Taste of Michigan: Why Frankenmuth serves 850 tons of chicken a year

FRANKENMUTH – Here, in a town founded along the Cass River by German missionaries in 1845, visitors can guzzle dark German beer and feast on sauerbraten and schnitzel served by waiters in lederhosen.

But, for roughly a century, chicken has been king.

Frankenmuth's famous family-style chicken dinners — with side dishes served in their own bowls for everyone at the table to heap onto their own plates, just like Mom would do — were first promoted at the old Fischer's Hotel, which was built in 1888.

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The history of Zehnder's Restaurant

History of the Bavarian Inn Restaurant

The history of Frankenmuth

Today, somewhere around 850 tons of chicken are served at two restaurants sitting on opposite corners of Main Street, where two clans of the Zehnder family maintain chicken recipes similar to those first served at the Fischer a century ago.

"It's a long tradition of serving generation after generation, year after year," said Al Zehnder, CEO of Zehnder's Restaurant on the west side of Main, on the site of the former New Exchange Hotel, Frankenmuth's first restaurant. "So, I think what our guests know is that when they come here, they're going to get the same level of food and service that they're accustomed to."

"The method of preparation is very similar, but my dad used to have a saying that 'we need to stay efficiently old-fashioned,'" said Bill Zehnder, Al's cousin and president of the Bavarian Inn Restaurant on the east side of Main, the site of the old Fischer's.

On both sides of Main, a whole chicken is parboiled, then cut into 10 pieces. Each piece coated in a light breading.

"Our breaded chicken is not a heavy batter like a lot of fried chicken is," Bill Zehnder said. "You go to a lot of restaurants and you can hardly find any meat, there's so much breading on it."

When the chicken is ordered, the breaded pieces are fried for a short time and then served up hot with heaping sides of mashed potatoes, buttered noodles, vegetables and stollen with cranberry relish.

There are only slight differences in recipes at either restaurant, Al Zehnder said, and "I'll leave who has the best up to our guests."

One major difference: At the Bavarian Inn, "we've still got Mom," Bill Zehnder said.

William and Emilie Zehnder bought the Exchange in 1928, selling 80 acres of farmland to do so. In 1950, their son, Tiny, and his wife, Dorothy, bought the old Fischer's. Dorothy Zehnder, Bill's mom, celebrated her 96th birthday on Dec. 1 and still works at the restaurant six days a week, "watching the food quality and maintaining the standards we established," Bill Zehnder said.

The famous family-style chicken dinners are part of an overall, immersive experience. At the Bavarian Inn, which was remodeled to express Frankenmuth's German heritage in 1959, waiters and waitresses dress in traditional German garb. At Zehnder's, remodeled 30 years earlier to model George Washington's home in Mount Vernon, the staff dress in traditional American colonial costumes.

"It's a whole experience; it's not just the food," Al Zehnder said. "It's remembering that you were here when you were a little kid with your mom and your dad or your grandma and grandpa."

Contact Justin A. Hinkley at (517) 377-1195 or jhinkley@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley. Sign up for his email newsletter, SoM Weekly, at on.lsj.com/somsignup.