ANDERSON — Mark your planners: March is Gene’s Root Beer month. At least as far as Aunt Millie’s Bakeries is concerned.
The regional bakery, which donated 2,400 loaves of bread to Second Harvest Food Bank in Muncie this Thanksgiving, issues a themed calendar each year, and the last two have featured photos taken of its customers.
This year’s calendar, “We Bake Landmarks,” will feature the legendary Scatterfield Road eatery for March.
This is appropriate, since Gene’s will reopen for the season on March 1, 2010, according to Andy Moorman, second-generation owner.
“I love it,” Moorman said of the calendar. “I thought it was a beautiful calendar, first of all. And I loved the old-fashioned look of it.”
Other Hoosier diners featured are Hall’s Drive-In Restaurant of Fort Wayne, Charger House Restaurant in Ligonier and The Workingman’s Friend in Indianapolis. (Frittata’s in Kokomo and The Coney Island Wiener Stand in Fort Wayne were featured in the 2009 calendar.)
The images of Gene’s for March, which were shot in July, feature two employees: Ben Wyatt, a computer science major at Ball State University and Moorman’s stepson, and Megan McNally, a BSU teaching major.
The calendar covers Aunt Millie’s entire service area: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and part of Kentucky, according to Melissa Dunning, marketing director.
“Our creative team actually brainstormed (the concept) for us, and we thought it was a terrific idea,” Dunning said. “We asked (our sales branches) to nominate restaurant customers that were long-running, family-owned or unique.”
All three are true for Gene’s, which Moorman’s father, Gene, bought in 1964. It was then known as Olsen’s.
And with Indiana’s weather, the stand stood to lose months of business each year.
“In the winter time, Dad didn’t have anything to do, so he started commuting up to Michigan and hauling Christmas trees back down here to sell,” Moorman said.
One year, Gene Moorman bought a 27-acre orchard in Mears, Mich., and replanted it with his own holiday pines. That tradition continues to this day.
Along with Christmas trees, Andy Moorman has some copies of the calendar on hand, free to his loyal customers. (Dunning said limited supplies of the calendar are available by calling Melissa Zimmerman at 1-800-995-8245, ext. 222.)
And in March, Gene’s will return, with its secret-recipe root beer and the Spanish hot dog sauce, a mix for which he sells at Harvest Markets and ships across the country.
“Even though Anderson’s (economy is) downturned, we have managed to become a real nostalgic place over the years,” Moorman said. “And the coney, it’s become more popular as the years have gone along. And that has saved me in a down economy.”
Contact Rodney Richey, 640-4861, rodney.richey@heraldbulletin.com.
Gene’s returning to little brown jug
Andy Moorman said recently that Gene’s Root Beer on Scatterfield Road will go back to the future with the return of the glass jug of fresh root beer.
“I tested a glass jug this past year with a new type of metal screw-on caps, just like they used to have back in the old days,” said Moorman, owner of the stand. “And I’m not lying to you: I dumped that gallon out two months later, and it still had fizz in it. I was amazed.”
Moorman said the initial cost would not be small, but customers would be able to bring back the cleaned jug and get it refilled at a reduced price.
“Everybody’s wanting to go green anymore,” Moorman said. “I think that’s going to be a huge seller.”
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Discussion
Gene’s Root Beer featured in regional calendar
Aunt Millie's Bakeries rolls out 'We Bake Landmarks'
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