Horn Addresses Lincoln Highway Association
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Keith Horn was a speaker for the Indiana Chapter meeting of the Lincoln Highway Association.
The group met in Warsaw Saturday.
The former restauranteer always considered traffic volume while in business, a commodity the Lincolnway provided in abundance.
"My life is interwoven with the Lincoln Highway," Horn, 82, said to the members and guests gathered at the Ramada Plaza Hotel.
The Lincoln Highway was the first coast-to-coast paved road with a route from New York to San Francisco.
In 1929 or 1930, Horn said he recalls his parents driving to the two-mile-long paved "test strip" near Hammond. His parents impressed upon him the road's significance.
"My dad, having been in the trucking business in Chicago, complained that the 16-feet-wide road wasn't wide enough. His trucks were 8 feet wide and he didn't see how one vehicle could pass another."
Horn's parents, Milo and Emma, moved to Warsaw and operated the Comstock Inn restaurant. Situated on South High Street, the railroad offered a steady flow of customers.
The Horns looked to the highway when they heard about the Chicago World's Fair. They moved to Bourbon on U.S. 30 and opened the Bourbon Luncheon, operating it from 1932 to 1934. At the Luncheon, the Horns developed their basic menu of swiss steak, sugar-baked ham and skillet-fried chicken. The chicken was served Sundays and on holidays.
Returning to Warsaw in 1934, the elder Horns opened the Mayfair Cafe on East Center Street. Milo Horn's trucking buddies soon found the restaurant and the cafe's popularity grew.
Milo opened Horn's Sunnymeade Restaurant at 2229 E. Center St. in the fall of 1940. The highway directed plenty of customers to their doors.
Keith established a photography studio, but after his father's, then his mother's death, Horn closed the studio and took over operation of the Sunnymeade Restaurant in 1952.
Business from truck drivers continued, Horn said, and often Center Street was lined with parked trucks for seven blocks.
During a restaurant show in Chicago, Horn heard about a guy selling a fried chicken recipe. Being from the lakes area, Horn sought a fish recipe and didn't pay the fellow much attention.
At an Indianapolis restaurant show that fall, Horn saw the same chicken-recipe seller, describing him as sporting a goatee and wearing a grey frock coat. The man told Keith he wanted to get 100 restaurants to put his recipe in their menu so he could live off the royalty checks.
Since Horn already had a good chicken recipe, he didn't think Col. Harland D. Sanders' idea was all that impressive.
Sanders persisted, however, entering Horn's restaurant and eventually putting out a Sunday chicken dinner that exceeded Horn's greatest expectations.
"We usually sold 80 to 85 chicken orders. That Sunday, we sold 139," Horn said.
Because the Sunnymeade was well managed, Horn was able to leave a few days each week. He and Sanders sold that Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe across the country, essentially developing the KFC franchise restaurants in the U.S. and in other countries. [[In-content Ad]]
Keith Horn was a speaker for the Indiana Chapter meeting of the Lincoln Highway Association.
The group met in Warsaw Saturday.
The former restauranteer always considered traffic volume while in business, a commodity the Lincolnway provided in abundance.
"My life is interwoven with the Lincoln Highway," Horn, 82, said to the members and guests gathered at the Ramada Plaza Hotel.
The Lincoln Highway was the first coast-to-coast paved road with a route from New York to San Francisco.
In 1929 or 1930, Horn said he recalls his parents driving to the two-mile-long paved "test strip" near Hammond. His parents impressed upon him the road's significance.
"My dad, having been in the trucking business in Chicago, complained that the 16-feet-wide road wasn't wide enough. His trucks were 8 feet wide and he didn't see how one vehicle could pass another."
Horn's parents, Milo and Emma, moved to Warsaw and operated the Comstock Inn restaurant. Situated on South High Street, the railroad offered a steady flow of customers.
The Horns looked to the highway when they heard about the Chicago World's Fair. They moved to Bourbon on U.S. 30 and opened the Bourbon Luncheon, operating it from 1932 to 1934. At the Luncheon, the Horns developed their basic menu of swiss steak, sugar-baked ham and skillet-fried chicken. The chicken was served Sundays and on holidays.
Returning to Warsaw in 1934, the elder Horns opened the Mayfair Cafe on East Center Street. Milo Horn's trucking buddies soon found the restaurant and the cafe's popularity grew.
Milo opened Horn's Sunnymeade Restaurant at 2229 E. Center St. in the fall of 1940. The highway directed plenty of customers to their doors.
Keith established a photography studio, but after his father's, then his mother's death, Horn closed the studio and took over operation of the Sunnymeade Restaurant in 1952.
Business from truck drivers continued, Horn said, and often Center Street was lined with parked trucks for seven blocks.
During a restaurant show in Chicago, Horn heard about a guy selling a fried chicken recipe. Being from the lakes area, Horn sought a fish recipe and didn't pay the fellow much attention.
At an Indianapolis restaurant show that fall, Horn saw the same chicken-recipe seller, describing him as sporting a goatee and wearing a grey frock coat. The man told Keith he wanted to get 100 restaurants to put his recipe in their menu so he could live off the royalty checks.
Since Horn already had a good chicken recipe, he didn't think Col. Harland D. Sanders' idea was all that impressive.
Sanders persisted, however, entering Horn's restaurant and eventually putting out a Sunday chicken dinner that exceeded Horn's greatest expectations.
"We usually sold 80 to 85 chicken orders. That Sunday, we sold 139," Horn said.
Because the Sunnymeade was well managed, Horn was able to leave a few days each week. He and Sanders sold that Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe across the country, essentially developing the KFC franchise restaurants in the U.S. and in other countries. [[In-content Ad]]