A business that's just almost all in the family
Mickey's was started in 1982 in Brainerd.
Back
The restaurant, initiated by Mickey Kaminski, opened on Washington Street where the Crow Wing Food Co-op is now. After seven years, Mickey's moved to South Fifth Street, just south of the Brainerd Post Office, across from the public library and just down the street from Brainerd High School. The downtown location, previously the spot for a Sandy's and then Hardee's, offered a spot to serve the business workers and hungry students.
Toni Kaminski grew up in the family business. Her husband, Jim Czeczok, started working at Mickey's about 1985. He was supposed to fill in for a couple of weeks and ended up staying. Toni worked there on and off. She spent 14 years in sales at BISYS. Then in June 2005, the couple realized their long-term plan of buying Toni's dad out. Now retired, the restaurant's namesake still stops in.
"He's cheap labor," Toni said and smiled. "You just have to feed him."
Mickey's restaurant opened this spring in Nisswa on Main Street, just off Highway 371. The building is strikingly similar to the Mickey's in Brainerd, which served as its model.
Brainerd Dispatch/Renee Richardson
The Czeczoks say one of the perks of the job is that they still have fun at work and enjoy time with employees, many who have been with them for more than a decade. Laurie Hradsky has worked at Mickey's for 26 years and Kathy Johnson has been there for 27 years. Jim said they've watched employees' children grow up and hired them when they were old enough to work behind the counter. Now, Jim said, it's neat to see the third generation coming along.
Toni said the Highway 371 bypass meant their tourist business went downhill. But the restaurant has its own faithful following that has stayed so constant about 70 customers have laminated order cards because they order the same exact meal about twice a week or even five days out of the week.
"We call them the wall of same,'" Toni said. "So that's a lot of fun, too."
They have a regular customer who likes barbecue sauce on his order so they stock some just for his sandwiches.
"We are pretty flexible," Jim said.
Their son, Jack, a high school senior, already wants to buy them out of the business. They've told him they won't be ready to retire when he gets out of college.
Steve and Cherie Mans own the Mickey's restaurant in Nisswa. Friends with Toni and Jim Czeczok, who own Mickey's in Brainerd, they talked about opening a restaurant in Nisswa for a couple of years, waiting for the right opportunity.
Brainerd Dispatch/Renee Richardson
They don't want to divide their time between their restaurant and a second site in Brainerd. They said they want to come to work together where they have for years.
"This is our baby," Toni said as she was seated in a booth in the restaurant on a sunny weekday morning. They do plan to add outdoor landscaping and potentially outdoor seating.
But they might be willing to look at another franchise.
Looking a bit skeptically over at his wife, Jim said: "She'd have to convince me."
Toni replied: "It would have to be perfect circumstances."
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.