New name, owners at TJ’s Cafe

The former TJ’s Cafe at 307 E. 4th St. in Villisca is under new ownership.
After more than a decade, current café owners Jon and Tracy Spunaugle made the decision to sell the café to Marvin and Jane Albertie.
“We had it 14 years, and, I’ve actually worked through it with them. It was bought by Tracy’s mom Dixie Black and her sister Laverna Long in 2003 before we bought it from them in 2010, so it’s been in the family since 2003, 21 years,” said Spunaugle.
While the Spunaugles had enjoyed their tenure, he said they had reached the point where they felt it was time to sell.
“We had great clientele, and it was hard work. I know Tracy had mixed feelings about selling because there’s been people that’s been our customers for the whole time, if not before, when the prior owners were there. I know to Tracy, for sure, it was a very rewarding job, and after 14 years, it was just kind of time to go,” commented Jon. “For Tracy, I know the hardest thing about the sale was all the regular people that she wasn’t going to be able to see regularly anymore. We both enjoyed it, but it was just time.”
While plans were to sell the café in July, the sale finally closed at the end of October. Jon said he had tremendous faith in the Alberties.
“I was able to learn their vision a little bit, so it made the sale easier because we knew they were going to come in, and they wanted to kind of keep the same clientele, and to keep the same food for now. In a lot of ways, I know Marvin and Jane are going to keep it much as it is, and I’m sure they’ll succeed,” Spunaugle said.
As for Marvin and Jane Albertie, this is the first time they’ve been to Southwest Iowa, and both are happy to be here.
“We were born and raised in Wisconsin and lived there for 40 years, then we had a short stint where we lived in Omaha for almost a year. Then we ended up moving to Utah for eight years. And now we’re here in Iowa, in Villisca,” Marvin explained.
Jane described the path they took to move from Utah here to the Villisca area.
“I had been slowly migrating with my job west. And I had planned on moving to California. Then I thought Hawaii would be a nice place to retire. And maybe we would end up there. I was talking to my friend one day, and I said Marvin is always looking for a restaurant or some sort of café, he loves cooking. So she told me TJ’s was for sale, and I thought, it’s small enough, it’s manageable enough. She said we needed to come and take a look at it, and so in March, we did, and fell in love with the location,” advised Jane.
Marvin said they looked at some other locations in Red Oak, Clarinda, and Corning, but they kept being drawn back to Villisca, as it felt like home. Since taking over, the support has been overwhelming.
“Not only the community of Villisca comes in here and supports us, we’re getting people from all over. When we met Jon and Tracy, we looked over the menu, looked over all the specials that they do. And we felt everything they were doing is great. Our philosophy when we came into this is it’s not broke. We’re not fixing it. So we’re continuing on with the exact menu. The staple of the place is the tenderloin, and it still is. We haven’t changed anything. We still do the daily specials,” stated Marvin.
In addition to having a place in Villisca to eat, Jane said people also have a place to congregate.
“I think that a community needs a place to gather and to meet your friends and socialize. This restaurant has, in the past, and still does, continue to be someplace that people can come. We have some tables in the back rearranged, and there’s a regular group that comes in on Tuesday nights, and they come in again on Wednesday mornings. They meet, gather, and socialize with their friends. And that’s important to have a place to do that,” commented Jane.
One major change to the café has been a rebranding. While considering names, the Alberties said, at the staff’s request, they were asked to incorporate the name of the former Rialto Theater.
We were going to go with the Villisca Family Cafe. Then as we toured the town, we got to see the Rialto Theater. I kind of fell in love with that building. Later on, we got a call from our friend Jill Goodman. She told us they were tearing down the movie theater this week. That was the first hint of the question of calling the café The Rialto Café, and then we heard it more and more, and it clicked. We had proceeded with an attorney to formally change the name to the Villisca Family Café, and then we went back to the attorney and had him change things to officially rebrand as The Rialto Café,” advised Marvin. “We’re going to eventually theme this out to part of the movie theater. We’ll have little things, pictures from the old cafe. We have a couple projectors in the back that we got from the museum. We’re going to put them in glass and display them, as well as old pictures of the town so the people that are older can see pictures of themselves from earlier days and recapture those great memories. Already people have come in that loved the Rialto Theater and have thanked us for incorporating the Rialto into our name.”
Marvin has taken over the cooking duties at the café, and for him, cooking is a passion.
“First of all, I’m Italian. I started cooking when I was six or seven years old with Mom. And I just kind of learned it and grew to love it. One thing I found interesting even between Iowa and Wisconsin, I never realized that there was so much difference in cultures of flavors,” Marvin explained. “I’m learning now how to adjust to the Iowa cultures, and learning their way of cooking, and what they like. So I have brought some of my flair in, and we’re getting positive reactions from the community and our customers.”
While keeping the menu largely the same, Marvin said he plans to incorporate some new things as specials.
“Recently, we served a shepherd’s pie, and we heard a lot of people that it had been years since they’ve had it. I thought that would be a nice special to throw out. So yeah, we’re kind of bringing a little bit of the new flair in on the special side. But trying to hold the tradition at the same time,” said Marvin.
Jane added they’ll continue to see what sells well and what does not and tailor the menu further to their clientele. Another thing that isn’t changing is the faces people see when they come to eat.
“We did retain most of the staff from TJ’s. And we’re grateful for that. They’re the face of this cafe. They’re the ones that knew all the people. They know the business.
It was very important to retain them. So, we were happy that we were able to do that. And they’ve been a big help to us. We weren’t running a cafe in Utah. They’ve been able to offer lots of helpful suggestions and they’ve been very nice and supportive,” Jane said.
Marvin said in the short time that they’ve been in Villisca, it doesn’t feel like a job. It feels like a family. The Alberties already feel like welcomed members of the community.
“We participated in the Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the square during Christmas in Villisca, and we did a free will charity meal for the local fire department and EMS. We ended up raising $2,000, for those emergency responders,” Marvin commented.
Jane said one thing she’s looking forward to is expanding the ice cream line.
“They had vanilla ice cream and sold malts and shakes and ice cream for the pies. We’re going to do a flavor of the month. We got in peppermint stick ice cream for Christmas. Then this summer we’re to offer, like, two large malts for $10 one night a week and we’re going to add waffle bowls. It’s an additional option for people to come here and have a dish of ice cream and meet your friends here.”
The hours of operation will remain the same as they were, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the winter, and 11 a.m. to around 9 p.m. in the summer, Tuesday through Friday. Saturday, the café will open at 8 a.m. for breakfast and remain open until 8 p.m. in the winter and around 9 p.m. in the summer, and closed Sunday, and Mondays.
You can follow The Rialto Café on Facebook at facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568169714934, or call them at 826-9342.