Eating Wyoming: Bobbi’s Classic Diner In Glenrock A Throwback American Burger Spot

GLENROCK — There doesn’t seem to be much along Interstate 25 between Casper and Douglas, but those fortunate enough to get off here can satisfy a classic American appetite.

That’s where they’ll find Bobbi’s Classic Diner and Motel at 201 S. 4th St. serving up a laundry list of homemade cheeseburgers, thick milkshakes and a full dinner menu. And the tasty food will be served up by something else that’s a throwback to 1950s and ’60s America: young teens working their first jobs.

Bobbi’s Classic Diner and Motel owner Bobbi Collins said her new business is the culmination of a dream to be her own boss, have a diner and help mentor young people into developing a strong work ethic and job experience.

Collins grew up in Powell, Wyoming, and said her first job was washing dishes at a restaurant.

Work became her safe haven.

“Growing up, I didn’t have the best life, and I looked at my work as my vacation and place to go — and I loved it. I wanted to give that opportunity to other kids and just teach them,” she said. “That way they can carry that work ethic with them.”

Collins’ business plan involves 28 employees with 75% of them younger than 16; many are 14. She has managed restaurants and bars for years and has an Master of Business Administration degree. When the former Classic Cafe in Glenrock went up for sale earlier this year, she bought it.

A few weeks of remodeling transformed the interior into a colorful throwback to the 1950s and ’60s, complete with rebuilt jukebox from South Dakota that can play nearly every song from that throwback era through the 1990s.

There are 14 bright red tables and booths, a large gumball machine, a checkered black-and-white tile floor and a few dozen antique and classic signs and paintings on the walls.

Many of the signs and posters were bought at antique stores in Wyoming and South Dakota.

Outside are a few tables under umbrellas for dining outside when the weather allows.

Diner Era Appealing

Born in the 1980s, Collins said she relates to the diner theme because of the memories shared by others and values associated with those earlier decades.

“I really, really love and miss the ways things used to be,” she said. “I know that this community has a lot of people in the older generation, and so appealing to them to give them a place where they (can say), ‘Oh yeah, I remember those cars, I remember that.’ Just nostalgia, basically.”

Collins said the diner initially was open seven days a week, but she quickly found that the challenges involved in helping her staff and ensuring quality service meant she needed to pare back hours for a while.

“My employees were absolutely amazing in taking so much information all at once, not only learning how to work, but learning how to work in a restaurant which is fast paced,” she said. “And there is just a lot to learn. They have all stepped to the plate and just done absolutely amazing.”

Something that’s not nostalgic is social media, and a couple of bad reviews in a local group right after opening was a hit to morale. There also have been a couple of five-star reviews on Yelp!

“I had my employees come in here and get discouraged. ‘Bobbi, I worked that day, is it me? Am I doing something wrong?’ They are pouring their heart into this place and trying,” she said. “I want any feedback to come to me directly, not to my staff because they are trying so hard.”

Restaurant Family

Assistant manager Skylar Clayson, 21, has worked at just about every restaurant “that has come and gone” in Glenrock since she arrived there a few years ago. She was working at the Classic Cafe when it shut down and said the customers basically were her family because she has none in the area.

Clayson is all-in on Collin’s business plan and characterizes Collins as someone who “pours her heart into” the restaurant and staff. And she is seeing some of those same regulars who frequented the previous diner coming through the doors into the remodeled restaurant again.

“We have one guy who comes in every single day, gets the same thing every single day and it makes me so happy to see him every single time, whether or not it is a good or bad day,” she said. “I just love seeing everybody.”

Collins said the most popular items are cheeseburgers and shakes. The diner offers snacks such as onion rings, cheesy sticks, crispy mushrooms and crispy pickles.

Breakfast is served all day. Customers can get the Jumbo Waffle Wonder, build their own omelet, order a yogurt bowl and more.

Sandwiches include the crispy chicken, zesty chicken, cheesy steak melt, classic diner club, retro grilled PB&J, and bacon grilled cheese deluxe. Among the eight burger choices are the retro diner classic cheeseburger, bacon blast burger and blackened cajon sizzle burger. All burgers are a third of a pound of hamburger.

Customers can order waffle fries, French fries or sweet potato fries to go with the burgers.

There are four salad choices, and the soups are made from scratch.

“The chili recipe is from my husband’s family, and they have been using that for generations from my understanding,” Collins said. “We do have a homemade biscuit recipe and as soon as everything calms down and we get in our groove, I am going to incorporate more homemade items.”

Evolving Menu

Collins said with the evolving menu, she plans dinners like chicken-fried steak, as well as pizza, barbecue and wraps.

The drink menu also is growing with diner-like sodas, lemonade, iced tea, coffee and an Arnold Palmer (iced tea mixed with lemonade).

Floats, shakes, cake, pie, cookies and banana splits are available for dessert.

Glenrock residents Mark and Cindi Allington, along with a friend, visited the restaurant for the first time on a recent weekday. Mark Allington said that “it’s great” to see the doors open to the revamped and renamed diner. It’s good to see businesses open in the community.

“When this closed down, we didn’t have very many choices,” he said.

Allington agreed that Collins’ plan to hire youth helps the community because “the kids don’t have to go to Casper to get a job.”

For Gabreal Taylor, 14, who was working the cash register and serving customers this day, this is her first job. She said Collins is an “amazing” manager.

“We are really lucky, if it’s our first job, to have Bobbi because she is really understanding, and she’s walked us through everything. She’s given all of us a chance to explore and be what we want,” she said.

Collins said her vision is to hit its “groove” and expand hours to be open seven days a week. Beyond that, she hopes that success in Glenrock may lead to other opportunities of growth in other parts of the state.

Bobbi’s Classic Diner is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.