‘Stay home.’ Small-town Kansas diner tells tourists ‘please stop coming here ... for now’

As restaurants across the Kansas City metro ramp up carryout, delivery and specials to survive the stay-at-home order, one small-town Kansas restaurant doesn’t want your business — at least not right now.

Family-owned Keller Feed & Wine Co. in downtown Cottonwood Falls — in the shadow of the Chase County Courthouse, just west of Emporia, Kansas, and about 130 miles from KC — makes the majority of its revenue from tourists. But during the shelter in place, the 50-seat diner wants its out-of-town customers to do just that: “Here is the best way you can help my family owned small town Kansas diner. PLEASE STOP COMING HERE ... for now, “ the owners posted on their Facebook page.

“When you come to our area from another area, especially a highly infected one on a stay at home order, you put my employees, my customers, my family, and my whole area at risk. You are quite possibly interfering with my ability to help my community, needless to say putting yourself at great risk. ... Again I ask, no I beg of you, for our sakes, as well as yours, PLEASE STAY HOME!”

The post generated such comments as: “This is quite possibly the most noble post I’ve ever seen. God bless you for taking care of Chase County. There are a lot of people that I love there and I’d be heartbroken to lose a single one. Some people just don’t get it. And that’s the scary part.”

And another, “I never dreamed people would go road tripping during a shelter in place order.”

Keller’s owner Bryan Williams lived in the Kansas City area for 25 years and his parents still reside in Overland Park. His wife Janice’s family has lived in the Cottonwood Falls area for generations.

“I love Kansas City very much and I don’t want to shame anyone,” he said. “They didn’t come down here to do us harm. Just give us some breathing room. But it’s hard.”

The closest hospital and grocery store are 30 minutes away in Emporia — that’s not counting if a train or two comes along. The town doesn’t have high-speed Internet and it has spotty cell phone service. But everyone makes do, Williams said.

When the coronavirus concerns started hitting the U.S, the diner took down its salad bar and hot food buffet. Then it closed its dining room for carryout service only, even giving out Redbox movie codes to encourage customers to stay home.

Two weeks ago it started making meals for area children who weren’t getting their daily school lunch. The dining room is now a grocery store selling Keller’s house-made bread and other basics. Williams’ 8-year-old, Hallie, disinfected the family’s DVDs and brought them to the store for customers to check out. The diner also has been letting some families run a tab.

A week ago, it started posting messages on social media and placed a sign on the diner’s front door saying it was only open to Chase County residents.

But this week, multiple groups of vacationers came in to “get away from all the shutdown madness.” Some were from the Kansas City area and wanted to stay and eat.

Williams said resources are limited and he wants to take care of his community and employees — “hard-working high school girls, and one culinary award-winning, way too smart for his own good, crazy cat-collecting college student.”

“I don’t want anyone to look at me and think I am putting people at risk,” he said. “People want to help us out but it is not the right time yet. Come back this summer. Love to see you.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 2:12 PM.