Even though he has a full-time job, Clint McKinnis took on the project of refurbishing a restaurant in Bronson.
The Chicken Shak has been in Bronson for over 55 years, with different owners, McKinnis said.
“I felt like I wanted to revive it,” he said. “The Good Lord told me to buy it and make it what it was before.”
His family still has a farm down the road from Bronson and they used to go to eat chicken at the restaurant after church.
“I want to give back to the community,” he said. “To have good fellowship and good chicken.”
He recently had a “soft opening” of the restaurant with friends and family only.
The building had been vacant for nine months before McKinnis purchased the restaurant in January 2018.
After 10 months of repairing and painting the building, the restaurant will open next month.
Something new, is a bar with two big screen TVs in the back dining room of the restaurant.
“The La Rue’s (previous owners) added a bar about three years ago,” he said.
The restaurant officially opens Saturday, Nov. 3 at 11 a.m. The hours will then be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
The restaurant has 10 employees, including chief cook, Cheryl Blythe.
The phone number of the Chicken Shak is 620-228-5228.
About the owner
McKinnis is known by some as “Spanky”.
“I was nicknamed at 4-years-old by a friend of my dad’s,” he said. “He thought I looked like Spanky of Our Gang.”
He went to Uniontown schools for a period of time, then his family moved to Fort Scott where he graduated in 1997.
He now lives in Pittsburg where he works full-time at Performance Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Clinic.
What kind of bar? I am Janet Procyk …..my dad was Alexander Procyk. We used to eat there after church on Sundays……my father built that cement building at the corner of Spruce and Main in the 60’s. I remember your mother and father…..what are your hours? Are you doing it like Duck Drake used to do it?
I was also wondering about what kind of bar.