Gift of the Volga Germans

Have you every wondered where those favorite meat pockets came from? If you ever moved from the area it’s one entree that is not found anywhere else. Here’s the story of a favorite Nebraska chain.

After Catherine the Great invited German citizens, many of which were farmers to Russia around 1760, most settled in the Volga River valley. They thrived in the remote area which was 1,100 miles southeast of Moscow. The Volga Germans as they became known developed a dough pastry pocket with savory ingredients that was similar to pierogis which were common in Russia.

Designed so that they could be taken into the fields while working, the Russian version consisted mostly of potatoes and onions. Germans mostly made their version of the sandwich which was called bierocks with meat and cabbage. Bierocks would make their way to America as a result of Russian nationalism in the 19th century. This resulted in many of the Germans relocating once again. Many settled in central Nebraska which had a similar climate and landscape as in the Volga River valley.

Alexander Brening and his wife Katharina Lehr were among the German-Russians to immigrate to Nebraska. Alexander arrived in 1907 and Katharina in 1910. The two married that same year and settled near Sutton. Katharina brought with her the family’s bierock recipe which she taught her daughter Sally who became quite adept at making them. She eventually adapted the recipe to what would become the Runza. It was filled with ground beef, a mixture of cabbage and onions, seasoning and then wrapped in dough and baked.

After her brother Alex returned from WWII, she looked for a business that she and her siblings could do together. That led them to opening a food stand that served the bierocks which she named the Runza which was likely derived from other names for the bierock such as krautrunz or runsa. She changed the name just enough so that it could be trademarked.

They purchased an old hot dog stand and moved it to a corn field along the road to Pioneers Park. The restaurant which opened in 1949 was called Runza Drive Inn. Business started slowly for the siblings as the Salt Creek flooded on its opening day. While they recovered, its namesake sandwich was slow to catch on, taking nearly five years to outsell hamburgers and hot dogs on the menu. By 1955 they would replace the old building with a new one.

Sally’s son, Donald Everett, took over the family business in 1964 at which point things really began to take off. He not only opened the restaurant’s second location at 56th and Holdredge in 1966 but he would eventually expand the restaurant way beyond the Lincoln city limits. As Runza’s gained in popularity, other restaurants began using the name to sell their own version of the sandwich. That likely led Donald to purchase the trade name and to incorporate the restaurant in 1966. On a side note, Sally owned the Runza Drive In while Donald owned the Runza Drive Inn and brother Rich owned Runza Hut. All were under the Runza trademark.

Rich opened the first Omaha location at 120th and Center St in 1969. They started franchising in 1979 and opened their 20th location by 1983. This included three additional Omaha locations at 50th and Center (1975), 90th and Fort (1977) and 30th and Farnam (1983). By 1987 they had 40 locations including Park Fair Mall and Crossroads Mall in Omaha.

Even though they opened over 40 locations by 1991, the restaurant turned down far more applications than they approved. In an interview with the Lincoln Journal Star, Donald said that they “want an owner-operator rather than an absentee investor. Nine out of 10 requests don’t meet that criteria. When I find a good person I build them a Runza and then we’ll be partners”.

The restaurant debuted its Italian Runza in 1985 and would go on to add others including southwest, barbecue bacon, and swiss mushroom over the years. They even opened a retro diner in downtown Lincoln called Rock N’ Roll Runza. This location opened in 1991 offered not only food but also games, jukebox and beer. Customers were waited on servers on roller skates.

Donald received many accolades during his tenure including Nebraska Restaurateur of the Year in 1994, he was named to the Omaha Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame in 2013. Meanwhile the restaurant would become an official partner of Nebraska athletics starting in 2000. It’s also probably not a coincidence that they opened their 80th location just one year after they introduced its famously odd pairing of chili and cinnamon rolls in 2008. The innovations didn’t stop there as they made Temperature Tuesdays a thing in 2010.

More than 74 years since it first opened, Runza is now the oldest operating restaurant in Lincoln. Since that time, it has expanded to 91 locations across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Colorado. The restaurant which is now led by Donald’s son is just as popular as ever. It still prepares and bakes its bread fresh, seasons its ground beef, mixes the onions and cabbage, slices the onions for its rings and hand presses its burgers on site.