Bill Knapp's Restaurant
Bill Knapp was a traveling salesman in Cleveland, Ohio, who loved to cook. Since he traveled constantly,
he was always on the lookout for a good place to eat and he had an idea for a new type of restaurant
chain. In 1947, he moved his family to Battle Creek, Michigan where he took a job with Shaefer Bakeries.
In the evenings at home, he began developing dishes for his new restaurant, and in 1948 he and four local
investors pooled their funds and brought his idea into existence. The first Bill Knapp's Restaurant opened
in 1948 on Southwest Capital near Columbia in Battle Creek and was a hit. Soon opening a second Bill
Knapp's Restaurant at 34 W. Jackson Street downtown, by 1955 he had three restaurants in Battle Creek
and new ones in Lansing and Kalamazoo. By the time he retired in the 1990s, there were 69 Bill Knapp's
Restaurants in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Florida. In the ensuing years, Knapp's was slow in changing
with the times. The chain realized it in the late 1990s, and tried to change its image, but it was too late.
The makeover itself caused a further loss of its core customers, of which many were retirees. The chain
closed its doors in 2002.
It's my understanding that Bill Knapp's Restaurants operated on the commissary model. That is, most dishes
were prepared at a central location, such as Battle Creek, Michigan, and then delivered to the local restaurants,
where the food was finished or reheated before serving. This being the case, the actual recipes and methods were
known by the commissary employees, but the local restaurant employees knew little about the recipes. In the case
of their soups, many were homemade, but I read that some, such as Tomato and Cream of Mushroom, were actually
canned soups made by Heinz.
There is Facebook page devoted to Bill Knapp's Restaurants, with a few recipes, at:
I Remember Bill Knapp's
The only recipes from Bill Knapp's that I have been able to locate are here:
- Bill Knapp's Recipes: biscuits, honey ginger chicken, au gratin potatoes, chocolate cake, apple-cranberry salad, broccoli quiche, bean soup, teriyaki chicken
- Bill Knapp's Au Gratin Potatoes
- Bill Knapp's Baking Powder Biscuits
- Bill Knapp's Baked Chicken Marinade
- Bill Knapp's Blue Cheese Dressing
- Bill Knapp's Chicken & Biscuits
- Bill Knapp's Chocolate Cake
- Cole Slaw Like Bill Knapp's
- Bill Knapp's Cookies
- Bill Knapp's Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Bill Knapp's Fried Chicken (about)
- Bill Knapp's Ham Croquettes
- Meatloaf Like Bill Knapp's
- Bill Knapp's Michigan Bean Soup
- Bill Knapp's Orange Nut Bread
- Bill Knapp's Pancakes
- Bill Knapp's Recipes
- Tips on Bill Knapp's fried chicken, chicken tortilla soup, cocktail sauce, scampi butter, meatloaf, veggie lasagna, roasted (baked) chicken, baby back ribs
- Bill Knapp's Squash
- Bill Knapp's Thousand Island Dressing Clone
- Bill Knapp's Vegetable Beef Soup
- Bill Knapp's White Cake
I have not been able to find these:
- California Mushroom Salad
- Chicken Fricassee
- Chicken and Biscuits
- Chicken Salad
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
- Clam Chowder
- Cornbread Toaster Tops
- Custard Pie
- French Dressing
- Ham Croquettes
- Linguini with Marinara Sauce & Garlic Bread
- Orange Chicken
- Peanut Butter Pie
- Potato Salad
- Pumpkin Pie
- Seared Sea Scallops
- Tuna Salad
- White Cake Recipe
