Gilles marks 75 years in Fond du Lac, built on its original values of quality food, friendly service and cleanliness
FOND DU LAC – Fond du Lac's most famous drive-in is celebrating a milestone.
Owners Scott Gilgenbach and Chris Meyer have ushered Gilles Frozen Custard, 819 S. Main St., into its 75th season of sweet treats and sandwiches with car hop service.
"The 75th is just a huge (accomplishment) when you just think about what it takes to run a business and how successful a business has to be to get to 75 years," Meyer said.
Tom Gilles opened Gilles with his wife Doris in 1949, when that part of Main Street was still designated as U.S. 41 and the surrounding area was farmland, according to Meyer. He'd worked for his brother Paul Gilles at Gilles Frozen Custard in Milwaukee for 10 years before bringing frozen custard and the Gillieburger — the Gilles' secret recipe sloppy Joe — to the people of Fond du Lac.
Gilles had to work hard to build up the business, even giving away custard in the early days to introduce it to customers, and he dedicated himself and Gilles to quality products, friendly service and cleanliness.
Before long, customers took notice. The drive-in gained a reputation for Gilles' values, and also became a popular stop for youths in their late-night cruises to and from Lakeside Park.
Gilles' son, Jim Gilles, upheld Gilles' teachings when he took over the business, and those practices were eventually passed down to Gilgenbach and Meyer.
"(Gilles) would come in after we closed, and we called it 'scrub night,'" Meyer said. "After we get done scrubbing, he would take a white towel around and on the corners and go, 'OK, we gotta scrub this corner a little bit better, we gotta scrub that again,' and that just shows how he was so much into having a clean place."
From a quality standpoint, the two continue to get their products fresh from local places like Eden Meat Market, Kewaskum Foods and Engelhardt Dairy, Gilgenbach added.
"It's always been quality, even when it comes to french fries and the oil to cook the french fries and the hot fudge and the caramel," he said. "There's lots of cheaper products out there, and we choose not to use any of those because we want to use high quality. That's just what Mr. G has always done."
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Employees make up much of Gilles' success, owners say
Over the years, Gilgenbach, Meyer and their employees have also become a close-knit family, in some cases literally: their kids work at Gilles, other employees' siblings or children come to work there, and Meyer even met his wife there.
"We can't do it ourselves," Meyer said. "We surround ourselves with good people."
Several employees start as high school students, and some continue through or beyond college. Many employees have been with the business for 20 to 30 years, and others have moved on, though sometimes they or their parents come back to share what they've been up to.
Meyer said they've had employees become successful as doctors, lawyers and other careers, who come back and tell them they didn't know it at the time, but Gilgenbach and Meyer helped teach them their work ethic.
One of their favorite parts of the business has been the connections they've made, both as employees and then as owners.
For instance, Gilgenbach said when he was an employee, he and the others would sit at the picnic tables after close or go to Country Kitchen and talk for hours. Many of them went to different schools, and they would get to know each other, especially on trips to Brewers games or Long Lake, with conversations that went beyond talking about Gilles.
He added that he's noticed the same thing happening with current employees.
"It's fun to see that," he said. "It's just part of growing up for them and seeing them do what we did when we were there."
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Gilles Frozen Custard looks forward to more of the same when celebrating its anniversary
In addition to the core values of the business, little has changed over the years, and Gilgenbach and Meyer don't plan on making any big changes in the future, for the sake of their servers, kitchen space and legacy.
This includes the menu itself, which has longstanding customer favorites like the Gillieburger, grilled cheese, the Gillie Cookie and a variety of sundaes, shakes, slushies and more.
A few sundaes were creations Tom Gilles had brought from his brother's stand in Milwaukee, and some were added to the menu specially for Fond du Lac, including the 41 Special with strawberries, marshmallow and crushed nuts in reference to the original U.S. 41; and Kathy's Caramel Cashew, honoring an employee who had worked at Gilles for more than 50 years before she died of cancer around 2006.
The sundae Carly Grand is named after Meyer's daughter with her favorite toppings strawberries, hot fudge and pecans, and Gilgenbach's daughter is represented as the topping Rylee's Rainbow Sprinkles.
"When my little girl was about 2 or 3 years old, we would come in here and we had rainbow sprinkles for a sundae, and I told her 'yeah, we call these Rylee's Rainbow Sprinkles' and she just thought that was super cool," Gilgenbach said.
Gilgenbach and Meyer said another highlight over the years has been the parties at Gilles, and the 75th anniversary party will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Aug. 6 featuring DJs, face painting and giveaways.
"It'd be great if Mr. Gilles would be able to — I'm sure he can see it, but you know, actually be here — to witness 75 years, "Meyer said. "He put in so much work to get it to where it is. He laid the foundation."
For more about Gilles Frozen Custard, visit gillesfrozencustardfdl.com.
Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Gilles Frozen Custard in Fond du Lac ushers in 75th summer
