Put some candles in a hot dog, Bob's Drive-In is 60

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) At Bob's Drive-In, the famous Bob's Dogs have been in demand for six decades. Here Nathan Kass, general manager, and Myles Kass, owner, serve up another loaded hotdog at the restaurant, which opened in 1949. [Click to enlarge]

This year, the family-owned nostalgic eatery marks its 60th anniversary.

In 1949, Robert C. "Bob" Kass opened the drive-in after finishing his military service.

(Photo contributed) A picture from Bob's Drive-In's early years shows just how tiny the restaurant was when it started. Customers were asked to "Blink your lights for service" and cones were called "frosties." [Click to enlarge]

The property along Highway 3 belonged to Bob's father, and Bob also was good friends with Joe McCormack, who distributed soft serve ice cream machines.

Bob opened the restaurant at a time when drive-ins were king, especially with the then two-lane U.S. Highway 75 running through Le Mars, according to Bob's son Myles Kass, who now owns the place.

The shop was a tiny 16-by-20 foot box -- built out of lumber from a garage that was torn down to clear a spot for the drive-in.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Bob's Drive-In is always prepared to serve up loads of Bob's Dogs. People stop by from all over the region, and beyond, to chomp into the famous loaded hotdogs. [Click to enlarge]

"Most the people that helped construct it are gone now," Myles said.

The famous Bob's Dog, a natural casing hot dog loaded with loose-meat hamburger, onions and more -- if customers want it -- started from the very beginning.

So did the restaurants tradition of taverns, or seasoned loose-meat sandwiches and soft serve ice cream cones, then called "frosties."

"We also had the rootbeer barrel. We brewed our own rootbeer right on site," Myles said.

Their home-brewed root beer is still served today.

But some things were different then. Car hops brought customers' orders right to their cars, and the season was shorter, running from May 1 to Nov. 1. Now Bob's is only closed for six or eight weeks, starting in December.

"And there was no inside seating, except for one stool in the back," Myles said, sitting at a booth in the large indoor dining area that exists now.

Times changed, he said, and so did attitudes about eating out.

"I think with the war, more women were going into the workforce, people were eating out more," Myles said.

He remembered the days kids who lived on farms only came to town for school and on Friday nights, to get groceries for their family. If there was some money left over, he said, they just might get to eat out.

"Now we take it for granted," said Myles' son Nathan, who is Bob's Drive-In's general manager.

He grew up practically in the drive-in's back yard.

"We ate at Bob's Drive-In whenever we wanted to," Nathan said.

He remembers one day his brother got his head stuck under a fence between their yard and the restaurant.

"He was digging under the fence, trying to get here," Nathan said with a laugh.

The restaurant was part of Myles life as a youngster, too.

Among the youngest of seven siblings, he looked forward to the day he got to work at Bob's, especially when he saw his brothers and sisters making money.

"When we started, we did clean up outside," he remembered. "Later we'd come inside to help."

Years later, Bob handed the place over to Myles.

Myles called it a baptism of fire.

"You can only train someone so much," he explained. "One day, a salesman walked in and asked my dad, 'What do you need this week?' My dad said, 'I don't know, ask him,' and looked at me."

Myles took full ownership in 1979. A few years later, he added a 12-by-12 foot area and started offering fried foods.

In 1989, the 40th year of business, a second addition was built, creating a dining room for the first time. In 2005, the dining room was expanded.

"The original building could fit in here at least three times," Nathan said, standing in Bob's dining area.

Owning a restaurant is a seven-day-a-week job, Myles said.

"It's like a baby that never grows up. You're constantly babysitting," he said.

Even during the weeks Bob's is closed in the winter, he or Nathan are at the restaurant almost every day fixing or cleaning something.

Myles and Nathan, as owner and general manager, respectively, pay close attention to details.

A hot dog bun may simply be the thing that's holding a Bob's Dog together, Myles said, but it has to be excellent quality.

And he's always got his eye on the customer. He wants them to be satisfied from the moment they walk up to the counter down to their last sip of rootbeer whip, a combination of rootbeer and ice cream.

Bob's Dog's are guaranteed. After the first bite, if you don't like it, Bob's will buy it back, said employee Michelle Mathers.

"I never did have to buy one back," seven-year employee Connie Gries added.

Bob's Drive-In is a service industry before it is a food business, according to Myles.

"I truly believe that's why we're still here," he said.

He credits the employees at Bob's for carrying out that tradition.

They say the work atmosphere is great.

"We know a lot about each other. You become like family here," said Mathers, who's worked there four years.

Humor is part of the way Bob's does business.

In late winter, it's tradition to see a painted white sign: "Bob's opens next Monday. Pray for spring."

Two employees, Sheila Williams and Patty Mansfield, created it years ago, Myles said.

And this year, during the construction that slowed traffic in Le Mars on Business Highway 75, a sign at Bob's Drive-In offered customers a deal.

"Congratulations. You've made it through all the cones," it says. "Enjoy a free ice cream cone with any special."

Part of the upbeat atmosphere is created by their bosses, said Tina Baack, another employee.

"I have so much love for this place," Myles said. "It's part of how I grew up."

It was around 2003 when Nathan returned to the family business.

That year, Myles and his wife Roberta Kass opened a second Bob's restaurant in Arnolds Park.

"Because Nathan became general manager I wanted to experience what my dad first did when he opened this place," Myles said.

Nathan said the scariest thing for him in taking the reins at Bob's Drive In was knowing the pride his dad had in the quality of the restaurant.

"There were a lot of expectations," he said.

"I set the bar high, even though I'm short," his dad added, laughing.

What's to come in the next decades for Bob's?

"I think we're as big as we're gonna get," Myles said. "I don't see any expansions at this location, and the only way we'd open another location is if a family member wanted to."

This year, being the 60th anniversary, marks four generations of Kasses being involved at Bob's Drive-In.

"This summer my 9-year-old son came to work every day," Nathan explained. "He was picking up trash, wiping down tables."

But it's also the fourth generation of customers coming to Bob's to eat, Myles pointed out.

In the kitchen, Gries agreed.

"People still remember when hot dogs were 10 cents," she said.

Even though a Bob's Dog is now $1.99, people keep coming back.

Dining at one table, Ken and Marge Hansen, of Le Mars, said they're at Bob's at least once or twice a week.

"It's good food, good service," Ken said. "We've had years of coming here. We've known Myles and the boys for a long time."

Waiting for his order of chili and a tavern, Dave Ruden, of Le Mars, said he's at Bob's several times a month.

"It's been here since I was a little kid," he said. "It's one of those things you just don't get anywhere else."

He commended both Bob's Drive-In and Archie's Waeside Restaurant, a steakhouse in Le Mars, for hitting the 60-year milestone.

"Both have made national news," he said. "We get recognized in Le Mars as not only the Ice Cream Capital of the World, but for our unique hometown restaurants, too."

That kind of legacy is what keeps Myles and Nathan going, they said.

"There's satisfaction," Myles said, "when people come home and they say, 'My first stop is Bob's Drive-In.'"