Lanesboro's Stockyard Cafe is a busy place on sale days
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 04/01/2010 9:14 AM
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Stockyard Cafe
Address: Located inside Lanesboro Sales Commission at 402 East Coffee St., Lanesboro, Minn.
Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays, 6:30 a.m. to the end of sales, which usually finish between 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. They cafe is also open on special sale days throughout the year.
Biggest sellers include the hot beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy for $5.50.
Call them at: (507) 467-2192
LANESBORO, Minn. — Whenever Lanesboro Sales Commission is selling livestock, the Stockyard Cafe is open to feed hungry buyers, sellers and anyone else in town.
Breakfast starts early in the morning. Homemade biscuits and sausage gravy for $4 is a popular choice. Early birds may also get pancakes with or without meat, French toast, omelettes or the farmer's special— two eggs, meat and hash browns.
"A lot of local people come down for breakfast," said Cheryl Flaa, the cafe's manager.
Customers also include tourists checking out the sales barn, the 35 people who work there or truck drivers dropping or taking loads.
"They like it because it's homemade and affordable," she said.
Slaughter cattle sales on Wednesdays start at 8:30 a.m. Auctions on Fridays begin at 10:30 a.m. and can include all classes of livestock.
The cafe's menu switches to dinner at 10:30 a.m. The rib steak sandwich for $4.50, hamburger and fries or the hot beef commercial are often requested. Also available are hot dogs, bratwursts, corn dogs, chicken strips and cheeseburgers. Sandwiches include ham and cheese, grilled cheese, fish or chicken. Side dish options are onion rings, regular fries or curly fries. The menu also has daily specials, soup and beverages.
A seating area has six tables. The walls are wood paneled, decorated with a Terry Redlin print and a display of the commission's Top Producer Awards of the week. More seating is available upstairs or people may take their food into the sale area.
Flaa estimates they serve approximately 150 meals on a typical day, but special sales throughout the year may attract larger crowds. Some 400 people were served in January when they hosted the Greater Midwest Livestock Auctioneer Championship. A customer appreciation sale, typically held in September, includes free food. So many people come that they set up picnic tables outside. The annual horse sale is coming up April 3.
Joe Nelson, owner of Lanesboro Sales Commission, built the cafe in 2000 with an expansion that included more office space.
"It's a really nice feature," he said. "People can come here, sit down and visit."
People used to buy food from a small stand inside the sale area. It was established in 1947 and was run by Junie Bouthum, the wife of Virgil Bouthum, a former partner in the sales barn.
Carol Tufte, the cafe's baker, remembers helping Junie in the stand. She recalls they had a griddle so customers could have an egg sandwich, maybe with a slice of ham. They cooked mostly at home, making roast beef and soups that they froze and brought in. Tufte joined the sales barn in 1989. Under today's more stringent food codes, she makes homemade cookies and bars as well as soups. The cafe also sells turnovers and doughnuts.
"I've seen a lot of young kids grow up," Tufte said. Some of those kids got into the livestock business themselves.
David Stockton, the grill cook, first worked at the sales barn penning cattle as a high school junior. The switch to his kitchen job suits him, he said, because it's warmer in winter.
"We have a lot of regulars," he said, and he knows what each of them will have. "They have the same breakfast every morning, every one of them."
—Heather Thorstensen