At one time or another every town should have an Al Ingalls.
Bluffton had one. And we truly feel for the towns that didn’t.
Al and his wife, Millie, owned Ingalls Restaurant. It was the last real sit-down restaurant on Main Street.
What a place. Hours were, oh, 5:30 a.m. to, what, 10 p.m. at night?
Those hours were set for the community, not the owners. It operated in a sort of informal “community system.” Meetings took place there. Deals developed. Coffee was poured. More meetings took place. More deals developed. More coffee was poured.
It was an interesting cycle.
The Sunday after-church crowd might wait 30 minutes for a table. Imagine that.
During the week, at noon and dinner, Al met you at the door with menus in hand. He greeted you like your were his long-lost best friend.
“How many?" (meaning table for how many?), he’d ask. He didn’t really need to ask. He knew the answer just by looking at you. It was simply conversation. It was a connection.
He liked connections. That’s why his restaurant worked.
Did Al Ingalls invent the buffet salad bar? Okay, maybe not. But, he realized early on its value and made it affordable.
He did lots of other things. Consider:
• He’d prepare the fish. If you caught it and brought it in. He’d prepare it for you.
• The restaurant was a donation center. Al was known to hang a string from the kitchen to the front door. Patrons could clip cash and checks on it in times when someone in need – well, was in need of cash.
• In the mid-1950s Bluffton College had some unusually great football teams. Reliable sources tell that some of the more famous players were given, let’s call it, grants-in-aid, from a rotating donation fund housed in the restaurant.
After all, a good football team brings people to Bluffton. Those fans have to eat somewhere.
Some claim payment was based upon the number of touchdown a grant recipient scored in a game. But, that's all hearsay.
• Birthday parties took place in the back room. The room had a name: the Alcove Room. At these parties you could even bring your own cake.
There’s lots more to write about Al – how Bluffton got its parking lots behind Main Street, how the Ream holiday folk art display landed here…the list goes on.
Yep. Every town should have an Al Ingalls.
We know, because we had a great one.
