UPDATED — Spirit AeroSystems attorney Stuart Collier has added the title “restaurateur” to his resume.
Not that he’s going to be slinging chicken fried steak anytime soon.
Collier and Council Grove residents Doug and Sherri Wilkerson are the new owners of Hays House 1857 Restaurant and Tavern in Council Grove.
“It’s the oldest continually operating restaurant west of the Mississippi,” Collier says.
Collier grew up on a farm not far from there. When he was in sporting events in school, he’d stay in Council Grove and sometimes eat at the Hays House before games.
Doug Wilkerson’s mother was Collier’s eighth grade teacher, so he’s known the family for a long time.
The Wilkersons will run the restaurant on a day-to-day basis.
They’re converting their Flint Hills Bakery and Smokehouse into a full-time bakery under the name Hays House Bakery.