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| M and M Cafeterias 1968 - Miami and Sarasota State Archives of Florida |
By Jane Feehan
Cafeterias have offered a successful business model to serve
hungry patrons in Fort Lauderdale since the early 1900s.
According to Louise Stone Wilzig, a city pioneer, some of
the first such eateries in town were set up by housewives looking for extra
income (not unlike medieval women, the first brewers of beer for profit). They
would rent a room, bring pots and pans and set up tables with trays of food to
sell to as many as 100 customers a day.
Wilzig arrived in Fort Lauderdale in 1919 and worked as
cashier at one of the first well-established cafeterias, Mrs. C.B. Rogers’ Cafeteria
at Las Olas and Andrews Avenue (some say there was an earlier one, but its name
unknown). Mrs. Roger’s place was celebrated by locals for its remarkable biscuits and gravy, English scones and home cooked food.
Her success encouraged others who opened cafeterias in the decades
that followed, culminating with the popular Morrison’s Cafeterias. More on
Morrison’s later, but first a sampling of downtown cafeterias that paved the
way.
Lauderdale Cafeteria at Osceola and opened late March
1926 after several delays. Owner E.W. Rupprecht and wife ran the
restaurant. They installed an eight-foot electric sign over their location to
attract customers and claimed they would be able to feed as many as 500 people an
hour (where, I ask, would that many come from?). They closed for the summer that
April but reappeared after the September 1926 hurricane to help relief efforts.
Follow-up stories unavailable.
Colonial Kitchen opened in 1926 and served cafeteria
style at Cunningham Avenue between Third and Fourth streets. Its décor included
“… accurate reproductions of old Colonial Indian head prints.” The restaurant displayed
an “old Priscilla-type spinning wheel from Virginia.” The Colonial Kitchen specialty
was homemade pastries.
Dixie Cafeteria on North River Drive, Fort Lauderdale
was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Whiteside. They opened a few years after they
arrived in 1916. “[Dixie] was very popular for many years,” they told a
reporter. They later opened Whiteside’s.
Whiteside’s Cafeteria opened in December 1930
at 218 S.E. First Ave and advertised “Home cooking is our specialty.” They were
“prepared to take orders from five cents up to the most elaborate meals” from 7
am to 8 pm most days. Whiteside’s soon relocated to Lyons Arcade on Brickell Avenue
where they served 80-100 people at a time. They were popular with downtown Christmas
shoppers who stopped by for a quick meal between store visits.
Sunset Cafeteria opened at the Sweet Building at 305
South Andrews Avenue in 1930. Located at Fort Lauderdale’s first
skyscraper*, it was owned by F.E. Trapp from Miami and John Wallace of
Pittsburgh. Walls were glazed with an
Indian tan paint. Chairs, all made on the cafeteria site, were upholstered
in pea green and tan. Its counter was decorated in orange and black tile and the
floor with multi-colored tiles.
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| Sweet Building circa 2000, site of the Sunset Cafeteria |
DeLoach Cafeteria opened in 1935 at 236 Las
Olas Boulevard and occupied 10,000 square feet. It was touted as one of the
largest in the South and included a banquet room and dance floor. An orchestra
led by “Capt. Stacer” played on opening day in January 1935.
The Morrison’s Cafeteria story
After opening his first cafeteria in Mobile, Alabama in 1920,
John Arthur Morrison, Sr. sold his part of the growing company and moved to Miami
Florida in 1938. He and son John launched the M and M brand with several cafeterias
in Miami before opening M and M Cafeteria in Fort Lauderdale in February 1949.
Its opening at 124 S.E. First Ave. made a sizeable splash in
the Fort Lauderdale News. Noted for its modern amenities including air
conditioning and fluorescent lighting, M and M also offered mahogany paneled
partitions, tiger-striped leatherette chairs, wine-colored upholstered benches and
crisp, white tablecloths. Live music played from a Hammond organ during dinner
hours. The “South’s pioneer cafeteria owner” claimed he hired only locals to
work at his Fort Lauderdale location and promised “absolute cleanliness.” I’m
not sure when that store closed but one was located (or re-located) at the Sunrise
Shopping Center (now the Galleria) by 1966. Morrison Sr. died in 1973 at age
83. The company moved onward and upward without its founder. M and M Cafeterias
rolled into the Morrison brand, which soon dominated the cafeteria niche.
By 1967, Morrison’s had expanded into a large corporation that
built a cafeteria at the 1600 block of North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale
where it could seat 650 patrons at once. By 1968, there were four locations in
Miami, one in Sarasota and one in Fort Lauderdale. Morrison’s expanded into
other Florida cities and across the southern states.
By 1985 it was the largest cafeteria chain in the United States
and employed 17,000. Though Morrison’s celebrated its 65th anniversary
in 1985, it closed 13 units that year. Some sources reported it had 174 stores
in the South and one in the Midwest. The chain closed in 1998 and was sold to
its competitor, Piccadilly Cafeterias. The original Morrison’s still operates
in Mobile but as a Piccadilly unit.
Some blame Morrison's closing on a lack of interest in cafeterias over the years. Others
might blame its broad expansion into institutional facilities such as schools and
hospitals.
I say bring the cafeterias back; it may be time to re-ignite
the concept.
For more on the Sweet Building, see index or use search box.
Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
Sources:
Miami Herald, Nov. 3, 1920
Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 24, 1926
Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 24,
1926
Fort Lauderdale News, April 19, 1926
Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 25, 1926
Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 4, 1930
Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 30, 1930
Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 1, 1930
Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 16, 1930
Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 8, 1935
Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 1, 1949
Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 19, 1967
Fort Lauderdale News, March 9, 1969
Sun-Sentinel, Nov.
18, 1990
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