Omaha Exploration

The story of Runza dates back more than 250 years, to the time when Catherine the Great invited German citizens—many of them farmers—to settle in Russia. Most made their homes in the Volga River valley, where they thrived in the remote region more than 1,100 miles southeast of Moscow. It was there that the Volga Germans developed a Russian-German mashup they called bierocks.

Pierogies, which originated in Russia, consisted mostly of potatoes and onions, while bierocks were made primarily with meat and cabbage. These dough-wrapped savory pockets were designed to be portable so farmers could take them into the fields. Bierocks later made their way to the United States after many Volga Germans immigrated, eventually settling in central Nebraska, a region with a climate and landscape similar to their former homes in Russia.

Among those immigrants was Alexander Brening, who arrived in 1907, followed by Katharina Lehr in 1910. After marrying, they settled near Sutton, Nebraska. She brought with her the family’s bierock recipe, which she passed on to their daughter Sally. Sally adapted the recipe by filling the dough with ground beef, cabbage, onions, and seasoning before wrapping and baking the mixture.

Sally, along with her brother Alex and their siblings, opened a food stand that sold an Americanized version of bierocks, which they called Runza. The name was likely derived from other terms for bierocks—such as krautrunz and runsa. She altered it just enough so that it could be trademarked. To launch the business, they purchased an old hot dog stand and moved it to a cornfield near Pioneers Park.

They opened their first restaurant, Runza Drive-In, in 1949. Business started slowly after Salt Creek flooded on opening day. The namesake sandwich was also slow to catch on, taking nearly five years to outsell hamburgers and hot dogs on the menu. In 1955, they replaced the original building with a new one.

Sally’s son, Donald Everett, took over the family business in 1964, and growth accelerated. He opened a second location at 56th and Holdrege in 1966 and expanded far beyond Lincoln’s city limits. As Runza’s popularity grew, other restaurants began using the name for their own versions of the sandwich. This prompted Donald to purchase the trade name and incorporate the restaurant. By then, various family members operated restaurants with similar names—all under the Runza trademark: Runza Drive-In (Sally), Runza Drive Inn (Donald), and Runza Hut (Rich).

Rich opened the first Omaha location at 120th and Center Street in 1969, and the family began franchising in 1979. By 1987, there were 40 locations, with several more in Omaha, including sites at 50th and Center, 90th and Fort, 30th and Farnam, Parkfair Mall, and Crossroads Mall. In 1991, the family opened a retro diner in downtown Lincoln called Rock ’N’ Roll Runza, complete with games, a jukebox, and beer.

As the company expanded, the family rejected far more franchise applications than they approved. In an interview with the Lincoln Journal Star, Donald explained that they “want an owner-operator rather than an absentee investor. Nine out of 10 requests don’t meet that criteria. When I find a good person, I build them a Runza and then we’ll be partners.”

The restaurant debuted its Italian Runza in 1985 and went on to add several others over the years, including southwest, barbecue bacon, and Swiss mushroom.

Donald received numerous accolades during his tenure, including Nebraska Restaurateur of the Year in 1994. He was inducted into the Omaha Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame in 2013.

Runza became an official partner of Nebraska Athletics in 2000, giving it the opportunity to sell thousands of sandwiches on Husker game days. It’s likely no coincidence that they opened their 80th location just one year after introducing their famously odd chili-and-cinnamon-roll pairing in 2008. Innovation continued, with Temperature Tuesdays launching in 2010.

More than 75 years after its founding, Runza is now the oldest operating restaurant in Lincoln. It has since expanded to more than 90 locations across Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, and Colorado. Now led by Donald’s son, Runza remains as popular as ever. The company still prepares and bakes its bread fresh, seasons its ground beef, mixes the onions and cabbage, slices the onions for its rings, and hand-presses its burgers on site.

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