Kay's Kitchen Family Diner

Jean Marthaler has been a member of the Kay’s Kitchen team since March of 1978. It all started one day while she was eating at Kay’s Kitchen. She asked Kay if there were any part time job openings. Kay said “Yes there were.” and Jean started working the next day.

Working at Kay’s Kitchen was an ideal place to work part time when her children were little. As time went on Jean became the manager and has held that position for many years. Kay’s has been a wonderful place to work; being able to interact and help so many members of the community has been something that she has enjoyed each and everyday she has been at Kay’s.

Kay’s Kitchen has many wonderful customers from the central Minnesota area, plus many customers from other areas of Minnesota and from out of state who stop in when traveling through town or are here for events. Many of these people have become our good friends and regular customers and we totally enjoy having them come to Kay’s.

We won’t say when, but Jean was born in Morris, Minnesota and grew up on a farm south of Glenwood, Minnesota and graduated from Glenwood High School. Jean attended the Alexandria Vocational Technical College after high school. She is married to Allen Marthaler who was from Melrose and they have lived in St. Joseph since 1971. They have two grown children, Amy and Jeff.

Working at Kay’s Kitchen has always been a main part of Jean’s life and it has been a joy for her to go to work knowing there are always friendly customers to greet, serve and visit with. Another main interest for Jean is helping others with their ancestry. Most of the research Jean does is with Norwegian ancestry, but she has also done other genealogy research. Working with genealogy has led to a number of visits to Norway which Jean thoroughly enjoys.

She looks forward to Kay’s Kitchen again being a vibrant and much welcomed part of the St. Joseph community. It will be a joy for her to again meet each and every customer and to welcome them as a part of Kay’s Kitchen community.