I thought it would be nice to have you meet some of our long-standing employees of the Bavarian Inn Corporation. We will start with those employees with 30 or more years of service. As the main author of this blog, being that I am under the age of 30, this is outstanding that we have employees that have been with us for more than 30 years. In today’s changing society, this becoming less and less heard of. These are the wonderful people that have kept the Bavarian Inn functioning with the same quality and German atmosphere since 1950. For a brief history of the Bavarian Inn, please read more here Bavarian Inn History.
Our next employee is Milly Kern from the Bavarian Inn Restaurant.Milly Kern is is one of our longest standing employees, she maybe retired, but still comes in to work a few hours every couple of days. She makes sure that large reservations have a place to sit when they arrive for Motorcoach Tours, Private Parties, Meetings and Holidays. She makes it all possible to plot out where every party will sit when we have several hundred people that come to eat with us on Holidays.
Milly Kern
All around Specialist at Bavarian Inn Restaurant
Retired (but still working) Group Plotter
48 years of experience
I started working as a waitress in the Spring of 1956, when it was still called Fischer’s Hotel. My training was to follow Marge LaMountain as she worked on a Banquet. I remember working on Mother’s Day of that Spring and of course somebody gave me Rau’s Corner (large corner area in the Crest room), Oh! Did my feet ache. I had 3 little kids then and they were only 2, 1, and about 6 months old. I worked mostly 4 o’clock shifts to close (around 11 pm).
After about 5 years, I also helped in the Hostess Department. I remember one time when I was working in the “Kaffee Haus”, (now the Bavarian Dining Room) I had the privilege of waiting on THE Don Ameche.
He was starring in the show at the Clio Amphitheater. I still have his autograph which he wrote on my Name Card.
I finally graduated to just Hostess work and helped out with some scheduling once in a while. I was helping out in the office when Eleanor Gugel started. (Refer to previous employee story to learn about Eleanor, now passed away).
I remember being a waitress for the first Bavarian Festival in Frankenmuth, it was a lot of work but we also had a lot of fun.
I left the Bavarian Inn Restaurant for 5 years from ’67 – ’72 when Nancy my daughter was born untill she went to school.
Marie Fechter (still works with Milly in planning and plotting of parties) wanted me to come back to work part time, like just every other weekend,—-Yeah! Right! That lasted only 2 weekends. I used to help Marie with all the Christmas tree decorating and all the centerpieces. This we usually did after work. I also did some full time Hostess work and started helping with all the paperwork.
I retired from full time about 7 years ago and just work in the Office as a Specialist which consists of plotting Private Parties and Bus Groups plus whatever is involved with this such as how many servers are needed and are they booked at the correct time.
When I was a waitress, there was this Judge from Bridgeport that came into the “Kaffee Haus” and always asked for me because he wanted his Steak Sandwich fried in a Frying Pan and then the juice pored over it . I guess I was the only one who could get the Chef to do this.
I served on the Safety Committee for 12 years and retired from that at the end of 2008.
I have worked for the Zehnder Family for 48 years and it has been hard work but also they have been Wonderful People to work for all those years.
Wow 48 years of service. Without Milly and her planning precision, we may not be as accurate in our parties as we are. She has helped make sure the Bavarian Inn Restaurant runs smoothly. Thank You Milly for all your wonderful years of experience with us.
