MANKATO — Adrian Swales takes his position as "Keeper of the Statue" seriously. As the new owner of the last remaining Happy Chef restaurant and its iconic Happy Chef statue out front, Swales knows he ...

Oct. 16—When a Facebook post went up Oct. 9, the chatter ran faster than that of a busload of kids lined up to listen to a message from the Happy Chef statue. It was 60 years ago when the Frederick ...

MANKATO – After more than two decades of silence, the Happy Chef has a lot to say. He's got some thoughts on dining. "That's not a flying saucer!" the 36-foot-tall fiberglass foodie boomed this week ...

MANKATO — Tom Frederick Sr. has the last remaining Happy Chef up for sale, but he's not in a hurry to sell and admits that with Highway 169 set to be shut down next summer, the location isn't going to ...

MANKATO, Minn. - Like a spoon-toting Lady Liberty, for 50 years the Happy Chef has welcomed visitors to Mankato. For the last 20 - silently. But no more. Last Friday, the kitschy 38-foot statue got ...

Minnesota's iconic Happy Chef may have only one restaurant left in Mankato, but the cheerful 16-foot statues keep the ...

Tom Frederick Sr. spent a lot of time in the car during much of his career, crisscrossing the Midwest on two-lane roads and the just-developing Interstate Highway system. “I put on 80,000 miles a year ...

WATERLOO, Iowa --- First, the chef disappeared. Now this? Happy Chef restaurants in Waterloo and Cedar Falls are slated to close today, ending a nearly 40-year run in the Cedar Valley. Chuck Melby has ...

From the first Happy Chef eatery in Mankato, there followed dozens more of the family-style restaurants, sprinkled around Minnesota and elsewhere in the Midwest as far south as Kansas. That first ...

MANKATO, Minn. — The Happy Chef has spoken. Asked to join Mankato’s list of Heritage Preservation Landmarks, the 36-foot spoon-wielding cook that’s loomed over the city’s northern entrance for 50 ...