Founding father of longtime Wichita restaurant has died, leaving his household and prospects in mourning

Till about two and a half months in the past, Ken Hertel would maintain hours at his “workplace” inside Barn’rds, the roast beef restaurant at 3860 N. Maize Street.

His workplace, in actuality, was a desk simply south of the condiment stand, however he’d be there daily from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. on the dot, chatting with previous prospects and watching over the eating room.

However then his well being, which had been deteriorating for years, acquired worse, and Hertel — who introduced Barn’rds to Wichita in 1983 — couldn’t go to his workplace anymore.

“He hated it,” stated his son, Troy Hertel, who has been overseeing the restaurant for the previous 15 years.

On Tuesday, Ken Hertel died at age 82, peacefully and surrounded by household, his son stated. Barn’rds shall be closed on Monday whereas Ken Hertel’s household attends his companies.

“My dad was the one particular person I do know who didn’t have a cellphone or pc,” Troy stated on Thursday. “He did have lots of will, but he had a giant coronary heart…I’ll miss him.”

In 1981, Ken partnered with a former Arby’s franchisee named Sam Marvin and opened the primary Barn’rds in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Marvin was not comfortable that Arby’s had transitioned from serving actual roast beef to a processed model, and he wished to start out a restaurant that will prioritize high quality.

The restaurant was a hit, and at one level, there have been 13 Barn’rds working throughout the area. In 1983, Ken and his spouse, Carol, determined to open a franchise of the restaurant in Wichita, a metropolis they selected as a result of it was nearer to their growing older dad and mom. Their Barn’rds opened in a barn-shaped constructing at 2037 N. Woodlawn on Dec. 20, 1983. Troy, who was a senior in highschool on the time, remembers that Wichita was being hit by a blizzard on opening day.

It took some time for Barn’rds to achieve a following, Troy remembered, however finally, Wichita found the restaurant’s roast beef sandwiches, vegetable soup and rooster salad. Ken knew his prospects, Troy stated, and remembers his father typically calling to verify on common prospects after they hadn’t been into the restaurant for some time.

“And God bless them, they’re the individuals who saved us going,” Troy stated.

In 2006, when the now-busy intersection thirty seventh and Maize Street was nothing however undeveloped fields, Ken had the “imaginative and prescient” to purchase a chunk of property on the nook, his son stated. The Hertels introduced the next 12 months their plans to open a west-side Barn’rds on the spot, but it surely didn’t occur till 2020. By then, Troy had been operating the restaurant for 11 years, and Ken was beginning to have well being issues.

However he stayed concerned with the method of opening the brand new Barn’rds and shutting the unique one.

“He nonetheless helped me, or we’d talk about issues,” Troy stated. “In our early years, we used to struggle rather a lot. However I feel through the years I wore him down, and now, we agreed on virtually every little thing.”

Troy stated his father was straightforward to work for however anticipated rather a lot from his staff. He was beneficiant, too: Troy remembers that Ken would assist staff purchase automobiles or would hire flats in his title for workers going through robust occasions.

“One of many many issues he taught me was to maintain the staff,” Troy stated. “They’re the lifeblood of our enterprise.”

The household continues to be attempting to just accept its loss, Troy stated, and his mom — Ken’s widow, Carol — has been so busy attending to particulars, she hasn’t had time to decelerate and correctly grieve.

Troy stated the household has been touched by the outpouring of assist they’ve obtained since announcing Ken’s death on social media.

When the Hertel household opened the new Barn’rds throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, they’d a tough time saying goodbye to their authentic constructing on Woodlawn, which now could be the positioning of a automobile wash.

As soon as the doorways have been lastly locked on closing day, tears flowed and the household, together with Ken, popped a bottle of champagne.

However Ken was philosophical in regards to the closing.

“It’s not the constructing,” Ken told The Eagle on the time. “It’s the relationships we’ve created over 37 years with individuals. We’ve seen three generations of individuals coming via our restaurant. They grew to become our household.”