Friday, April 10, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
3B
Downtown cafe has local flavor
Gene Lester, Lawrence resident, sautees the veggies to prepare an omelet. Lester cooks at Paradise during the morning shift.
By RUTH JACOBSON
Special to the Kansan
At this time three years ago, the Paradise Cafe had just opened in an empty hall at 728 Massachusetts St. On a busy Saturday, it can attract 800 customers, many who say its popularity is due partly to the owners' people-before-profits attitude.
"I think they care about what they do." said Steve Albright, Lawrence resident and a regular customer at the Paradise.
"Making good food is more important to them than the bottom line," Albright said.
"This is a family-type restaurant," said owner and manager P.J. Brungardt. "We don't have much turnover in the employees because they're happy here. I think that shows in the food and the service."
Brungardt, 32, describes himself as a people person, the type of employer whom employees can talk to.
"I'm kind of like the dad around here. People come to me with their problems." he said.
Brundard is concerned about the restaurant's decor, the employees' feelings about their jobs and the quality of the food.
Inside the Paradise, overhead fans whirl gently, while terry cloth napkins and flowers rest on tables. Waiters and waitresses wear bright print shirts or dresses. Photographs and paintings by local artists hang on the walls. The art work is rotated every six weeks.
"I try to give everyone a chance to hang their work in here." Brungardt
Employees say that they feel at home in the relaxed environment.
"I like being able to be myself," said Fran Zillner, who has been a waitress at the restaurant for two and a half years.
"It can be classy, it can be relax ed" said Austin Clark a waiter.
During the day it is like a friendly neighborhood cafe with basic farmer's breakfasts and burgers for lunch. But at night it is fancier, the
prices are higher and the meals more extravagant, Brungardt said.
"We do it for fun," he said. "It would be boring if we did the same things all day long."
Brunardt is no stranger to the restaurant business. He grew up in western Kansas, where his mother worked in a roadhouse cafe called the
Vagabond. Brungardt would go there after school hoping to find work. He always found something to do, he said.
"I was the little guy standing around waiting to bus a table," he said.
He worked at several restaurants while in high school in Hays and while working on his degree in sociology at the University of Kansas.
"I always worked with a lot of real creeps," he said. "I thought it would be fun to see if I could do it and be nice to people."
And he hasn't forgotten the Vagabond cafe.
Brungardt and his wife opened the Paradise on April 1, 1984. It was a hit from day one, he said. But Brungardt, who is now divorced, said he worked constantly the first year.
"A friendly neighborhood diner is pretty much what I looked for in the Paradise." he said.
In the summer of 1985, help arrived from two friends who owned a restaurant called the Black Jack Inn in Baldwin City.
Brundard said that the Black Jack Inn hadn't been doing well because there weren't enough people in the town to support it.
Conversely, the Paradise was almost too busy for Brungardt to
handle alone, he said. Steve McCoy and Steve Coffee sold the Black Jack Inn and bought into the Paradise.
Each owner now spends about 50 to
60 hours a week working at the
staffroom.
"Steve Coffee manages the business end, Steve McCoy deals with the kitchen and the bar, and I deal with the front and the waitresses," Brungardt said.
But it's tough making a big profit from the homemade type of food that the restaurant sells because of the time needed to prepare it, Brungardt
"You really can't charge what it's worth," he said. "We'll never get rich at this, but we make enough to pay ourselves a decent wage."
He said that only fast-food restaurants could make high profits. But adding a bar this summer at the adriadise should increase profits, he said.
The restaurant purchases tofu, herbs, sprouts, honey and eggs from local farmers, because they are fresher than produce bought from big companies, he said. In addition to getting fresher produce, patronage of the restaurant has increased money in the Lawrence area, said Jeanne Spencer, a Sunday cook.
"In the summer we buy almost all of our vegetables from people in North Lawrence who have large gardens," Brungardt said.
Customers come not only from Lawrence, but also from Topeka, Kansas City, Tonganoxie and other area communities, Brungardt said.
Although Brungardt said that it was difficult to keep all of his employees happy, he added that his favorite part of owning the Paradise was the family-like situation that existed among its 55 employees.
"It reminds me of the TV sitcom Catch Me, that's it's fun to hang on with these people."
KRONOS QUARTET
David Harrington, Violin
John Shera, Violin
Hank Duff, Viola
Joan Jeannemau, Cello
Dan Quintero, Serenade
A Mid-America Arts Alliance Program Presented by The University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Chamber Music Series
8:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 12, 1987
Crabton Prever Theatre
Program
String Quartet No. 8
Peter Scullhorpe
String Quartet No. 3
String Quartet No. 3
Aulis Salinen
Philip Grass
Tickets on sale in the Murphy Hall Box Office.
All seats reserved;For reservations:
call 913-684-3982
V I S A / M a s t e r C a r d a c o m p l e t f o r p h o n e r e s s e r v a t i o n
V I S A / M a s t e r C a r d a c o m p l e t f o r p h o n e r e s s e r v a t i o n
Public $10 & $8; KU and K-12 Students $5 & $4;
Senior Citizens and Other Students $9 & $7
HALF PRICE FOR KU STUDENTS!
YYYY
Gareth Waltrip/KANSAN
Karen Hummel, left, doublechecks a minor detail with Susan Winslow and De Anderson, Wilmington, Del., junior, on her way to the dining room. The three women are part of the service staff at Paradise Cafe.
Steve Coffee, part owner and manager of the Paradise Cafe, pauses for a moment at the end of the day.
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EVERY SUNDAY
DURING APRIL
-REGULAR TACO
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49¢ each
OFFER GOOD ONLY DURING APRIL. 1007
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