{"id":1887,"date":"2015-07-05T16:16:59","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T21:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keenerpodcast.com\/?p=1887"},"modified":"2015-07-05T16:20:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-05T21:20:14","slug":"bill-knapps-good-things-to-eat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/?p=1887","title":{"rendered":"Bill Knapp’s – Good Things to Eat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bill<\/a>If you traveled the state during the Keener generation, it’s a good bet you ate a meal at Bill Knapp’s. The fare included steak, fish and fried chicken, au gratin potatoes, ham croquettes, cole slaw, a childrens’ menu where you could order a Giraffe, Bear, Seal, Elephant, Zebra or Lion, and those glorious, golden Bill Knapp’s biscuits. Remember meals\u00a0in a basket, “Glorified Steakburgers” that weighed in at a third of a pound and cost $1.95, and that amazing bean soup, available seven days a week for just 45 cents a bowl? We can still see the catchup bottles lined up in the kitchen, top to top, ensuring that every one was completely full when it was put on the table.<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/a>And birthdays were a Bill Knapp specialty. The percentage you saved on your meal was equal to your age, complete with a crooned “Happy Birthday” sung by Bing Crosby<\/a> over the PA system, and chocolate cake that is still available today<\/a>, 14 years after the last restaurant closed its doors.<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/a>
The secret of Bill Knapp’s success was a menu that never changed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill Knapp’s fans exchange recipes on Pinterest<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0share memories on a Facebook Page<\/a>.\u00a0Surviving restaurant chains like Denny’s and IHOP owe a bit of their success to the consistency of service and menu that was a Bill Knapp’s hallmark.<\/p>\n

It the height of its popularity, Bill Knapp’s operated 69 restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Florida. Fear of a declining, aging customer base motivated senior management to modify the simple business plan that had been so successful for 44 years, leading to the closure of the last locations in 2002.<\/p>\n

But for those of us who came of age in the Keener era, a trip to Bill Knapp’s is a family tradition we’ll never forget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you traveled the state during the Keener generation, it’s a good bet you ate a meal at Bill Knapp’s. The fare included steak, fish and fried chicken, au gratin potatoes, ham croquettes, cole slaw, a childrens’ menu where you could order a Giraffe, Bear, Seal, Elephant, Zebra or Lion, and those glorious, golden Bill Knapp’s biscuits. Remember meals\u00a0in a basket, “Glorified Steakburgers” that weighed in at a third of a pound and cost $1.95, and that amazing bean soup, available seven days a week for just 45 cents a bowl? We can still see the catchup bottles lined up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-keener","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1887"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1898,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887\/revisions\/1898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}