Since 1958, Jesse’s Tortilla Factory, founded by Waco couple Jesse and Esther Contreras, has provided the Waco community with fresh tortillas and chips made in-house. Jesse’s sells at both wholesale and retail level and provides for many restaurants in the Waco area.

Jesse’s co-foundress Esther Contreras inherited both her business instinct and her tortilla making skills from her mother. As a young woman, Esther’s mother, Hermelinda Niño, and her sisters sold tortillas door to door. After Hermelinda’s marriage, she opened Niño’s Tortilla Factory on South Fifth Street with the help of her husband. In an era where many barriers kept Mexican American women from being business owners, Hermelinda’s perseverance served as an inspiration to the women of her community.

In 1950, Jesse Contreras retired from active duty in the army and got a job delivering tortillas for Niño’s. Esther and Jesse soon married, and the couple took over running Niño’s after Hermelinda retired. They moved to their current location and became Jesse’s Tortilla Factory in 1958.

The original Jesse’s was a corner store which sold deli meat, bread, soda, candy, and cigarettes. The factory aspect consisted of a small rolling machine which rolled one tortilla at a time. Much of the store’s initial customer traffic came from the nearby boys’ club where the Contreras’ grandsons spent much of their free time. The building was originally a duplex. One half held Jesse’s, and the other half was the home of the building’s owner. Eventually,the Contrerases purchased the whole building and expanded their facility.

Tragedy struck the Contreras family in 1989. One morning that January, a masked man entered the store demanding money. Jesse, refusing, did his utmost to protect the store, hurling a trashcan at the assailant. The robber fled empty-handed, but not before he had shot and wounded Contreras. Jesse Contreras died a month later from the wounds he sustained in the fight. The factory only closed for a day, so that the family could attend the funeral. Esther carried on the business as sole owner, with the help of her daughter Alice Rodriguez and grandson Santos Rodgriguez.

In its many years of operation, Jesse’s has seen considerable success. They have made several changes to both their retail and wholesale offerings over the years. Under Jesse Contreras, Jesse’s only sold one style of chip, but after Jesse’s death, they began selling two styles of chips—thick and thin—with the thinner style surpassing the thicker chips in popularity. In 2019, at the suggestion of Santos, Jesse’s started selling meals to go such as tacos, taquitos, tamales, and taco salads.

Alice officially took over ownership of the business after her mother’s death in 2020. A year later, Jesse’s suffered an electrical fire. While the damage slowed production, insurance covered most of the costs, and the repairs provided an opportunity for some much-needed renovations.

Jesse’s produces about 45,000 corn tortillas a day and uses 1,800 lbs. of corn a day. The entire tortilla-making process takes place inside the factory. A silo on-site holds corn which is cooked and then soaked in water and lime for five hours. After this, the corn is transferred to a stone grinder, which grinds the corn into a dough called masa. This dough is rolled out and cut into disks on the tortilla rolling machine, which then drops them onto a conveyor belt which takes them through the oven. About ninety percent of these finished tortillas are then cut into quarters and fried to make tortilla chips.

The factory has grown to employ a staff of about a dozen people. This family business invites their community to be a part of their family and so makes a lasting legacy of love and support for the Waco community.

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In the 1960s and 1970s, the taste of pizza and the sound of Dixieland jazz went hand in hand for Wacoans who frequented Shakey’s Pizza Parlor. Shakey’s, the nation’s first franchise pizza chain, would become famous for pioneering a winning combination of casual dining and live music in hundreds of restaurants nationwide. The Waco Shakey’s provided a relaxed atmosphere for food and fun at 1420 North Valley Mills Drive until its closure in 1978.

In 1954, friends Sherwood Johnson and Ed Plummer opened the first Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Sacramento, California. After having suffered a case of malaria during World War II, Johnson earned the nickname Shakey. When the time came to open their first restaurant, both owners decided to name the franchise after Johnson’s playful moniker. Both owners dreamed of creating a restaurant in which families could not only eat, but one that offered vibrant live music reminiscent of a bygone era. During a time in which live music and sit-down dining remained largely separate in public establishments, the culinary experience that Johnson and Plummer created stood out. Dixieland jazz bands and banjo players combined with costumed staff to create a lively atmosphere of 1890s frivolity. Johnson, a banjo player himself, encouraged subsequent parlor owners to offer live banjo-infused tunes as well. Indeed, for decades to come, old-timey piano melodies and banjo strums offered a lively backdrop for pizza outings.

The second Shakey’s opened in Portland in 1956, followed soon after by dozens of new outlets throughout the United States. By 1967, the chain boasted more than 272 locations. Shakey’s began an international expansion the following year. As the nation’s first franchise pizza chain—which would later be emulated by chains such as Pizza Hut—Shakey’s charted new territory in the American restaurant world. The restaurant offered pizza, beer, and live music—a formula that proved as successful as it was simple. Restaurants in decades past had catered to wealthy fine-dining elite and road travelers. But as automobiles became more ubiquitous and families moved out of cities and into suburbs, the 1950s saw the rise of franchise dining and, later, of family casual dining. Waco was no exception. When Shakey’s opened in Waco in 1966, the restaurant offered a whopping twenty-one varieties of pizza as well as several Bavarian beers. The Waco location also catered to its university population with a designated Collegiate Room, geared toward the town’s young adult crowd.

While Shakey’s remained a local favorite for the next decade, the chain began to suffer after both Johnson and Plummer sold their shares to the Colorado Mining and Elevator Company in the late 1960s. The closure of Waco’s Shakey’s in 1978 mirrored a national trend. By 2010, the restaurant claimed only fifty-eight restaurants in the United States.But while Shakey’s locations in the United States struggled under new ownership and the shifting tastes of the American public, the franchise found much success internationally. As of April 2019, the chain boasted five hundred stores globally, the majority outside of the U.S. To this day, Shakey’s remains a bright spot in the memories of many patrons, evoking memories of lively music and lighthearted dining.

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Over the past forty years, Kitok Restaurant has gone from a humble diner to a local institution, known for its blend of American and Korean fare. But when it first opened in 1975, owner Kitok Moore stuck to diner classics and hesitated calling her restaurant Kitok. During the first several months of business, she kept up the signage from the previous tenant, The Burger Factory. But as the restaurant gained a reputation for delicious food and friendly service, Moore gradually began introducing Korean dishes to the menu. Today, Kitok Restaurant is beloved for both its Korean and American dishes, including the customer-favorite combo—the Lip Locker with cheese and oriental fries—developed in the restaurant’s kitchen.

Robert and Kitok Moore met in South Korea, where Robert was stationed after the Korean War. They began dating in 1962, and three years later married at the military base in Pusan, South Korea. Soon after, they returned to America, where they settled in Waco in 1973. Robert retired from the military and began work as a data processing manager for First National Bank of Central Texas. Meanwhile, Kitok began work at the Marathon Battery factory.

Kitok became interested in opening a small hamburger restaurant, and an opportunity arose in 1975, when she saw a newspaper listing advertising that The Burger Factory was available for rent. She had saved several thousand dollars and invested it into leasing the property. For the first several months Kitok focused on cleaning and repairing the restaurant, which at the time included one small room with a bar and a kitchen one-third of its current size.

Word of mouth helped grow the business, and the restaurant soon had several regular customers—including reporters from the Waco Tribune-Herald, who wrote positive reviews about their dining experience. Soon Kitok Restaurant had regulars, and one day, one of them suggested that adding a more unique dish to the menu alongside the classic diner options might make the restaurant more competitive. That idea helped spur the creation of the beloved oriental fries—a take on vegetable tempura with shredded potatoes, carrots, onions, and parsley, deep-fried in a crispy batter.

Business continued to do well, and soon Kitok’s husband Robert quit his job to work at the restaurant full time. Robert managed the front of the restaurant, while Kitok and two other Korean American women worked in the kitchen. In 1978, the Moores changed the name of the restaurant to Kitok. Spurred on by their success, Korean-inspired dishes were gradually added to the menu. The first was a spicy potato and chicken soup in a clear broth, followed later by bulgogi—thin slices of chicken or beef marinated in soy sauce, green onions, sesame seeds, and other spices. Kitok’s bulgogi became a customer favorite, outselling the previously popular chicken-fried steak. By the time the restaurant changed ownership in 2001, fifteen Korean dishes had been added to the menu.

Throughout its history, Kitok Restaurant has been owned and operated by Korean American women. Min Ja Chung purchased the restaurant from Kitok and Robert Moore and ran it until 2007, when she sold the business to her sister, Kyung Brendemuehl. Chung and Brendemuehl both kept the dining atmosphere and menu consistent with what Moore had established. In January 2018, Brendemuehl sold Kitok to Kyong Dehnert, who had initially wanted to purchase the restaurant from Chung in 2007. Unable to acquire Kitok at the time, Dehnert purchased the Burger Boy in Gatesville in 2008. Following a similar model to Kitok Restaurant, Dehnert added Korean options to the Burger Boy’s menu—though she did not attempt to recreate iconic Kitok dishes, including the oriental fries.

What began as a small burger joint has evolved over time into a unique fusion restaurant, offering American, Korean, and mash-up dishes. This unique menu, shaped by customers through the years, has been Kitok Restaurant’s key selling point. Its food, coupled with its familiar, friendly atmosphere that has remained unchanged since opening, has kept customers coming back for more—and bringing their family and friends.

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Nestled behind several fast food chains at Fifteenth Street and Speight Avenue, Cupp’s Drive-Inn has been offering diner favorites to local residents and Baylor students and staff for seventy years and counting. The small diner offers a window into the past, as the layout of the restaurant—with just four booths and eight old-fashioned barstools facing the flat-top grill—has remained virtually unchanged since its founding. The awning on the side of the building once sheltered carhops who took customers’ orders as they passed through for a quick meal.

The location has a long history of being in the restaurant business. In the mid-1920s W. R. Bosley operated a restaurant there, followed briefly by the Tourist Sandwich Shop, which moved to 1426 Speight in 1930. For a time, the location was strictly a residence until 1940-41, when Robert P. and Clara Heaton opened Heaton’s Eatins, which served customers at that location until 1946. Price’s Hamburger Stand opened shortly after for a year before the location was purchased by longtime Waco resident Charlie Leroy Cupp and his wife, Bessie. It was briefly called Cupp’s Place before becoming Cupp’s Drive-Inn.

Before entering the burger business in 1947, Charlie Cupp had previously worked for Geyser Ice Company as a delivery truck operator, and in 1946, he briefly managed Coffee Cup, a restaurant at 1514 Speight Avenue. As business picked up at Cupp’s Drive-Inn, waitress Flo Owen came onto the staff, soon followed by Betty Johnson and Pat Walker.

In addition to indoor dining, Cupp’s Drive-Inn also offered car service to patrons. Elvis Presley, then a young soldier training at Fort Hood, often frequented Cupp’s Drive-Inn in the back seat of family friend Eddie Fadal’s Cadillac, ordering double cheeseburgers with bacon. Elvis regularly retreated on weekends and days off to Waco during the sixth months of his army training in 1959. Fadal, a former DJ who met Elvis on one of his earliest tours to Texas, built an addition onto his house to accommodate his friend whenever he visited Waco. Willie Nelson, from nearby Abbot, has also been known to eat at Cupp’s since it first opened its doors.

In the 1970s, the Cupp family passed on the business to longtime waitress Flo Owen, who would later go on to open another restaurant in Hewitt. In the late eighties, Owen approached Betty Johnson—who had worked for both the Cupp family and Owen—about taking over the restaurant. At first hesitant, Johnson agreed and together with her husband managed Cupp’s Drive-Inn from 1988 until retiring in 2010. The Johnsons children, Freddie Johnson Jr. and Sherry Caughenbaugh, then took over management and presently own the restaurant, serving breakfast and lunch.

In the late nineties, the carhop feature was phased out with changing times. Trays would no longer sit straight on windows with the style of modern cars, and the service was not used frequently regardless. Because of this, focus shifted to strictly inside. Today, along with indoor seating, a picnic area outdoors serves as additional space for patrons.

Cupp’s prides itself on its fresh ingredients, all sourced in Texas. They prepare their own meat for their well-known thin patties, using the same recipe from their 1947 founding. French fries and onion rings are still hand cut and fried to order. Their simple, no- frills menu options, classic diner atmosphere, and longstanding legacy in Waco have been keeping customers coming back—many since the fifties and sixties. Today, many of those customers now bring their children and grandchildren when they dine at Cupp’s Drive-Inn.

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For over 100 years, Vitek's Grocery and, now, BBQ restaurant, has remained a cherished business in the Waco area, providing residents with quality meats and a community gathering place.

The story of Vitek's BBQ began in 1915, when butcher William Martin Vitek, the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants, opened a grocery store and meat market in Granger, Texas. From the very outset, Vitek was always willing to accommodate special requests and deliveries, establishing a customer-first ethos that would define the Vitek family business for the next century. Shortly after opening the new business, William and his wife, Hattie, moved sixty miles north to Waco, eventually setting up shop at 1715 Speight Avenue. The fledgling venture changed locations several times during its first decade as it weathered both the Great Depression and the death of its original owner. Vitek's entered a new phase, however, when William Martin's son, William "Willie" Frank Vitek, took over following his father's passing.

As the small town of Waco grew and developed over the next several years, so did Vitek's Grocery. In addition to running the business, Willie also built Vitek's current location at 1600 Speight Avenue in 1958, the same year that construction of Interstate 35 began in Waco. While many businesses were unable to survive the disruption of highway construction, the creativity of Willie and his son, Billy Joe Vitek, helped the business to stay afloat. Willie began to cook barbecue on a portable pit, serving barbecue sandwiches and homemade sausage to customers. Vitek's takeout service was thus born, making the shop's premium barbecue more accessible than ever.

The building of I-35, however, was not the only challenge that Vitek's met. During this time, many smaller family stores were driven out of business by larger chains that could offer a greater variety of goods at lower prices. The number of small grocers and butcher shops dramatically decreased in the second half of the twentieth century as towns expanded into suburbs and cars became more ubiquitous. Luckily, the decline of small family grocers in the United States roughly paralleled the rise of quick-service restaurants—a shift that the Vitek family was poised to take advantage of. Billy Joe and his wife, Susan, took over the business in 1972, officially changing the name from Vitek's Grocery to Vitek's BBQ. While the original restaurant contained only one picnic table and operated off of a takeout-only business model, it rapidly evolved into the quick-service restaurant that remains a local staple today.

Vitek's identity as a Waco icon was cemented when, in the early 1980s, Billy Joe and a Baylor student employee concocted the now-famous Gut Pack, which later went on to be recognized in such publications as The American Way, The New York Times, and Texas Monthly. Thanks to the advent of the Gut Pack and the restaurant's status as a cherished Waco eatery, Vitek's was named one of the "Best College Eats" by the Cooking Channel and has received praise from the likes of ESPN and the Travel Channel.

In 2006, Billy Joe and Susan retired, leaving the restaurant to their daughter, Julie Vitek Keith, a fourth-generation owner of the establishment. In 2007, Julie and her husband, Jason, expanded the dining area and added an outdoor biergarten well-suited to live entertainment. While the Waco of today presents a marked contrast to that of the restaurant's early days, Vitek’s is proof that innovation, customer service, and delicious barbecue have indeed remained constant.

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At the corner of Clifton Street and Elm Avenue is Jasper’s Bar-B-Que, Waco’s oldest-operating barbecue restaurant. Although East Waco has undergone many changes, Jasper’s has never changed locations and remains a place where residents today can expect to be served the same fare that brought their hungry predecessors to the counter at its opening in 1919.

Jasper’s began as a humble pushcart fruit stand operated by Italian immigrant Jasper DiMaria. In its early days of operation, the cart’s customer base was largely comprised of passengers from the interurban railway. Waco was the last stop on the rail line to Dallas, and travelers would frequent DiMaria’s cart to purchase refreshments for the remaining long haul. Recognizing the profitability of offering more substantial foodstuffs from his cart, DiMaria started selling barbecue. He would go to a nearby meat-packer and purchase a quarter of a cow or a bull. Soon customers were lining up for dishes like chopped beef and gravy or neck bone.

As demand for his takeout barbecue increased, DiMaria abandoned the cart for a permanent structure. Requiring nothing fancy, DiMaria set up shop in a building with a dirt floor, a table he brought from home, and a few picnic benches. Customers were not put off by this humble establishment, and word of mouth spread about the menu at Jasper’s. Soon locals flocked to Jasper’s as well as travelers. Legend has it that when the restaurant’s lines would sometimes stretch down the street, DiMaria would walk to the place in line where he estimated the food would run out and pronounce it to be the end of line. Everyone past that point would have to try again the next day to get their barbecue order.

When his son Tony became old enough to join the family business, DiMaria renamed it Jasper DiMaria & Son Bar-B-Que. The restaurant remained family-owned until Tony’s retirement in 1990.

Although the DiMaria family is no longer involved in its daily operation, Jasper’s Bar-B-Que has remained true to the cooking practices and flavors of its namesake. The original boiling pit is still on premise, allowing the tradition of boiling the meat in a large vat of au jus to continue. Jasper’s most sought-after items continue to be neck bones and its signature gravy. The chopped beef is still served with slices of white bread on butcher paper, and the gravy is made according to the original recipe.

Jasper’s Bar-B-Que stands out for more than just its time-tested recipes. Its longevity has allowed the restaurant to also function as a community hub for East Wacoans. Tony Thompson, a server who has been employed by Jasper’s for more than two decades, notes that it is not unusual to see multiple generations of East Wacoans dining at Jasper’s. They come not only for the food but to discuss sports, politics, and life events. Thompson is proud of the fact Jasper’s is located in East Waco and considers it a privilege to serve the community he was raised in.

By preserving the recipes of Jasper DiMaria and serving as a community gathering place, Jasper’s Bar-B-Que remains true to its roots.

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In 1930, Harry Burmeister opened Harry B’s at 1925 Speight Avenue. Burmeister, a former Baylor student and founding member of the Noze Brothers society, developed the small restaurant, soon making it a local favorite. The original restaurant consisted of a small kitchen with only a bar area for seating.

The name of the restaurant changed to George’s Bar when George Betros bought it in 1966. During this time, Betros introduced southern favorites such as chicken-fried steak to the menu.

Betros sold George’s Bar to local restaurateurs Sammy Citrano, David Tinsley, and Glen Screws in 1993. At that time, Citrano and Tinsley owned and operated another local favorite restaurant, the Elite Café. However, Citrano desired to run his own business, and in 1995 sold his rights to the Elite to Tinsley and paid nearly $700,000 to buy out Tinsley and Screws.

After taking over control of George’s, Citrano redesigned the restaurant to appeal to local sports fans and families. It has become a popular gathering place for Wacoans, Baylor students and fans, and visitors passing through the city alike. In 1997, Waco native and songwriter Pat Green immortalized the restaurant’s history in his original song “George’s Bar.”

Citrano also expanded the restaurant’s catering business, which has since been recognized throughout the country by notable figures such as George W. Bush and Barbara Walters. In 2000, Citrano developed the building across the street from the restaurant into a banquet hall originally known as George’s Too.

George’s transformation from a small, local gathering place to a restaurant blending together a sports bar atmosphere with family dining has established its long-standing reputation within the community.

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In 1948, brothers-in-law Jack Schaevitz and Lou Stein opened a small mobile food cart at James Connally Air Force Base. The two became so successful selling burgers and frozen custard to military men that they opened a small restaurant on the Waco traffic circle the following summer. The two brothers fought fiercely over choosing a name for their new business but eventually settled upon “Health Camp,” the words stamped on the eggs that Jack's dad used to sell at his dairy in Youngstown, Ohio.

Initially, the restaurant on the circle consisted of just a small kitchen with a walk-up window from which customers could place their orders. Before business shifted further out into the suburbs, restaurants on the circle such as Health Camp were regular afternoon gathering places for Wacoans. Additionally, the restaurant’s location on the traffic circle ensured that it became a stopping point for travelers between Dallas and Austin.

Schaevitz took pride in associating his business with the local community. He attended the Baylor Homecoming Parade each year until his retirement in 1989, and subsequently lined the walls of his restaurant with pictures he took at the celebration. Although the construction of IH-35 in the early 1960s decreased the number of travellers passing through the Waco traffic circle and eating at the restaurant, Schaevitz found that business continued to thrive due to the patronage of Baylor students.

After working seven days a week for forty years, Jack Schaevitz retired at the age of 78 in 1989. He sold Health Camp to well-known restaurateur David Tinsley and his manager, Sammy Citrano. Tinsley also purchased the neighboring Elite Café (now Magnolia Table). 

Little has changed at Health Camp since its opening in the years following World War II. The restaurant continues to serve burgers, custard, and homemade onion rings on the restaurant’s original stainless steel countertops, and many still order their burgers at the walk-up window. A jukebox stands in the corner of the dining room, and photographs and newspapers displaying local history line the walls. Today, customers continue to dine at Health Camp in order to revisit old memories, enjoy the local community, and participate in a small part of Waco’s history.

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Faced with decreased business and enormous renovation costs, the brothers decided to sell the restaurant in 1986. David Tinsley, a well-known Texan restaurateur, purchased the Elite Café for approximately $1.3 million and refurbished the restaurant with help from his managing partner, Sammy Citrano. Though the pair recognized the risk in attempting to revive the Elite, they decided to purchase the café and the neighboring burger joint, Health Camp, out of a sentimental attachment to the history of Waco. In 1987, the restaurant reopened with a 1950s theme, including a 1956 baby-blue Chevorlet sitting in front of the restaurant.

In 1993, Citrano left the Elite in order to run his own restaurant, becoming the head of George’s, another Waco favorite. Before leaving the Elite, Citrano recommended that Tinsley trace the history of the café through its photographs and records. In 1996, a historical marker commemorating the restaurant’s contribution to the city was placed at its location on the circle. However, business declined following Citrano’s departure, and in 1999 Tinsley sold the rights to the Elite Café to the Ford Restaurant Group. The Elite Café closed for renovations yet again.

For the next several years, the Elite Café stood empty. In 2003, the Ford Group completed renovations restoring the restaurant to its original feel. The renovations preserved the Spanish-style exterior and honored the café’s history by lining the walls with photographs from its past. The restaurant reopened with a new name: the Elite Circle Grille. For a time, the new owners experimented with a more upscale menu but soon returned to the restaurant’s staples of chicken-fried steak, burgers, and sandwiches.

Elite Circle Grille closed its doors in February 2016, but was purchased several months later by Fixer Upper’s Chip and Joanna Gaines. The couple auctioned off the contents of the restaurant to benefit Mission Waco’s Jubilee Food Market, then began renovations. Because the building was recognized as a historical landmark twenty years ago, efforts have been made to ensure that original character of the building remains intact. The re-envisioned restaurant, named Magnolia Table, opened for business in February 2018. It offers an assortment of breakfast and brunch items on its menu, including its popular buttermilk biscuits—made from a recipie that took Joanna Gaines over a year to develop.

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During World War II, Waco provided a place of refuge and hope of starting anew for many seeking refuge from persecution, such as Otto and Hilde Levy. As tensions escalated throughout Germany as a result of Nazi discrimination, Otto Levy and Hilde Rosenfeld were married in May of 1937 in Mannheim. Their wedding was held in a large dance hall, though few of their friends and family attended out of fear of attracting unwanted attention from the Nazis. In the months following their marriage, the Levys watched as “Jews Not Wanted” signs appeared in storefronts and as friends and neighbors began to disappear. The Levys decided to flee their home in Germany at the end of 1937 to seek refuge in the United States.

Strict immigration laws passed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration made it difficult for European Jews to secure visas for passage to the United States during the 1930s. The Levys attempted several times to obtain a visa from relatives and friends who had already fled Europe but were initially unsuccessful. Just as they began to despair, the Levys’ friend Gretel Weiser offered to contact her great-uncle Fred Mailander in America on their behalf. He agreed to help the Levys and wrote a letter to the American consul in Germany in order to obtain visas for the couple.

The Levys were excited about the prospect of moving to an urban city such as Waco with a university and a population of 55,000. They hoped to begin a glove-making business similar to the one Otto worked in while in Germany. In addition to securing their visas, Mr. Mailander provided the Levys with a house and covered the cost of moving their furniture. Yet the Levys encountered more obstacles as they began their journey to the United States in 1937. The American consul initially denied Hilde’s passage on the basis of health issues but in the end made an exception for the young couple. The Nazi Party prevented the Levys from withdrawing money from their bank accounts, leaving them with eighteen dollars each for the entire trip. The Levys arrived in New York unable to pay their train fare to Waco. After receiving aid from the United Jewish Appeal Help Committee, the Levys finally reached Waco in August of 1938.

The Levys received a warm welcome in Waco from Mr. Mailander and several other Jewish members of the community, but they encountered difficulties in the beginning of their new lives. Hitler called back many of the boats from Germany, including the one with the Levy’s furniture. Their furniture and belongings did not arrive in Waco until October. On top of this, Hilde and Otto spoke only German, making communication difficult. Unable to start a glove business in Waco, Otto began working at Rainbo Bread, and Hilde worked at a women’s department store in order to make enough money to get by.

A few years later, several prominent Jewish women approached Hilde and encouraged her to take over a store on South Eleventh Street in the Bell’s Hill neighborhood and run a small grocery. In 1941, Hilde borrowed $54.50 from Cooper’s Wholesale Grocery and began selling everyday items such as coffee, canned goods, and kosher meats. At the recommendation of two of the first customers, the Levys named the store O&H Foods. The Levys began introducing foods and products that could not be found anywhere else in Waco after traveling to a fancy food convention in Chicago in 1946. Specialty items such as cheeses from Finland, chocolates from Holland, and imported beers from around the world became the staple of O&H Foods. After a devastating tornado tore through Waco in 1953, damaging the storefront beyond repair, the Levys reopened on North Twenty-Fifth Street, changing the name to O&H Rare Foods. 

Otto and Hilde believed that a strong work ethic and good personal relationships with their customers would set them apart from other businesses in Waco. In the early years, the store was open seven days a week, often from seven in the morning until eleven at night. Otto and Hilde knew all of their customers by name and remembered their exact sandwich orders. They treated their employees as family members, and their decision to retire in 1990 was very difficult. Although they could no longer run the store because of Otto’s health, the Levys were comforted knowing that the store was in the hands of long-time employee John Peters.

O&H Rare Foods officially closed on July 31, 1998, after nearly half a century of providing Texans with specialty grocery items. By the end of World War II, nearly 40 percent of O&H’s customers were located outside of Waco in areas such as Austin, El Paso, and Odessa. O&H Rare Foods offered glimpses of culture outside the United States for citizens who never left their small towns, while the Levys’ tireless dedication to customer service and innovation in the food industry made O&H Rare Foods a center of community for Wacoans.

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