Hays House Restaurant

Hays House Restaurant / Hays House Bakery
Council Grove, Kansas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Historic Hays House 1857 Restaurant Announces New Ownership
COUNCIL GROVE, Kansas, May 2, 2011—The historic Hays House 1857 Restaurant and Tavern located in Council Grove, KS, has new ownership and management effective May 2, 2011. Stuart Collier, Wichita, KS, and Doug and Sherri Wilkerson, Council Grove, KS, members of two long-time Morris County families, announced today they have completed the purchase from Galen and Lori Fink and Bill and Debbie Miller. Both Finks and Millers will continue as minority interest owners in the business.

"We are excited about the opportunity to own a piece of the history of Council Grove and the Santa Fe Trail," Collier said in making the announcement. "The interest in the history of this area is dramatically increasing as more people are discovering the beauty of the Flint Hills and this entire region. We believe we can provide local residents and visitors to this area with a unique dining experience in what is reputed to be the oldest continuously operated restaurant west of the Mississippi River and the second oldest continuously operated restaurant in the United States."

Wilkersons' Flint Hills Bakery and Smokehouse will be converted to a full-time retail bakery, under the name Hays House Bakery, and will support the day-to-day operations of the Hays House Restaurant. "Combining the two businesses will let us better serve the needs of our local community and visitors as well as expand the services we offer in terms of locally produced food products and meeting the catering needs of this area," Doug Wilkerson noted.
"We are committed to building on the historic heritage of the Hays House," Sherri Wilkerson added. "We realize the Hays House really belongs to this community and we are privileged to be caretakers of it. We look forward to working with the local community to grow this business in the coming years."

The historic Hays House will be closed for reorganization through Thursday, May 5. Retail hours for the Hays House Restaurant will be Sunday through Thursday 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday 6:00 a.m. until 10 p.m. Retail hours for the Hays House Bakery will be daily 5:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.

For more information contact:
Doug Wilkerson at the restaurant 620-767-5911
Sherri Wilkerson at the bakery 620-767-6629.

CONGRATULATIONS TO Dan Doerge and staff of the Hays House 1857 Restaurant, Council Grove, Kansas, on being awarded one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine announced on 6/19/09 by the Kansas Sampler Foundation.

The 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine

The Kansas Sampler Foundation announced the results for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine.  In alphabetical order the top 8 are:

Bobo's Drive In, Topeka
Brookville Hotel, Abilene
Cozy Inn, Salina
Crawford County Fried Chicken (i.e. Barto's Idle Hour, Chicken Annie's, Chicken Annie's Girard, Chicken Annie's Pichler's, Chicken Mary's, Gebhardt's)
Free State Brewing Company, Lawrence
Guy & Mae's Tavern, Williamsburg
Hays House 1857 Restaurant & Tavern, Council Grove
WheatField's Bakery Cafe, Lawrence

After almost 8 weeks of voting, 13,861 votes were cast to determine the 8 most iconic Kansas restaurants from a list of 24 finalists. Foundation director Marci Penner said, "The contest was designed to determine the most iconic restaurants in Kansas. There were 24 excellent finalists and we are pleased with the interest level and heightened awareness for the contribution Kansas iconic restaurants make to the landscape of our state."

See more information:
http://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/cuisineresults.php

Oldest Continuous restaurant West of the Mississippi -
Kansas Beef Backer Award Winner

Visit the Hays House Web site.