JOPLIN, Mo. —
Not many people in Joplin have worked at the same place doing more or less the same thing for 55 years.
At age 69, Larry Wilcoxson has decided to do something different. He’s hanging up his apron and closing the doors on Fred & Red’s Chili, an old-fashioned diner that has existed on Main Street for 88 years.
His daughter, Amber Wilcoxson Tankersley, announced via social media Monday that her father “has decided that it is time to hang up his grease stained chili apron and try his hand at retirement. Fred & Red’s will close its doors as near to April 15 as possible.”
PART OF COMMUNITY
Tankersley said the family has felt “privileged to have been a part of the Joplin community for so long.”
“One of my fondest memories of Fred & Red’s was when I was a kid,” said Melody Dickey, of Joplin. “My mom and I used to go there without my brother or dad, because she couldn’t afford to take us all.
“We would have tamales with chili on top and extra pickles. To this day, I have never eaten tamales at any restaurant other than Fred & Red’s, and the homemade ones made by my mom, of course.”
Kathy Hallacy, a former Joplin resident who lives in Webb City, said: “As a child, my parents, myself and my brother went to Fred & Red’s usually on the weekends. We always enjoyed ourselves with the wonderful food and family feeling of the restaurant. It has been a part of my family for years and a historic part of Joplin.”
Wilcoxson wants to sell the business, the land on which it sits, the fixtures and his secret recipes.
“I want to walk out before they carry me out of here,” he said. “I want to get out of it altogether. All I know is that I’m retiring.”
Wilcoxson started working at Fred and Red’s on Oct. 1, 1956. For the past 18 years, he has run the restaurant pretty much by himself.
The business was started in 1923 by Fred Herring, a miner, in a building at 10th and Main streets. Herring’s chili counter had 10 stools. The restaurant was known for its hamburgers, chili and tamales. Herring decided to experiment one day and ladle his chili over a plate of spaghetti. It would become the signature dish for Fred and Red’s.
The restaurant would expand and relocate in 1941, when Grover Crumbliss won a poker hand from the late Burl Garvin, a Joplin Realtor for many years. Garvin was unable to pay and offered Crumbliss the title to what then was a cornfield at 1719 S. Main St. A poultry house was located next door.
Wilcoxson said Crumbliss approached Herring about the land and enticed him to build a new restaurant there that would more than double the size of his existing restaurant. The new one would have 23 stools.
In an ironic twist, Wilcoxson has listed the property with Bob Garvin, who, like his father, Burl, is a Joplin Realtor.
The recipe for the chili is something that only Wilcoxson knows.
“Nothing about the recipe has changed,” he said. “We do not use any tomato products. Some people are allergic to tomatoes. They come in here, and we tell them we do not use tomato, but they don’t believe us.”
The recipe changed once during the Vietnam War when it was difficult to get two key ingredients, cumin and oregano. The Far East cumin and oregano were more potent than that grown in the United States. To compensate, the restaurant had to use more of the U.S.-grown cumin and oregano than it normally would.
The restaurant traditionally was closed for the month of August because, in the early days, it was not air conditioned, and because Wilcoxson’s father, Red, liked to go fishing.
ENTER RED
William R. “Red” Wilcoxson had supplied meat to the restaurant for many years. In 1956, Herring asked Wilcoxson to be his partner. In 1973, Herring sold his share of the restaurant to the Wilcoxsons. Larry Wilcoxson later purchased his father’s interest in the place.
Wilcoxson credits the chili parlor’s success and appeal to a hands-off approach of leaving things the way they’ve always been.
“That’s what our customers have told us,” he said. “They don’t want us to change.”
Chili by the ton
AT ONE TIME, the restaurant was open seven days a week. In those days, a ton of chili would be cooked weekly, along with 7,000 tamales.
Local News
Related Photos
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Larry Wilcoxson, owner of Fred & Red’s Chili in Joplin, shows off the large pot in which innumerable batches of the restaurant’s staple have simmered to perfection. Wilcoxson plans to close the business and hopes to sell the property. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
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Larry Wilcoxson, owner of Fred & Red's Chili, talks about the history of the Joplin restaurant. Globe/T. Rob Brown
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A classic diner layout awaits customers at Fred & Red's Chili, "famous since 1923." Globe/T. Rob Brown
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A sight rarely seen: empty seats at Fred & Red's Chili in Joplin. Globe/T. Rob Brown
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Fred & Red's, which has been up for sale for a while, will be closing soon. Globe/T. Rob Brown
Discussion
UPDATED with photos: Fred & Red’s Chili closing after serving up consistency for 88 years
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