Omaha Exploration

Harold Halstead was born in the small town of Stiles, Iowa in 1914. He  worked at a local shoe store where he met Pauline Palmer who worked as a legal secretary. The two got married in 1941 prior to Harold being sent off to serve during World War II in the Army Air Corps. After returning home in 1946 he worked for Harket’s Hamburgers. It was at that time that he discovered his passion of serving customers in the restaurant industry. When Harkert’s closed, Harold and his partners started a spinoff of the restaurant chain called Koffee House System in 1946. 

At one point, Koffee House Systems had a total of five locations: 720 S 24th St (Leavenworth), 4515 N 30th St (Ames), 2904 N 16th St Locus, 1824 Dodge and 8505 N 30th St (Florence). The Leavenworth location closed at which point they bought the former Florence Cafe that had been owned by Jim Washa. Once the Koffee House took over that location in 1958, Harold began managing the location. 

Over time the partners went their separate ways. Harold retained the Florence location which he continued to operate under the Koffee House name. The cafe was a family run business with his wife Pauline in charge of the books and his children working as cooks, dishwashers, wait staff, cashiers and bussers.

When Harold moved his business to its current location at 8327 N 30th St in 1968, he added his name to the business likely to avoid confusion with the other Koffee Houses that were still around. He also added the orange food sign. He would eventually expand further after acquiring two truck stops in western Nebraska. Later he closed those two locations in order to focus on the one in Florence. 

Harold retired in 1982 and passed away in 1992. In addition to running the cafe, Harold also served as the president of the Florence Historical Society and Florence Pioneer Days Association and a member of the Ponca Hills Volunteer Fire Department. Pauline ran the cafe with her other children until she passed away two years later. 

Harold’s remains an institution in the Historic Florence neighborhood where it has operated since 1958. It also remains a family run restaurant. Matthew Bohnekamp, Harold’s grandson, said in an interview with WOWT that the cafe is the glue that binds the family together.

In recent years Harold’s was recognized as being one of the best breakfast joints, cafe/diners and best waitstaff by The Reader. Among its most popular dishes are its cinnamon roll, donuts, biscuits and gravy and homemade pie. It continues to pride itself on its  friendly service and cooked-to-order classic diner dishes.

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