Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Wagner.
Hi Liz, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born into the restaurant business in 1967. My parents opened the original Jerrys Restaurant in 1964 and ran it until 1995. I hated the restaurant business, or so I thought, until about 2 weeks after they sold it and I realized I actually loved it. I truly believe you have to “have it in your blood” in order to be successful. When I hear someone say they are opening a restaurant because “it’s going to be fun” it’s an automatic red flag to me. It can be fun, but it’s a lot of hard work too. You have to be willing to do the work. My dad always used to say, “no one cares about your business as much as you do” therefore, you need to be there and don’t depend on anyone else to run it the way you run it.
I love meeting new people every day and hearing their stories. I have met some great people that have become some of my best friends.
I was a stay at home mom to 4 daughters until our youngest was 3 in 2002 and I decided I was ready to go back to work. I had a few stipulations and if we thought those would work, then I was all in! My husband was going to keep his regular job in construction, I wasn’t going to work on sundays, and most importantly I was going to take my girls to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. It all worked and here we are 23 years later still going strong.
I was lucky enough to know and be friends with Mary Carol and Dan Garrity, owners of Nell Hills in Atchison. They had just purchased the 3 story Masonic building at the corner of 5th and Kansas in downtown Atchison. The first floor was available for rent and we dove right in. We did a complete remodel, built a bar and opened Jerrys Again. When we opened we served lunch along with dinner on fridays and Saturdays. The evenings soon meant missing the girls high school events and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice that part of being involved in their teen years, so we went strictly to lunch only, with a few private evening events here and there. As the girls grew up, we added more and more evening events. In 2012 the Garritys sold the building, and lucky for me, one of my brothers was the new owner! He asked me, what do you want to do what the second floor? I immediately said, let’s make an event space! It already had a gorgoues ballroom, once used by the masons for their events. We added a bar and started hosting weddings, along with lots of other types of parties! It’s really an incredible building! So, here we are in 2025 still serving lunch through the week downstairs and hosting private events weekends and evenings upstairs.
My parents were a big part of Jerrys Again as well. My mom is known for her amazing pies. We lost my Dad in 2015 but my mom continued doing little jobs at the restaurant until recently when she moved into assisted living at the age of 88.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The old saying, “good help is hard to find” is so true. Luckily for me, I’ve had family through it all. My parents, my husband, my girls, and my sister and niece.
I have had a few hired employees that have become like family to me and I am so thankful for them.
Covid of course was a huge challenge. Our county at the time had leaders that wanted to be stricter than state leaders were being. I gained my voice during that time fighting for my business. If I wasn’t going to fight for my business, who was? Thank goodness we pulled through with much determination and perseverance and survived as a business. I hope that will be my biggest challenge of my career.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Jerrys Again restaurant ?
We serve a variety of homemade meals. From homemade chicken and noodles, meatloaf, lasagna, Nashville hot chicken on Wednesdays, and our very popular pan fried Chicken every Thursday. We also have burgers, salads, tenderloins, Reuben’s, and more. We are best known for our homemade pies, with made from scratch crust! We only use REAL whipping cream on top, NEVER that fake stuff! 😁 it’s best to order your pie as soon as your server greets you, it’s sells fast!
We also have a small gift area that customers love.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in Atchison Kansas the 5th child of 6. My parents ran a restaurant for 31 years. My mom stayed home with us until we were all in school and then she went to work at the restaurant. I had a great childhood. Our parents instilled us with an incredible work ethic, which I’m extremely grateful for today. Church was very important to my parents and we all went to mass every Sunday. Our parents put us all through the Catholic school system here in Atchison, something my Dad was very proud of. He never worked on a Sunday., nor was his restaurant ever open on Sundays.
All 6 of us helped at the restaurant from the time we were very young until we got a different job or went away to school. I graduated high school in 1985 and continued working for my parents full time until they closed in 1995.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: jerrys_again
- Facebook: Jerrys Again
