BRICELYN — In the last 41 years, Tom Hughes has served up 500,000 hamburgers, 250,000 pancakes and cracked 650,000 eggs at Bud’s Cafe & Market in Bricelyn.
That’s all over now that he retired from the family business on March 22. He hopes to find a buyer for the restaurant but, as of now, it’s closed, marking the end of a 94-year-old Hughes’ family legacy.
“I’ll probably try to play more golf in the spring, summer and fall, and find a new routine to get into,” Tom said, noting he retired at the age of 66.
Tom’s father, James “Bud” Hughes, opened the cafe with his brother Vern in 1932. Both men later shipped out to World War II duties and, upon return, Vern moved to North Dakota.
Bud and his wife, Iva, ran the cafe from then on. In 1965, Bud died and Iva took the lead. When she died in 1985, Tom moved from Minneapolis back home to Bricelyn to own and operate Bud’s Cafe & Market.
Sharyl Johnson recalls she was working at Bud’s when Bud became sick toward the end of his life. Johnson arrived early in the morning at the apartment above the cafe, where the family lived, and got Tom and his older brother John fed, dressed and off to their days at day care and school.
“I was never, ever thinking that someday he would be my boss,” she said of Tom. “I just can’t get over that.”
She did go on to work for Tom. She describes Bud’s Cafe as a draw for locals in the Faribault County city of fewer than 400 people.
“It was a very popular place in town,” Johnson said. “There was good food and, not bragging, good service. It was overall just the place to go.”
Bud’s Cafe was known for its pancakes, which were named the best in the state in 2013 by way of a WCCO poll. The now famous pancake recipe was his mother Iva’s, Tom said. The restaurant was also popular for its hamburgers and the Sunday night turkey dinner special.
For Roger Husbyn, a retired high school teacher in Bricelyn, the appeal at Bud’s was the coffee.
“We just got back from Arizona on Sunday so I haven’t had a chance to miss it yet, but I know I will,” he said. “Everyone is hoping he can find a buyer and keep it going. Tom put in a lot of years because he always did the morning breakfast. He was ready for the first group of guys and gals.”
Tom said he spent most of his career at Bud’s in the kitchen.
“I think it did pretty well, to stay alive in a small community like this for that long,” he said. “I certainly never got rich there, but I always managed to pay the bills.”