much and word of mouth advertising goes much further.

I also have an idea to help with streamlining the order/delivery process and help with keeping the cash flow flowing. The pre-order/pre-pay plan. A person orders in advance for a particular day or week or whatever, they pre-pay the amount and they get their order on the day requested at the time they are on the delivery schedule. This will save time because we'll know many orders in advance of when they are needed.

If we open at 10:30 and I know we have 15 orders going out at noon, we can be making those while we wait for the regular orders to come in.

Every thing I think is to make things simple, easy and with the lowest food cost and packaging cost possible.

Hence the brown bag and the logo stamp.

I've got a million idea's and I know we'll just keep having more as we kick it around.

It can happen.

It would be a dream come true. It would benefit the community. It would preserve some Mauston history and keep George and Cookie's memory and legacy alive. It would give the core clientele what they don't even realize they want.

Remember when we didn't know we wanted computers? Look how that took off! Everybody has one now!

It can happen.

When I was looking for information on George and Cookie and the Busy Bee Café, when I read that George & Cookie were married on July 10th, something about that bothered me.

I couldn't put my finger on it.

I decided for whatever reason to look back on my phone.

The day that I called and left the message that Dick responded to is why It bothered me.

I finally called with serious intent on July 10th.

It can happen.

And if it doesn't, Ill be much happier knowing I tried, than wondering if it could have been.

**UPDATE**: I have neglected to update this for quite some time! In August the City Council voted to pay to have the building demolished and make the land part of the city. They also will be building a memorial to George in one of the parks.

The site of the Busy Bee should be where it's at. It already has another vacant lot that's been turned into a little courtyard. Put them together and put the memorial there.

But then again, my idea's have been known to be wrong from time to time.

**UPDATE": On Tuesday July 22, 2014 the building that housed Mauston's longest running continuously owned small business came down. I took this picture for The Messenger newspaper and talked about the memorial going there on the papers Facebook page. Seems a lot of people agree with me.

We'll see.