When Bob’s Drive-In re-opens in Imperial next month, the menu will feature a mix of the familiar and the new.
Jeff Jercinovic, 41, of Arnold purchased the landmark restaurant known for its hamburgers and ice cream, and he and his cousin and general manager, Kim Ferguson, 52, of Bloomsdale, plan to re-open it in early June.
The restaurant is at 5166 Hwy. 61-67.
“This is a great place,” Jercinovic said. “It has been around since 1959. It has a great patio and pavilion. There are not too many outdoor-only places in
Jeffco where you can sit in the summertime and chill.”
While Jercinovic and Ferguson will keep most of its traditional menu items, like the burgers and shakes, the two also operate the Taco King food truck and will add some of their Mexican offerings, like street tacos, nachos and street corn, to Bob’s.
The drive-in restaurant also will serve alcohol, as well as alcohol-infused ice cream offerings.
“I think that (the alcohol-infused ice cream) is one thing people will be talking about,” Jercinovic said.
“At least, I hope. I think that can take this to the next level.”
The restaurant will not have indoor seating, but there will be picnic tables on a patio in front of the building and a pavilion with tables in the back of the parking lot for seating, he said.
The restaurant also has a drive-through.
Ferguson said the restaurant will have eight employees when it re-opens, and it will be open Thursdays through Sundays.
She said she hopes to add Wednesday as an operating day fairly quickly after re-opening and add additional hours. Bob’s Drive-In is slated to be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Ferguson said she also hopes to operate the Taco King food truck in the parking lot on Tuesdays in the near future.
“We are starting slow until we master a lot of this,” she said. “We don’t want to come in like a wrecking ball and look silly.”
Jercinovic said he took over ownership of Bob’s Drive-In after reaching out to the previous owner, Lori Kernan, through Facebook after he noticed the restaurant hadn’t re-opened in March after taking its traditional winter hiatus.
He said when he found out Kernan was willing to sell the business, he reached out to Ferguson because of her 30-plus years of experience working in the restaurant industry.
“I knew she was the right person, and I wouldn’t be able to do this without her,” Jercinovic said. “It made it easy to purchase this place.”
When Bob’s Drive-In first opened in the late 50s, Bob Chilton Sr. owned it. Then, his son, Bob Chilton Jr., operated it until 1975 when the restaurant was sold to Judy and Paul Buchheit.
The Buchheits ran it until 1988, when Stewart Foley and the late Walter Naes bought it.
In 1995, Ron and Deanna Grimm bought it.
Ron Grimm’s brother, Don Grimm, bought the restaurant from them in 2005, after leasing it for about five years.
Kernan purchased the restaurant in 2012.