By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
For 40 years, Margaret Huntwork has done it her way. In 1984, she left a fast food franchise to start a restaurant of her own - a small hamburger and ice cream shack near 23rd and Washington in Great Bend. First, she had to have a name. Leann's Restaurant & Carryout was born. Still going strong after 40 years, Huntwork is now trying to sell the business.
"Everyone in the family was either a Lee or an Ann," she said. "When we first started, the state wouldn't give me a license. You need to have a name for your business before you can have a license. I just took our names."
The first iteration of the business had a limited menu, largely due to its size. Great Bend was booming in the late 80s and early 90s, and bigger spaces were limited. When the Sugar Shack went out of business on 10th Street, Huntwork jumped at the chance to move into a bigger facility. She moved Leann's to 2520 10th Street in 1991 and expanded her menu.
"We've done all right all these years because we're different," Huntwork said. "We're not fast food. It's just home-cooked food. Every week is different. I try not to serve the same special more than once a month, so it's a lot of different menu ideas. People like homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, and I think we're about the only ones in town that still do that."
That was a busy time for Huntwork and her daughters. From 1989-1997, Huntwork served breakfast out of Kitty's Diner on east 10th Street before finishing out the day at Leann's. For 15 years, she sold food at the Sale Barn in Great Bend.
Huntwork got her start in the kitchen at a young age. Before implements were popular, she was part of the farming community in Greenwood County south of Emporia. Farmers helped one another with the harvest. Men did the work and the women did the cooking. Even four decades later, when she purchased the shack on Washington Ave., things were done a little differently.
"The opportunities women have now are amazing compared to how it was back then," said Huntwork. "I could not even get a loan, a small loan. My husband had to sign for me."
Leann's has always been a small operation. Huntwork currently has four part-time employees and one full-time employee. That full-time employee has been along for most of the ride. Tammy Helfrich began working for Huntwork just before she turned 20. She's still there 39 years later.
The customers have also been loyal. Huntwork and Helfrich remember how customers kept the business alive during the COVID pandemic.
"They came through the drive-thru day after day," Helfrich said. "You could come in and get an order to go but you couldn't dine in. They were very good."
"We just had a nucleus," said Huntwork. "They carried us."
In return, Huntwork has provided for the community. For five years, she catered lunch for Eagle Radio's Kans for Kids Radiothon. Leann's catered to Great Bend Industries for half a decade. The restaurant has also catered countless weddings and other community events over the decades. One special group has been the Great Bend High School Class of '53, which has met three evenings each year since graduation. Leann's has handled the catering for the last 25 years.
Huntwork buys her meat from Ellinwood Packing and buys as much as she can locally. She's even offered a helping hand to the homeless who have passed by.
"They'll come in and drop down all their stuff," said Huntwork. "We usually give them something to eat and drink and send them on their way."
Huntwork does not own the building at 2520 10th Street, so only the business is for sale. Forty years later, she still prepares the daily lunch specials and desserts. She hopes whoever purchases Leann's will keep it the same.
"It's hard to leave, it really is," she said. "It isn't anything I would do; if I were able to stay, I would stay forever and ever. I don't know of anyone else, for a long time, that has served just a homecooked meal, plus a dessert, maybe with ice cream. We've met a lot of nice people and we have a lot of great memories."