After smashing hamburgers at the venerable Carl’s Drive-In for nearly 30 years, Frank Cunetto is hanging up his steel spatula. The new owner of the business is longtime customer Mike Franklin, owner of a local leasing company and two manufacturing companies. (Franklin has no relation to Franklin Fixtures, Inc., a restaurant-equipment business in Edwardsville, Illinois.)
Discussions began a year and a half ago, when Franklin asked Cunetto whether "he had an exit strategy when the time came." While he’d been approached many times to sell the business, Cunetto said, “Mike was the only one serious enough to write a check.” Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Franklin is a relative newcomer to the business, but the 64-year-old plans to be active at Carl's, as he is with all of his other businesses. When he was in high school, Franklin worked at a drive-in near Belleville, Illinois, and in his 20s, he bought and sold several bars in the Kansas City area.
The question on everyone’s mind—"Is Carl’s going to change?"—produced the answer that everyone hoped. “There’s continuity and a flawless reputation, a culture and quality that Frank has nurtured over the years," Franklin said. "I’m not going to change a thing.” Then,he smiled while gesturing to Cunetto and added, “Believe me: This guy has it nailed down.”
The menu mix will remain exactly the same: griddle-smashed burgers, Curly Q hot dogs, fries served in checkered French fry boats, ketchup in frill cups, tamales topped with Edmund’s chili, and house-made root beer served in heavy, frozen mugs. Portion sizes, prices, and burger weights all will remain the same. Even the old-time, slotted menu board will remain unchanged.
"Anyone who’s concerned about any differences shouldn’t be," Cunetto said. "The sale was finalized March 23... It’s business as usual.”
The existing employees will remain in place. Kelly and Pam, sisters who have been with the restaurant for 17 and 16 years, respectively, are both Steak ‘n Shake grads, notes Cunetto. Their niece, Lisa, has logged 15 years behind Carl’s twin counters, each with only eight swivel stools. "That kind of longevity may not be unusual in fine dining," Cunetto said, "but it is in this type of business." Franklin nodded and said it was part of the culture.
Taking Cunetto’s managerial position will be Jason Apple, a 24-year-old transplant from North Carolina and a college friend of Franklin’s daughter. Cunetto has been working with Apple on and off for the past eight months. “I had researched it and heard about it,” Apple said of Carl’s, “but it wasn’t until I actually sat on a stool that I knew I wanted in.”
Since he graduated from Elon University, his longtime desire to own a restaurant intensified, he said. So when the opportunity to become involved with an icon came about, he didn’t hesitate.
The 62-year-old Cunetto (right) tells SLM that few people understand the physical demands of the job. “Besides smashing hundreds of burgers eight hours a day, five days a week, we’re making root beer all the time, too,” he said. “And I swear those 50-pound bags of sugar are getting heavier.” In that vein, Franklin said that the day-to-day duties will be spread more equally among employees.
From 1951 to 1959, the restaurant at 9033 Manchester was known as Breeden’s Good Food Drive-In, after its owner, Walter Breeden. Carl Meyer bought the business in 1959 and renamed it Carl’s Drive-In. Cunetto bought the business from Meyer in 1986. Cunetto said the building "will be 100 years old in 2018 and has been a restaurant since the '30s, when it sold only hot dogs… Hamburgers didn’t become a thing until the '50s.”
When pressed for possible tweaks to the formula, Cunetto and Franklin did not dismiss the possibility of expanded hours. Carl’s currently closes at 8 p.m., and it's closed on Sundays and Mondays. “That could be evaluated down the road,” Franklin said. “Obviously, being open more days would create more revenue, but having the right people in place—especially in this case—is critical.”
When asked how many hamburgers Carl's sells in a year, Cunetto said he used to know, but "it makes my wrist tired just thinking about it."
Cunetto says he's staying on to continue to smooth the transition. Franklin added there’s been discussion of even "doing another one somewhere…if it can be just what Carl’s is”—to which Cunetto added, “We don’t want to be selling $7 burgers.”
He mused that Columbia, Missouri, might be an ideal location.
Booche’s and Carl’s in the same zip code? That’s what burger dreams are made of.
Original watercolor by Marilynne Bradley.
