From left: Larry and Mary Jane McHenry, Alisha Jamison and Kevin Allen. Submitted photo.
Larry and Mary Jane McHenry started transferring ownership of Aunt Toadies Restaurant in October, 2022.
The restaurant is located on Fort Scott’s east side at 1411 E. Wall.
Aunt Toadies has been in business almost 20 years.
“Our original plan was to get the restaurant to this point and step back a bit and let our children run it, with our help,” Mary Jane said. “We are ready to step back and slow down.”
Their children weren’t interested in taking over the business, she said.
But their niece, Alisha Jamison was.
“Alisha was one of the first we hired as a waitress, when she was in high school,” Mary Jane said.
For Mary Jane, the best part of the restaurant was working with family, she said. And since they opened in 2003 they have hired nieces and nephews on both sides of the family to work for them.
Her sister-in-law, Debbie Ballou and her daughter Kelly McHenry, along with son Matthew McHenry still work at the restaurant.
“I will miss a lot of the customers that we’ve become acquainted with over the years,” she said.
But after working 80 hours a week at the restaurant, Larry and Mary Jane will be looking for “jobs that don’t require so many hours and being on our feet.”
They sold the restaurant to Kevin “Skitch” Allen and Alisha will be managing it.
Kevin Allen is working on the new parking lot on the west side of Aunt Toadies on Dec. 13.
New owner Kevin Allen was doing outside work on the restaurant property this week.
He said they will be expanding the restaurant and parking lot.
There will be feature on the new owner’s plans in the near future on fortscott.biz.
Mary Jane wants the public to know that they have stayed, since the new owner purchased the business, to train the cooks the way they prepared food.
“The menu won’t change,” she said.
The most popular meal sold is their country-fried stead dinner and also their desserts, she said.
On Dec. 13, five different pies were being offered, which is an everyday occurrence. In addition, in the winter, bread pudding and cobblers are the specialties; in summer it’s their strawberry shortcake.
Restaurant hours are:
Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Fridays from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and
Saturday from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
History of Aunt Toadies Restaurant
The restaurant was started in 1952 and called Bright’s Grill, she said.
“The restaurant had been empty for two years before we bought it in 2003,” Mary Jane said.
They named the restaurant after Larry’s mother, Virginia McHenry.
“She was a tow-head, and her father called her Toad, which was eventually changed to Toadie.”
Mary Jane said Virginia would announce to nurses, as she was in and out of the hospital in her later years, that she was the Toadie of Aunt Toadie’s.
“She loved eating here,” she said. Virginia died in 2011.
When they purchased the restaurant, her dad gave her a (art) frog to display. Through the years, customers have donated their frogs to where they currently can’t display all of them, Mary Jane said.
Larry and Mary Jane will work at the restaurant until the end of 2022.
