Cozy Inn, Salina

Front door to the Cozy.

6-stool counter.

Owner Steve Howard.

The menu!
Address:
108 N. 7th, Salina, KS 67401
[map this location]
Phone:
785.825.2699
Website:
cozyburger.com
Open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
See menu, click here.
The
Cozy Inn is one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine because of its
legendary sliders (buy 'em by the sack) and 6-stool counter dating back
to 1922.
Menu - Cozy Burger 85 cents or 24 for $18. Chips, soda. That's it!
The
Cozy Inn was opened at 108 N. 7th Street in Salina the spring of 1922,
just months after the original White Castle hamburger restaurant opened
in Wichita. During this time a craze of 6-stool diners with very
limited menus popped up around the USA.
Within three months,
the hole-in-the-wall was purchased by a young man, Robert Kinkel. Kinkel had
just ended a short career playing semi-pro baseball on a Kansas farm team and
had relocated to Salina looking for a business opportunity.
The joint
served palm-sized hamburgers grilled with a generous heap of onions for a nickel. The burger
became known as a "slider", most likely from the fry cooks practice of sliding
the sandwich down the counter on a sheet of waxed paper. The slider was dressed
with pickle, catsup, and mustard….never cheese. It is rumored that an employee
once placed a slice of cheese on a patty, only to be fired for his blunder.
As the Depression years hit America, joints like The Cozy Inn gained success by providing depression-hit customers with a satisfying, yet inexpensive meal. Low overhead, due to the small size of the building, an unchanging menu, and minimal staff requirements, enabled the price of the burger to remain at 5-cents for 20 years.
Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, announcements were made that two military installations would be built in Saline County. The next years brought an influx of tens of thousands of young soldiers to Salina. The Cozy Inn gained great popularity during the war years as a hang-out for GI's needing a good meal on soldier's pay.
Bob Kinkel and his wife, Kathryn, enjoyed the continued success of The Cozy during the 1950's and 60's. It was a time when America's youth became obsessed with hamburgers, soda pop, and tucked away joints like The Cozy Inn.
After Bob Kinkel's death, his wife Kathryn and her second husband, Dick Pickering, continued The Cozy legacy. In the 1970's they became renowned for their annual anniversary celebrations, offering Cozies, chips, and beverages at "yesterday's prices."
Upon the Pickerings' deaths in the 1990s, Kathryn bequeathed The Cozy Inn to three Salina institutions: St. John's Military School, Kansas Wesleyan University, and Salina Regional Health Center. After two years, the organizations decided to sell the restaurant which had long since become a historical spot both locally and nationally.
Three Salina
businessmen stepped forward to purchase this bit of local history.
Brothers-in-law, Max Holthaus and Gregg Boyle, and Monte Shadwick acquired The Cozy in 1996, during
its 75th year of business. Holthaus has food service expertise as
general manager of the Salina Country Club and Boyle, a civil engineer, has
gained financial acumen through business ownership. Shadwick went on to other ventures in 2001.
Source www.cozyburger.com
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Grilling the hamburger and onions on the old grill. |
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Ready to eat sliders. |
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Buy em' by the sack! |
Phone: 620-585-2374