Rolling T’s Custom Kitchen
GRESHAM, Neb. – He had his grandmother’s ring, and he was heading to a movie with the girl he loved.??
“I didn’t have a dime to scrub together,” John Tonniges said.?“But my mom Susan said, ‘I have this wedding ring that was your Grandma Kaiser’s.?I would like you to have it.’”?
After a proposal at the movie theater, Angela never actually said “yes,” because there were too many tears of joy.?They had been together since high school, and both attended Central Community College.?The couple was married on August 18, 2010.
“August 18 is my dad, Rod’s, birthday,” John said about his father who served as a coop manager in Waco, Neb. and died suddenly, a shock to the family and his community.?“We chose the date to honor dad.”?
The rest is history.
“We like history,” Angela said, sitting next to her husband behind the counter at Rolling T’s Custom Kitchen – a butcher shop and store that is a dream in the making on main street Gresham, Neb.?
The place is brimming with history.?Woven into the genetics on the Tonniges side are butchers, slaughterhouse workers, and more.?John said, “It is my understanding the Tonniges name in Germany is like the ‘Jimmy Dean’ name here.?They are a big meat company.?The interest in the butchering business for our family traveled all the way to my Grandpa Ron Tonniges who worked in a slaughterhouse a long time.?It’s just something we’ve been a part of.”
Then there’s the Fehlhafer side. This is where John’s eyes really light up, “My dad’s mom was a Fehlhafer.?We learned a lot from Grandpa Fehlhafer about recipes, like his summer sausage. I love a a strong pepper flavor and I put cracked pepper in one of our favorite recipes instead of ground pepper.?It just gives it a little more pizazz.?My Uncle Todd thought it needed some garlic too.?I was against it, but he was right.”?
“The garlic one – that’s the one I like,” Angela noted.?
Angela is the daughter of Greg and Kathy Naber of Naber’s Produce.?To this day, you can find her working alongside her parents growing and harvesting produce.?This means the couple have extra vegetables to sell and also helped fuel the idea they have been working on for some time – a butcher shop of their own.?Hence, Rolling T’s and an evolving dream to build small town U.S.A.
“How it kind of started is we were spit-balling the idea around,” John said.?“Angela had extra produce that she could not sell.”
“Some of it was just bruised or misshapen a bit,” Angela explained. “But it was still good, and we didn’t want it to go to waste.”?
“I had always loved butchering,” her husband went on.?“And we thought, well, we could start a butcher shop too.?So, we started dreaming.”
Then they talked to Dan Otto, who owned a building in Gresham, the village not far from the country where the couple resides with their two boys – Tucker and Brody. Then a series of months passed, and the Tonniges family wasn’t sure if they were going to get a chance at the property or not.?
“We just went along, doing our thing,” John said.?To this day, they both work full time jobs, John as a seed tech for a large agricultural company and Angela for her parents.?But while continuing to work and raise kids, they didn’t give up on their dream.
“One day, Dan came up and said, ‘Well, I am ready to sell,’” John recalled.
Then the real work began.?
“We talked numbers and the building was rough, but we picked it up cheap and for the first four months all I was doing after I bought it was cleaning it up,” he said.
Buildings accumulate a lot of life after years of different stories inside.?This was the case for the structure they were revamping, they said.?From bar to butcher shop has been a labor of love and one of a few doubts too.
“The whole process, I was second guessing myself,” John admitted. “Angela thought maybe we should have torn it down and started over.”
But the decision had been made, so they kept at it.?
“It took a year,” Angela said, smiling that it happened and is now complete.?
“I did not see the kids as much as I wanted to during that time,” John said.?“I didn’t want them around all the black mold.?It was rough that first year.”
Refurbishing a building is one thing, getting the proper licensing is another. ?After a lot of paperwork, headaches, and a steep learning curve, they are still moving forward, John reported, “We are grocery store licensed.?We can do anything a grocery store can do.”
Now they are trying to catch their breath and garner more business.?They are also ever-learning.?John admitted working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the regulatory process has been incredibly difficult, “I did not want to ask for help.?I was nervous about asking.?But I admire Al Kimminau at Cordova Locker so much and one day I just called him.”
“Al said, ‘Yep, but I am busy so ask all your questions right now.’ I had my list of questions right there and I read it.?He said, ‘Okay, I don’t have time to answer right now.?You come up at 2 p.m. and I will answer those,’” John said. ?
“I was scared to ask a competitor, but Al assured me he is busier than he knows what to do with.?Every time I went there Al said, ‘Let’s talk about it.’?He did not pull any punches.?He showed me everything he is doing and his whole operation.?I even picked a day and he let me work right alongside him,” he added with appreciation.?
John and Angela are willing to work hard to work through the many peaks and valleys of running a new business.?While they have some beef, John would like to focus primarily on butchering and processing hogs and Angela is passionate about getting those vegetables moving out the door.?
“I have been telling people if they want us at the store later, just call ahead.?If people need a pound of hamburger or sausage and we aren’t open, I tell them give me a half hour or 10 minutes and I will be there,” John said.
Angela is also an extremely talented welder.?She can apply those skills to both the farm and her artwork, everything from boot racks to lawn ornaments.
“We’re in a nice spot because Columbus is not too far away as well as York, Utica, Osceola, Stromsburg, Benedict, Surprise, Staplehurst, Shelby, even Lincoln,” Angela said about the market potential.??
What compels them most is making the business succeed so they can work together as a family.?John said, “At my other job, we just don’t get that family time.?With this, my boys can be here with me, watch me, and ask questions.”
“I think helping to bring good food at a fair price to people is reward enough for us,” Angela said.?“It’s also fun to see people from the community come in and being able to talk a little bit.”?
Head to Gresham, Neb. to see the Tonniges family.?If you have hogs you would like butchered, John is very interested.???
Rolling T’s Custom Kitchen is open:
Contact information: ??
402-735-7486 | Email: [email protected]
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