The half-timbered walls, period photographs, stained-glass windows and fires blazing in the dining room hearths give Schuler's Restaurant & Pub in Marshall, Mich., the air of an old English inn.
Albert “Bert” Schuler Sr. opened a small lunch stand and cigar shop in 1909. “He was a worker, and he really understood people,” says Hans Schuler, the third-generation president and CEO. Bert went on to purchase a small vaudeville hotel and, later, the larger building where the eatery is located today. Schuler's has been designated as a Michigan Historic Landmark Site.
Bert's son, Winston—Hans's father—began running the family restaurant in 1934. “Win Schuler was probably one of the greatest hosts of all time,” Hans says. Win introduced himself to every guest. “He could recall [a guest's] name a year later, ten years later,” his son recalls.
Marshall is located on the main route between Chicago and Detroit, and on an interstate highway leading north to Canada. College football coaches have dined at Schuler's for more than half a century. In 1952, Win whipped up a new snack for famed Michigan State University coach Duffy Daugherty. “Dad went back in the kitchen. He had some cheese, mixed it up, put a little beer into the cheese,” Hans says. “That was really the start of our bar cheese.”
As customer requests poured in, cheese production expanded to a separate plant. The cheese business was one of Hans's first responsibilities after he joined the restaurant in 1959. When he discovered “there was more beer going into the employees than into the cheese,” he reformulated the recipe, making it even more spreadable. Schuler's sold the spreadable cheese under the trademarked name “Bar-Scheeze.”
United Airlines, its biggest customer, served passengers cups of Bar-Scheeze with breadsticks. Schuler's success drew the attention of Kraft Foods. Competition from a small, regional business “drove [Kraft] nuts,” Hans says.
Probably not coincidentally, Schuler's was cited under an old blue law, the Filled Cheese Law of 1896. The law imposed hefty taxes and regulations on the manufacture and sale of “filled cheese,” essentially defined as imitation cheese made from milk-based products with added oils or fats and other foreign compounds. “If they were able to enforce this law, it really would have put us out of business,” says Hans.
The Schuler family, who have always taken an interest in government, called on politicians for help. “I've always said, it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, you all eat out,” says Hans. The law was repealed in 1974.
On the eve of Win's retirement, the Schuler family enterprise included the Bar-Scheeze business and a string of restaurants across Michigan served by a central commissary. The sale of Bar-Scheeze to Vlasic Foods Inc. allowed Win to retire, and Hans took the reins in 1983.
Hans says he soon realized that “it's hard to duplicate what we have in Marshall.” Over several years, the other locations were sold.
Today, Schuler's em–phasizes local, fresh ingredients. Everything is made from scratch.Lake Superior white fish and roast prime rib are perennial favorites, as is Schuler's Heritage Cheese—similar to the original bar cheese recipe. Bread is baked on site.
“People want to come back to a place they can depend upon,” says Hans. “They want a place that fosters great memories. We continually evolve and keep it fresh, but the changes are always slight.”
In 2012, Hans was named “Restaurateur of the Year” by Independent Restaurateur magazine for his success as a businessman and his commitment to his community.
Many of his children and grandchildren are involved in the culinary arts, but Hans is in no hurry to retire. “I love the business because I have a passion for it,” he says. “We're only as good as the last meal we served.”
Sally M. Snell is a writer based in Lawrence, Kan.
Copyright 2012 by Family Business Magazine. This article may not be posted online or reproduced in any form, including photocopy, without permssion from the publisher. For reprint information, contact bwenger@familybusinessmagazine.com.