AMES—A retired schoolteacher, Cindy Detrick wanted to cook for the people, so she opened Cindy’s Catering in downtown Ames in 2013.
Some days the café is hopping while other days no one but family is there. Detrick and her husband of 46 years have two daughters and twin grandsons who currently attend Ringwood Elementary.
She taught home economics for over 30 years to the students living in the Ames area, first at Ames Public Schools and then Cimarron Public Schools when Ames consolidated with Lahoma in the mid-1990s.
Detrick grew up in Ames, and seeing how there was no place for farmers to eat other than grabbing something from the quick shop, she decided to open her own café.
“I wanted to do it,” she said, adding her husband runs cattle and farms too. “I thought it’d be fun to cook for people.”
She converted the former grocery store/old machine shop building next to American Legion Jayne-Kennedy Post 340 into Cindy’s Catering. There was oil on the floor and electrical pieces throughout.
One would have thought since it once was a grocery store that there would be plumbing, but there wasn’t, Detrick said.
“I had to start from scratch, chip away at the cement to get water hooked in,” she said. Then as with any restaurant, she had to get the appropriate inspections to serve food.
Up to 50 people can be seated, but most days Cindy’s Catering averages around 20. Sometimes it’s slow and only two or three people trickle in, either to pick up food orders to go or to sit around and chat with Detrick and her lone employee Laurie Edwards, who has been managing the grill since the café opened over 12 years ago.
Honestly, Detrick said, “the catering is what carries us through.”
She’s already booking for this year.
One of her top clients is her church Ames Christian Church, where she serves as the pianist, social coordinator, and more.
Detrick caters not only church outreach events and funerals, but community activities like the annual Ames Day in September, school events, and club meetings too.
She primarily accommodates those in Major County, but she has traveled to Garfield, Blaine, and Kingfisher Counties too, whether it be to serve a full meal through buffet lines or to provide finger foods. She also preps for carry out, meaning people order select items such as baked goods or homecooked sides, pick those items up, and set up the food stuffs at their event themselves.
Cindy’s Catering is only open three days a week except for the first Sunday of each month when she feeds the church crowd.
“People really appreciate the Sunday lunch,” Detrick said. “They like to sit and socialize.”
Her patrons on weekdays are generally the local farmers whose wives work. On Tuesdays, ladies of Ames Baptist Church come in after the lunch rush to make blankets for babies.
While there isn’t much traffic in this rural town of less than 200 people and the homecooked food is simple like burgers, chicken, and soup, the café manages to thrive and Detrick plans to keep on keeping on.
“I feed people. That’s what I do,” she said.
Cindy’s Catering, 112 Main, Ames, is open Monday through Wednesday for breakfast from 7-9 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The café is also open the first Sunday of every month from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Call (580) 541-4474. Check out the daily special at Facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091364195472.