Richards Treat (Restaurant: Minneapolis, Minn.).

Richards Treat Inc., consisting of a cafeteria and adjoining bakeshop located at 114 South Sixth Street in Minneapolis and a nearby coffee shop located at 188 Northwestern National Bank Building, was owned and managed by Nola Treat and Lenore Richards. The business opened in November 1924 and operated for almost 33 years under the motto "Quality food for Quality Folk." The business was ranked, for a time, as one of the ten best dining places in the United States and one of the two best cafeterias.

At its height Richards Treat had five dining rooms that seated 300 people and served an average of 3,000 people per day. The main room featured a maple cupboard furnished with pewter tableware. A fireplace room, with two fireplaces, was located in the basement. Antiques and imported furnishings were found throughout. While there were no set menus at Richards Treat there were two items available daily. Apple pie was available at every meal and chicken pie (just chicken, gravy and crust; no vegetables) was available each evening. In 1946 the business was incorporated; prior to that it operated as a partnership.

Nola Treat (1885-1983) was born near Mattoon, Illinois and attended college at Millikin University in Decatur and Rockford College in Rockford. She received further training in home economics from Columbia University in New York City. Her first job was at Kansas State University in Manhattan where she established courses in instutitional management and ran the campus cafeteria. Lenore Richards became her assistant at Kansas State. Treat moved on to Indiana Univeristy where she did similar work and then on to the University of Minnesota (1918-1924), where Lenore Richards joined her as an assistant professor in the home economics department.

Lenore Richards (1892-1971) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska for one year and then went on to graduate from the University of Illinois in home economics. Her father, Charles Russ Richards, was dean of the college of engineering at Illinois and then president of Lehigh University from 1922 to 1935.

While at the University of Minnesota the two women jointly wrote Quantity Cookery and Tea Room Recipes as well as managed the campus cafeteria on the University's agricultural campus in St. Paul. Quantity Cookery was revised twice, went through almost 30 printings and was used in the restaurant trade, as a college textbook, and by the United States Army in World War II.

The two women decided to see if their management principles and recipes would succeed in the real world and began planning to open a restaurant. They selected a site in downtown Minneapolis that had plenty of competition. The previous business there had failed and public speculation believed the two women would not last more than a few months in the competitive restaurant business.

Their good food and reasonable prices won regular customers. Richards Treat became a training ground for young college women majoring in home economics who could gain experience in all areas of the restaurant trade before graduation. During their first ten years Richards Treat hired only female employees and at its height never had more than eight to ten men (mainly busboys) among its 80 employees.

Treat ran the counters, the office, and kept the records while Richards managed purchasing and food preparation. The women shared a house at 24 Park Lane in Minneapolis, were active in many organizations and clubs, including the Minnikahda Club, and traveled the world together. Both were both on the board of directors of the National Restaurant Association, successively chairing its education committee (Treat 1937-1942; Richards 1942-1956), and both were named to the American Restaurant Magazine's Hall of Fame in 1957.

Richards Treat closed in mid July 1957 to make room for the construction of the new First National Bank building.

From the guide to the Business records and family papers., 1776-1996 (bulk 1907-1980)., (Minnesota Historical Society)