The Smorgasphere™
Half a Revolution in Smorgasbord Technology
An enterprising restaurateur may have revolutionized smorgasbord food serving by eliminating the cumbersome lugging of trays to and from the kitchen. Donald Wulff, owner of Don’s Colonial House in Manteno, Ill., devised what he has trademarked as the rotary Smorgasphere™ food server. Half of the Smorgasphere™ is in the kitchen and half in the dining room. When food trays need replenishing in the dining room, the Smorgasphere™ is rotated 180 degrees so that filled trays from the kitchen appear within seconds in front of the diners. The Rotary Club of Manteno’s regular meeting place is Don’s Colonial House.
The Rotarian - March, 1968
Welcome to another installment of weird things I learned from collecting. This installment will focus on the future of the smorgasbord. I originally wrote a hasty piece about this back in 2017, but I feel like I didn’t do enough justice to the Smorgasphere™.
I never know what I am going to learn about the stuff I collect. Case in point, the The Smorgasphere™.
I randomly purchased the postcard above back in 2016 and immediately had to find any information I could about the Smorgasphere™. I needed to know how the Smorgasphere™ worked and how the Smorgasphere™ changed the world as we know it.
In this Ted Talk I intend to use the word Smorgasphere™ more than you thought humanly possible.
Donald Wulff was a truck stop operator, restaurateur, Navy man, Rotarian and entrepreneur. Wulff had been running a successful smorgasbord-style restaurant called Don’s Colonial House in Manteno, Illinois, in conjunction with a truck stop he owned called Don’s Truck Stop. Manteno had a population of around 6,000 people in the 1960s and the truck stop and restaurant thrived in the small town, but after years Wulff noticed a problem in the restaurant.
A lot of time was being spent bringing food from the kitchen to the buffet and vice versa. Often the food would not remain warm or a server or kitchen worker would drop the food, creating a mess. Wulff came up with a concept that was going to save time, money and change the buffet game.
He spent months designing and building a pilot model for the Colonial. The new idea was called The Smorgasphere.™
The idea behind the Smorgasphere™ was fairly simple. It was a buffet that was half in the kitchen and half in the dining area that could be rotated 180 degrees to keep food fresh and mess at a minimum. The idea worked. Business boom and Wulf had the idea was a success in the restaurant and Wulff had the idea to franchise the model The Smorgasphere™.
First, Wulff had to patent and trademark the Smorgasphere.™ I was able to find the patent information from the United States Patent Office. It has the whole kit, kaboodle and Smorgasphere™.
As you can see by the patent, the Smorgasphere™ was large and had quite a few moving parts.
Shortly after filing for a patent, Wulff placed ads in regional newspapers attempting to franchise his revolutionary concept.
An investment of $25,000 was required to have a Smorgasphere™, presumably just to pay for the construction of the machine and designing a space that accommodate it.
I have not found an evidence that any took Wulff up on his franchising opportunity. It’s shame. I am guessing the sheer cost of the Smorgasphere™ was too much to handle. $25,000 in the 1960s is a lot of money, especially if your are operating a smorgasbord,
What happened after the Smorgasphere™ didn't take off? Short answer is that I don't know. I cannot find any mention of the Smorgasphere™ after 1968. The address in the personal ad must have been a business office as the street view doesn’t look like a restaurant could have been at that site.
I was able to find was a postcard image of the Colonial House Smorgasphere™ sometime later. The entire thing has a different. Gone is the red and white coloring, the bubble top and sleek styling.
The Smorgasphere™ in the postcard shows the ubiquitous 1970s wood paneling, a scalloped top with lighting and completely covered dome. I cannot tell from the image if it evens rotates anymore.
Donald H. Wulff, passed away in 2015 at the age of 88.
I had a difficult time finding much information on Don’s Colonial House in Manteno. According to Donald Wulff’s obituary, he owned and operated Don's Restaurant in Manteno for 42 years.
Don was also a member of the Knights of Columbus, Kankakee American Legion, where he was also on the honor guard, and St. Joseph Church in Manteno.
Godspeed, Donald Wulff, it’s a shame the Smorgasphere™ never took off, as I think it’s a pretty good idea and should have changed the way we think about smorgasbords by 180 degrees.