By SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
PLEASANTVIEW, Kan. — Dutch Kitchen Restaurant, a Reno County staple for more than five decades, will close at the end of the month.
Owners Deron and Krista Nisly announced Thursday that the restaurant’s final day of operation will be Saturday, May 30. The restaurant, located at 6803 W. Kansas Highway 61 just west of Hutchinson, has been open for 55 years.
Deron Nisly said the decision was difficult, but his health made it necessary.
“Three years ago, I was told I need knee replacements, but I don’t have time to take away from the restaurant to do that,” Nisly said. “My knees have just gotten increasingly worse. Just with the strain of the restaurant and everything, the amount of time that it takes, amount of time you’re on your feet, I’m in pain all the time because of my knee problems.”
Nisly said he and his wife have owned Dutch Kitchen for 12 years. The restaurant also has deep family roots for him. He said his first job in high school was working at Dutch Kitchen, and the restaurant has been connected to his family since it opened.
“It’s been in the family ever since it started, 55 years,” Nisly said.
Nisly said the restaurant has been for sale for about three years, but no buyer has taken over the business. He said he and Krista began discussing about six months ago that they may need to set a closing date if a sale did not happen.
The timing lines up near the couple’s 12th anniversary of owning the restaurant, which Nisly said is June 2.
“We figured the end of the month would probably be a good time to just go ahead and go with it,” he said.
Dutch Kitchen, an Amish-inspired restaurant known for home-cooked meals and homemade pies, has long served customers from the Hutchinson area and travelers along the highway. The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with 72 varieties of whole pies available by special order.
Nisly said customers have already started coming in to say goodbye.
“We’re just going to keep going on as business as usual,” Nisly said. “People are coming in and wanting to talk to me and say goodbye and thank me and all this stuff. Of course, I thank them, because without them, we couldn’t have done this.”
In the restaurant’s announcement, the owners thanked customers for 55 years of support and said they still hope someone will step forward to continue the business.
“For the last three years we have been looking for a buyer for the restaurant, but so far no one has taken the challenge,” the post said. “Still we do believe that there is someone out there that will have the vision to see this restaurant continue in this community.”
Nisly said Dutch Kitchen has drawn customers from across Kansas and from around the country.
“We get people from all over the country driving through on Highway 50,” Nisly said. “If they know that they’re coming, they’ll swing by the Dutch Kitchen to say hi.”
Nisly said the hardest part will be leaving behind the people who have supported the restaurant.
“The Dutch Kitchen couldn’t have made it 55 years without the continued support of the community,” Nisly said. “We appreciate everybody who’s made it successful all these years.”
He said the restaurant has had a lasting impact on his family.
“It’s definitely made an impact on my life, my kids’ lives, my whole family,” Nisly said. “This has been in the family for all these years. It’s just a pillar out here.”
Dutch Kitchen will remain open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday until its final day. The restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday.