In the late 20th century, 65 Happy Chef Restaurants dotted seven states across the Great Plains and Midwest. They could be found in the Dakotas and Wisconsin, as far south as Kansas, and all over Minnesota.
Known for their enormous, talking fiberglass chef statues, all-day breakfasts, and 24-hour service, Happy Chef was founded by the Frederick brothers, Sal, Bob, and Tom, in Mankato in 1963. The first location, which opened just north of town on Highway 169, is now the only remaining Happy Chef, but it’s still going strong.
Courtesy of Happy Chef
“We like to think that we’re a staple in the community,” says Happy Chef owner Adrian Swales—one with a reputation for lowkey, casual, affordable, and delicious family dining.
The statue remains, and after two decades of silence, once again greets guests with cheesy jokes. Those yearning for yesterday will find nostalgia, comfort food, and a classic diner atmosphere at the Mankato restaurant. “What’s kept us going is the community of Mankato,” says Swales. “The area has really supported us. I have regulars who have been coming here for more than 40 years. They stuck with us over the decades, through the ups and downs,” he continues.
The Frederick brothers first opened Happy Chef after several previous forays into the restaurant business. Sal started cooking professionally in the U.S. Army while serving in the Philippines during World War II. When he got back to Minnesota in the late 1940s, he opened a cafe in downtown Mankato called the Hidden Inn. He and his brothers operated Brett’s Grill, also in Mankato, in the 1950s.
The Frederick brothers prepared food for the Newman Club at Minnesota State University, Mankato during the early 1960s. Newman clubs (now called Newman Centers) are campus ministry centers for Catholic students at public colleges and universities.
Happy Chef opened in 1963 and proved an immediate hit—an affordable 24-hour diner that drew in customers from the highway with its 36-foot-tall smiling man in a full chef’s outfit, holding a giant wooden spoon.
Soon thereafter, the brothers opened two additional locations around Mankato. In 1965, they opened a Happy Chef two hours east on Highway 14 in Winona. From there, the chain branched out in all directions. Not every location had a statue, but there were enough for Happy Chef franchises to become genuine roadside attractions.
Courtesy of Happy Chef
In 1968, the chef statue at the Mankato location added a button that customers could press to hear one of a dozen or so catch phrases.
“In the early 1970s, it was our family’s favorite,” says Dana Davenport-Bliss, a Minnesota native who now resides in Oregon. “On special occasions we even got their steak dinner.” Davenport-Bliss says she and her siblings loved the restaurant’s wishing well of treats and gloried in pressing the button to make the Happy Chef recite one of his jokes.
“Happy Chef truly served the Mankato area well. So many young people got their first job there. It was a place for people of all ages to find community, A place for families to spend time together and celebrate life’s achievements,” Davenport-Bliss says.
“I have great memories there,” says Brent Danberry, a Mankato native and U.S. Marines veteran who recently returned to the area. While a student at Mankato West High School, he worked as a dishwasher and a cook at the Happy Chef on Highway 169. He worked weeknights and graveyard shifts on Fridays and Saturdays before cooking the Sunday morning breakfast buffet.
“I met a woman who also worked there. She was a hostess when I was a cook. And she became my wife. We’re still together 32 years later,” he says.
Courtesy of Happy Chef
Happy Chef was always known for its affordable prices. Well into the 1980s, the restaurant sold full breakfasts for under $1 while virtually everything on its breakfast and lunch menus was under $2. A 1982 menu lists sirloin steak, haddock, and shrimp dinners for under $3, which included Happy Chef’s signature hot Dutch apple pie and cinnamon ice cream dessert.
Just as well-known as its breakfasts was the major men’s fast-pitch softball team Happy Chef sponsored. The Happy Chef Mankato team won national tournaments and competed against the best clubs in the country. The restaurant chain flew the team to games across the continent. The club even paid its players, which was perfectly acceptable in the quasi-professional league. During the 1980s, Happy Chef softball boasted two of the country’s best pitchers, Dale Roof and Larry Jolstad—standing at 6 feet, 6 inches tall, Jolstad was the Randy Johnson of fast-pitch softball, blowing pitches by opposing batters, who stood just 46 feet away.
The Happy Chef softball team was a genuine attraction in Blue Earth County. They played for large and enthusiastic crowds at Caswell Park, and the Mankato Free Press would send a reporter to cover the team on the road. Games would be broadcast on KTOE radio. Swales says getting back into softball is a possibility in Happy Chef’s future.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, many Happy Chef locations closed. Bob and Sal sold their shares in the business during the late 1980s to Tom, who continued as chief operator. Competition from other breakfast-oriented diner chains like Perkins, Denny’s, IHOP, and Baker’s Square cut into the Happy Chef’s bread-and-butter. The emergence of bar-and-grill casual dining chains like T.G.I. Friday’s, Applebee’s, and Chili’s hurt Happy Chef’s dinner business—for a time, even the Frederick family ran its own small chain of bar-and-grill restaurants called Ruttles 50s Bar and Grill.
The start of Adrian Swales’ Happy Chef story actually started at Ruttles.
Swales began his career in 2003 as a line cook at the Ruttles in St. Peter, Minnesota. Eventually, he became general manager. And when Ruttles closed in 2009, Swales became manager at the Happy Chef in Mankato, by then the last Happy Chef. Swales served in that capacity until 2017 when he bought the business. In October 2024, he purchased the building and its accompanying property.
“I’m so appreciative of the opportunity the Frederick family gave me and all that I’ve learned from them. They were incredibly generous with their time. I owe them a lot,” Swales says, citing both Happy Chef founder Tom Frederick Sr. and his son Tom Frederick Jr., who mentored him at Ruttles.
Swales says the entrepreneurial culture fostered by the Frederick family helped make his success possible. “They always gave their managers opportunities for advancement and ownership,” he explains.
Swales faces a delicate balance between tradition and trends in the restaurant business.
“Once I took the business over in 2017, I tried to keep in mind ways to bring us into the 21st century, and at the same time, not alienate our existing customers,” he says. Change has been gradual—from updating the menu and surveying customers on what they’d like to see offered to building a website for the restaurant.
One way to firm up Happy Chef’s foundation was to get the statue talking. At some point during the 1990s, the statue went silent. Swales spent a week installing a new system. He hired friend and Mankato-based comedian/media personality Ben Findley to be the new voice of the talking Happy Chef.
The Happy Chef’s current catchphrases include boasts about the size of the restaurant’s pancakes, jokes about the Vikings’ postseason woes, and even personalized greetings which can be added to the flash drive that now powers the talking statue. Rather than a button, a motion sensor now activates the talking chef.
Beyond the multi-generational memories associated with Happy Chef, Swales encourages customers to focus on the most important aspect of any restaurant: its food. Swales describes Happy Chef’s cinnamon roll pancakes, country fried steak, and omelets as among its signature dishes.
Happy Chef is no longer a 24-hour operation. Instead, it’s open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., serving breakfast all day and lunch in the late morning and early afternoon.
“The breakfast and lunch model came out of COVID. When COVID happened, it was a staffing issue. I wanted to maximize the staff that I have,” Swales says. He is open to the idea of expanding Happy Chef’s hours in the future.
After 3 p.m., Happy Chef is available to rent for gatherings such as birthday parties, wedding receptions, and class reunions.
Happy Chef Restaurant, 51646 US-169, Mankato, happychefrestaurant.com
