“People love Frankenmuth. There’s something about Frankenmuth that people like!”
The Bavarian Inn and Restaurant has served as a Frankenmuth tradition for families across the state and around the world. The restaurant has been serving up famous family style chicken dinners for decades.
If you’re lucky enough to step into the kitchen, you’ll find busy cooks, fresh produce and Dorothy Zehnder, who at age 98 is still working about six days a week. “I like to cook and I like people and I think if I would not have a job or be with people I would be kind of bored,” explains Zehnder.
Dorothy and her late husband William “Tiny” Zehnder Jr. made this restaurant what it is today. They purchased it back in 1950 and to this day, Dorothy still has the most important job. She serves as the official taste tester and supervisor! “If the cooks cook it the way I want it, well hey, I’m happy. I’m a happy camper back there,” explains Dorothy.
Over the years she has taught thousands of people how to cook and how to have a good work ethic. Dorothy says, “You work every day and have a good attitude and do the best you can.”
As for her secret to living a long and healthy life… “I eat chicken every day. I eat it fried, I’ll eat it boiled, chicken with pasta, chicken sandwich. You can make so many things with chicken,” explains Dorothy.
In all seriousness, It’s doing what Dorothy loves that keeps her spirit young. General Manager of the Bavarian Inn and Restaurant and Dorothy’s granddaughter Amy Zehnder-Grossi says, “She knows she won’t live forever but she is going to make the most of every day that she’s here.”
Everyone that has stepped foot into this restaurant has been touched by Dorothy’s generous, warm and captivating heart. “And that will live on way past when she decides to leave this earth,” says Amy Zehnder-Grossi.
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