Dreher Creates a Booming Business in Clay County

When Danny Dreher moved to Clay Center from the busy shuffle of Kansas City 13 years ago to be closer to his wife’s family, he found something about the town a little unnerving.

“For a while, I couldn’t sleep! It was too quiet,” he said. “When you live in Kansas City, you hear everything!”

It took him a while to get used to the more laid back lifestyle and people in his new community. Raymond Orr, Dreher’s late grandfather and one-time owner of Orr’s Furniture City in Clay Center, helped him get acquainted with the town and his new neighbors. He soon discovered that Clay County was home.

“He picked me up everyday, showed me around and introduced me to people. One day, he drove me out to a farm lot and we climbed up onto a hill that overlooked utopia, like something out of an Ansel Adams photograph! It was that kind of beauty. I was floored.”

Dreher had left a career in the hospitality industry, working for Gilbert-Robinson, corporate owner of such restaurant chains as Houlihan’s. About three years ago, he walked into the Lincoln Avenue Grill to get a cup of coffee and found a rather frazzled-looking woman behind the counter. He offered to take the place off her hands.

“It was really a matter of being in the right place at the right time,” Dreher said. And financing the place wasn’t a problem. “You don’t usually end up being friends with your bankers, but those people ended up being great customers, great friends. They come in all the time.”

Since he re-opened the place as Danny’s Grill and Catering, business has been booming.

“We’ve been all over the place,” Dreher said. “We’ve done some catering for the Eisenhower Foundation in Abilene; we’ve catered for governors and senators. It’s crazy.”

And while restaurant chains are springing up all over the country, putting a new spin on the same old food, Dreher is happy to find a place for his business that isn’t so commercial — a place where people will appreciate his style of service.

“I wanted to do something different. I want people to feel comfortable. I tell them, ‘Hi, my name is Dan. If you need anything, holler at me and I’ll take care of you.’”