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GREENFIELD — Walk in the door to the Tiger Drive-In restaurant in Greenfield and you’re greeted with the aroma of cheeseburgers, chicken strips and ice cream.
This little slice of Americana is celebrating its 50th anniversary this spring and summer.
“I think it has lasted because it has been around and everybody knows about it,” said Manager Katie Huff. “Everybody knows it’s the place to go get ice cream. It’s the only place you can go get a burger and not have to sit and wait for a really long time.”
The Tiger Drive-In building was built in 1961. The first owners were Dale and Byrlee Jensen, and they opened the business in 1962 under the name Tasty Freeze.
The Jensens sold the business in 1973 to Dan Dunkerson.
The next owners were Gene and Karen Schlieffarth. In 1979, ownership was transferred to Dennis and Sally Corcoran, who gave the restaurant its current name.
In 1992, Mike and Emily Miller purchased the Tiger Drive-In, and in 2006, sold it to its current owner Sherri Kramer of rural Orient.
Kramer
Kramer, who is originally from Greenfield, said she wanted to own the business because she’d worked there in high school and college.
“As far back as I can remember, you were always able to get pretty good, quality food, fairly quick and fairly cheap compared to other establishments,” Kramer said.
When Kramer worked at the restaurant in the early 1980s, she said she remembered working until 11 or 11:30 p.m. and not getting home until midnight during the summer.
“We just had a lot of fun,” she said. “It was all high-school kids who worked at night and on the weekends.”
Kramer recalled the name Tiger Drive-In emerged between 1982 and 1984 because the tiger was the mascot at Greenfield High School.
As for now, Kramer has no plans to change the restaurant’s name, especially since locals refer to it as “TDI” for Tiger Drive-In.
One thing that has changed since the early ‘80s is the inside of the restaurant has been restructured, which has allowed seating to become more spacious.
Huff
Kramer hired Huff four years ago as full-time management.
Huff, who is originally from Afton, went to Iowa State and did her internship at the Tiger Drive-In. Her degree is in hotel and restaurant management.
“I like the people,” Huff said when asked about her favorite part of her job. “Not only the regulars, I like when new people come in, new to town. I like just seeing friendly faces all the time and interacting with people.”
Some of Huff’s favorite items on the menu include cheeseburgers, crunchy chicken wraps and ice cream.
According to Kramer, many of the items on the menu have stayed the same throughout the years, including the Tiger sauce.
Tiger sauce
Tiger sauce is similar to the sauce for McDonalds’ Bic Mac, but Kramer said it’s “a lot better.”
The Tiger sauce was originally developed for the Tiger Burger in the early ‘80s. However, nowadays, people ask for it on other menu items like the chicken strips.
“I’ve had friends who I’ve graduated with who don’t live here, but they come back, and they come back for a Tiger burger,” Kramer said. “They’ll text me, ‘We’re going to be in town and stop in for a Tiger!’”
Other popular menu items include the Tiger twisters, which is similar to a Dairy Queen blizzard, and the ice cream malts.
Tiger Drive-In even offers black raspberry malts.
“I try to really instill in the kids quality above rushing,” Kramer said about the restaurant’s service. “I tell them we’ve got to be fast and courteous, but we’ve got to serve a quality product.”
Peak seasons
Summer is the busiest season at the restaurant. Normal summer hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. Sunday is their busiest day in the summer.
Winter, like with many restaurants, is the Tiger Drive-In’s slow season.
“We stay busy until harvest kind of wraps up, and things get really slow,” Kramer said.
Currently, the restaurant is on its winter schedule, which means reduced hours that mostly center around lunch hours.
The restaurant’s spring hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. start March 16.
Nothing specific is planned for the restaurant’s 50th anniversary, but Kramer is thinking of having special events planned one day each month during their peak spring and summer seasons.
One idea is to have “throwback prices” for a day. This means menu items might be sold for what their original prices were years ago.
“I spent my whole high school here, so it’s just a lot of fun memories of all that,” Kramer said of her nostalgia for the restaurant. “It just continues.”