of who made the most tips in a day waitressing, Pat said. Luke started working at the Nisswa cafe around age 14 when his parents bought it, including as a cook. His sister, Andrea Neva, still helps at Ganley's on weekends. And now Luke and Chrissy Ganley's children are following in their father's footsteps, with their four older daughters and oldest son working for their parents. “They have to start out busing because they're not tall enough to reach the dishes,” Luke said. “They all do a good job. They're all really good workers.” Neva’s two sons also work at Ganley’s, busing tables and washing dishes. Her daughter is younger but is asking when she can start working there as well. Luke and Chrissy’s two younger children also beg to work there. Neva was in her upper teens when her parents bought Ganley’s, and she’s worked there every summer since then. “I enjoy waitressing,” she said, and seeing the same people she’s waited on for years. She’s watched children who come in with their parents every year grow up. Luke said during the restaurant's first 1015 years it was busy all summer but slower in the winter, and the whole Ganley family worked around the clock seven days a week. In the past 10 years, it's been busier yearround. Ganley's location is the best of both worlds, being both on Main Street and part of Nisswa Square. Ganley's is open for breakfast and lunch. People have always been the best part of the job. Pat said he didn’t realize the restaurant would have a reputation, and he credits everyone who worked there. “We had good staff,” he said. “I was there 27 or 28 years. Not many people stay in that business that long. I enjoyed the work. I was good at it.”
The Ganley family.
Luke also praised customers and staff, including longtime waitress Polly Young, who has worked at Ganley’s for more than 15 years. “It's definitely the people – seeing the same people every day,” he said. “It's fun to see the seasons, to see the snowbirds coming back. I've watched families – as they watched us grow up, we've done the same.” The connections with both local residents and seasonal visitors become personal, he added. “There are families who were coming here as kids and are now adults and coming with their kids,” Luke said. “We've known all these customers all these years,” he said. To that end, not much has changed at Ganley's over the years. Luke said those returning customers like to bring their children in and show them what the restaurant was like when they came there as kids. “Whenever you change anything, you lose a part of that history,” he said. While Luke has been a part of Ganley's Restaurant for the majority of his life, he did
work in Twin Cities restaurants for about five years, where he learned a lot about making a small kitchen work. He returned to Nisswa for a summer to help his dad at Ganley's, at a time when the restaurant downsized and needed to make a smaller kitchen work. “I came back to help my dad for a summer and never left,” he said. As for the future of Ganley's, Luke said of his young family: “Several of my kids want to own it.”
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