ROB DREHER and NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Generations of residents have enjoyed the food at R-B Drive In at 201 East Avenue A. Tuesday, June 6 is the restaurant's 75th anniversary. The original owners opened the restaurant in 1948.
"I'm actually the third owner," said Kirk Johnson. "My wife and I bought it in 2016 from the daughter of the original owners, Larry and Dorothy Burgess. Their daughter, Pam and her husband, Charlie Wheeler, had bought the restaurant in 1984. My wife and I bought it in 2016. We're just headed into our eighth year as the caretakers of the R-B Drive In."
R-B is in the same spot as it was 75 years ago and that makes it the oldest of its kind in Kansas.
"There were other drive-ins that opened within that same era," Johnson said. "We are the oldest continuous use operated and family operated drive in. The closest one to us would be Bobo's in Topeka, which has its own claim to fame, but they've had a couple different locations, over time."
The explosion of vehicles in the American countryside shortly after the drive-in opening really made R-B a concept in the right place at the right time.
"It started with one guy and a vision," Johnson said. "He started with quality and value and engagement or entertainment. That same footprint of a building, 750 square feet, with an open kitchen and a horseshoe counter. Social engagement in the late 40s, early 50s, in terms of dining, up to that point, you still walked into a diner or a restaurant. That really allowed people who were now, post-World War II, buying cars and being more mobile, to have that same social interaction, without getting out of their car."
Johnson knows that it's not the original grill from the beginning of the business, but he doesn't know how old the current iteration is. It is key to the process that makes their food literally something you can't get anywhere else.
"That main core of products would be the pairings of cheeseburger and the home cut fries, the homemade pork tenders and the onion rings," Johnson said. "Mr. Burgess would tell anyone that would listen that, while he was dreaming up that concept of the drive in, he was awakened by an angel at the foot of his bed, who gave him the recipe for the beer battered onion rings. That has perpetuated and continued to date. If you've had them, you know there's something a little magical about them."
Tuesday, R-B is offering 75 cent pricing on either a Green River (20 oz), CBXX cheeseburger, or regular fry, or get one of each to bundle for a throw-back meal! Limit one of each item, per person; must be personally present to order.
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