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2018 PRIDE
Business 2018
Jay’s Drive-In: Delivering the ‘Superdog’ for 70 years By John Lee
jclee@thepampanews.com Twitter: @jcl1987
Jay’s Drive-In first opened in January 1948 a little further down Alcock as SuperDog and was owned Fred Hutchens. Dwight Dennis and his brother, Albo, took it over in 1992 and in 2003 Dwight took over on his own. Having worked for Jay’s Drive-In since he was 17 years old in 1970, Dwight is almost synonymous with the business. “I like the generations of people that have been here,” Dwight said. “The grandfathers, fathers, grandsons, etc. I’ve been here for three-and-half generations. It’s all local people and I just love people.”
Jay’s Drive-In still cooks the food like it was 1948, fresh and from scratch. “Nothing is pre-cooked (except for the gravy and stuff like that),” Dwight said. “It’s all fresh. It takes a little longer in today’s fast market, but it’s better food.” Most of the staff at Jay’s Drive-In has been with the business for 10 to 15 years. “David (Whitson) has been here 27 years,” Dwight said. “My son, Michael, has been here off and on since he was nine.” With so much experience between each member of the Jay’s Drive-In staff, it’s definitely family-oriented atmosphere. Jay’s Drive-In offers dinner, side items, hand-mixed malts and shakes, cherry-limes and, of course, the superdog. “We sell probably 1,500 a week of those,”
Dwight and Kathy Dennis, Bob Bright, David Whitson and Michael Dennis.
Photos by John Lee
Dwight said. “That recipe goes way back. It has several different kinds of spices and it is rolled fresh. It’s not a corn-dog it has no corndough in it. It’s kind of a sweet batter.” Jay’s Drive-In serves a throw-back in time to the days of take-out burger joints. “It’s like the original McDonald’s,” Dwight said. “They were all take-out. I consider a lot of recipes things we’ve collected over the years. We batter our own catfish and other things we sell a lot of.” Jay’s Drive-In is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and can be reached at 806-669-2722. “It’s old-fashioned good food,” Dwight said. “We’re going to do it this way until either we retire or someone buys us out.”