A 42-YEAR RUN ENDS

It’s the only job Bradley Olson has had in his lifetime. After 42 years of managing and owning The Kernel Restaurant in Owatonna, he’s hanging up the spatula and going to try retirement.

Last week Olson and his wife, Sandy, turned over the iconic Owatonna restaurant to Logan Alimi and Olivia Hughes, owners of Olivia’s Restaurant located just a short distance away.

And diners shouldn’t expect any big changes, according to Olson. “They want to keep it the way it is,” he said. “They wanted the menu, recipes and employees. Everything we’ve been doing,” he said.

With a business administration degree in hand, Olson started out as an accountant at The Kernel in Menomonie, Wis. before heading to Owatonna in July 1981 when the restaurant was Country Kitchen. Within a month after Olson took on the managing role, the restaurant became The Kernel. “I talked them into letting me work for them,” he said of The Kernel owners. He added he was doing “all kinds of extra stuff” to attract their attention.

When Olson arrived in Owatonna, the franchise agreement with Country Kitchen was expiring, and the owners wanted to turn it into The Kernel. “It was a good model to follow,” he said referring to The Kernel. “We knew right away people were going to like it. They liked it better than Country Kitchen.”

Olson is convinced the lure of The Kernel centered around its home cooked meals and the absence of having some corporate person telling them what to do.

In the early years, Olson said he “did a little bit of everything.” He often would seat the customers and then run back in the kitchen to cook the food.

The Kernel has always been in the same location, which Olson believes has been ideal, especially in the early years. At one time, it was the only restaurant in the immediate area. He has also had to weather the storms of retailers throughout the years. After Walmart moved to a new location, it caused some loss of business for the Kernel. And, as time went on, more and more food options came into play.

“We were crazy busy in the early 1990s,” he said. “We were in a perfect location.”

But through all the challenges, The Kernel has maintained “a good clientele,” Olson said. And, he added, their home cooked meals and homemade treats haven’t hurt business either. The Kernel is known for homemade pies, which have been made by the same baker for the past 30 years. Five years ago, Olson tallied up the number of pie slices he sold at 35,000. “Our pies are always a draw,” he said, adding they usually featured 14 different kinds of pie every day.

One year before Thanksgiving, The Kernel made 120 pies in a single day. Olson said it kind of got out of hand, and they had to scale it back to 50 pies a day.

Olson has enjoyed serving some of his favorites like potato dumpling soup, which his mother made when he was growing up. “She never had a recipe for anything, and she couldn’t tell me how she made it so I tried to recreate it,” he said, adding the new owners plan to continue offering the soup.

“We tried to do as much as we can from scratch,” Olson said.

In 2010, Olson took over ownership of The Kernel. He laughs about the predicament that caused. “I had weekends off until I purchased the restaurant,” he said.

Perhaps a bit surprising is that Olson’s focus wasn’t really on the food. “When I bought the place, I felt like I wanted to make the employees the most important part of the business,” he said. “I want people to come here for the employees. I tried to make it a good place to work.”

Olson, 68, is proud of the work ethic he has instilled into many workers, mostly teenagers, over the years.

There are about 45 employees, mostly part-timers.

For Olson, making the announcement to employees was the hardest part. “There was tears when we told them,” he said. “We know all the employees so it was hard to sell it,” he added.

Olson missed only one payroll in 42 years when he traveled to Europe in 2007.

Dealing with the pandemic crisis in 2020 was the toughest challenge Olson faced in his years of business. “I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was like a nightmare surviving through COVID,” he said. “We were just trying to keep the place alive,” he added.

Since COVID struck, Olson has been focused on making major improvements like a new roof. He also made a big investment with a walk-in cooler. “My end game became making improvements,” he said.

Though his wife had another job, Sandy Olson also assisted with the business at times. She would often come in and analyze how the business was running, often pointing out things that needed to be changed. “And they still liked me,” she said with a smile.

“I called her our quality control,” Brad Olson said.

Sandy approves of her husband retiring and selling the business. “I gave him two years to sell,” she said. Brad quickly added, “I don’t remember that.”

They are looking forward to spending more time with grandchildren and traveling. They also plan to check out the senior citizens center and “see where the buses take us.”

Perhaps, most importantly, they are convinced The Kernel has been left in good hands.

“It’s good that somebody who wants to do what we’ve been doing is buying the business.”