photo by Cori Hilsgen
Howie Zimmer holds the “Hospy” Hall of Fame Award he received in recognition of his 40 years in the hospitality business.  

Howard “Howie” Zimmer was recently awarded the “Hospy” Hall of Fame Award by the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association.

Zimmer has been in the hospitality business for 40 years. The award was presented to him in recognition of his “lifetime of achievement conducted with honor and dignity in Minnesota’s hospitality industry.” The award represents the MLBA’s highest honor.

Zimmer is the third oldest of nine children born to Alfred and Roselyn Zimmer. He grew up on a farm near St. Joseph and attended a one-room schoolhouse. He graduated from Cathedral High School and was in the Army Reserve for six years.

After graduation, he worked as a dispatcher for United Van Bus delivery, a purchasing agent for Munsingwear in Minneapolis. He also sold gym wear for E.R. Moore Co. of Chicago. In 1972, he made the decision to return to his roots.

While driving down main street in St. Joseph with his brother, Mark, Zimmer happened to mention he would like to get out of the big city and do something else. He told his brother he had saved $2,000.

Howie and his brother, Mark, were driving down the street when they saw one of the owners of Graffitti’s pizza walking down the street. Mark had heard the owners of Graffittii’s Pizza (even though they had only been in business for a short period of time) were interested in selling the place. Howie got out of the vehicle and approached the owner about the possibility of buying the business. It happened right there in the middle of the street – one of those “only-in-small-town” moments.

Grafitti’s Pizza was located in the building now occupied by The Local Blend.

Within a couple of days, Zimmer had purchased the business, and that was the start of his years in the hospitality business.

“Initial payments were $80 a month and rent on the building was $150 a month, which included the taxes and other things,” Zimmer said.

He received a lot of comments on his first pizzas.

“I remember someone saying, ‘What’s it going to look like next – a football?” Zimmer said.

As a business owner, Zimmer said he pretty much worked every day for two years to make it work. Beginning the third year in business, he started to offer a pizza-delivery service.

“That was the biggest transition,” Zimmer said. “Our business just went through the roof.”

At the time, Sammy’s Pizza and House of Pizza were the only other pizza businesses in the area in competition with Zimmer’s place. Graffitti’s Pizza was the only pizza establishment in the St. Joseph area.

Zimmer said they started offering “all-you-can-eat” spaghetti with an order of garlic bread and a glass of pop, beer or wine for $1.50. The spaghetti produced a good profit for the business.

Zimmer remembers he had a blackboard on the wall where customers could write quotes and other things. One quote he still remembers was written backwards, as if looking in a mirror. It said, “How the heck do I get out from behind this wall?”

Zimmer’s 1978 menu listed cheese pizza prices of $2.10 (small), $3.10 (medium) and $4.15 (large).

During the 1980s, Zimmer sold Graffitti’s Pizza and purchased a bar in downtown St. Cloud, which is now known as Howie’s Sports Bar. He also purchased a bar in St. Stephen, which is now known as Howie’s Corner Bar and Grill. Additionally, he now co-owns with his brother, Rudy, bars in Becker, Clearwater, Belgrade and Kimball.

At this time, Zimmer has no plans to retire from the business.

Zimmer has previously received several other awards, including the Minnesota Retailer of the Year Award in 1994 and National Retailer of the Year Award in 1995. He has held several different positions with the MLBA and he currently is on the executive board.

Zimmer said he is proud of receiving the award but says he couldn’t have done it without his employees.

“If it weren’t for the everyday employee doing their job – the ones that meet the customers face-to-face each day, put the food down in front of them or give them a bottle of beer, I wouldn’t have received this award,” Zimmer said. “I give credit to all the young people who have worked for me over the years.”

Throughout the years, Zimmer has hired many employees to work in his business establishments.

“You can usually pick them out after two or three weeks – the employees that are going to stick or not,” Zimmer said.

Zimmer said he tries to listen to the younger employees to know what is happening in the industry.

Zimmer recalled several promotions he has offered during the years. One included him wrestling “Victor the Wrestling Bear” at the St. Stephen location. He wrestled a 7-foot, 700-pound brown bear from North Carolina.

“I didn’t win,” Zimmer said. “I also tried to get Killer Willard the boxing kangaroo, but I couldn’t get him,” Zimmer said.

Currently, Zimmer said his broasted-chicken special at Howie’s Corner Bar and Grill in St. Stephen draws a good crowd of people.

Zimmer said he and other members of the MLBA spend a lot of time communicating with legislatures at the State Capital building to get support for changes in the hospitality business. Things such as taxation and working for video pull-tabs instead of paper pull tabs and electronic bingo.

“You have to communicate with your legislators,” Zimmer said. “I go down to the Capitol quite often for press conferences and other things. There are legislators that don’t even have a clue what a pull-tab is. They have never been in a tavern and they have never seen a pull tab.”

Zimmer has three children, one son and two daughters. His son, Rodney, lives in New Ulm and also owns a bar business. His daughters, Christine and Jennifer, live in the area and Jennifer is the assistant manager at Howie’s Sports Bar.

Zimmer’s hobbies include traveling, skydiving and participating in the “Polar Plunge” for Special Olympics.