Eckert’s is celebrating 100 years in business today by breaking ground on a 22,000-sq. foot expansion of its country store in Belleville, Ill., that it coughed up $5 million to build. The expansion will be run by the seventh generation of the Eckert clan, and will make more room for fresh peaches and plums, a bakery smelling of pies and peanut squares, a meat shop boasting locally raised beef and a 12,000-sq. foot cooking and workshop classroom. The Eckerts also added 180 seats to the Country Restaurant, doubling the space for diners to enjoy everything from their famous fried chicken to the pork sausage skillet complete with sauerkraut, a dallop of mashed potatoes, green beans and even a side of warm sweet apples.
The ribbon will be cut on the new expansion on Tuesday, July 6 at 10:30 a.m., when the whole Eckert gang will gather from all over the world to celebrate 100 years serving the St. Louis and Illinois areas.
– Stacy Schultz
This article appears in Jun 1-30, 2010.