Keys Cafe & Bakery Celebrates 50 Years Of Serving The Food You Grew Up With

Serving fresh, made-to-order dishes and made-from-scratch bakery items in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere has been the driving force behind 50 years of service at Keys Cafe.

On Nov. 1, 1973, Founder Barbara Hunn opened the doors to the first Keys Cafe on Raymond Avenue. Barbara, her family, and all of the Keys’ staff have been welcoming in diners as members of the family ever since.

Barbara and her extended family gathered in early October to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Barbara opening that first Keys Cafe. Providing the Raymond Avenue community, and every one to come, a family restaurant serving quality made-to-order food, baked-that-day treats, and a familiar feeling of community that the staff provides for every customer that walks in.

Barbara can still be found working shifts several days a week at the Raymond Avenue location where she helps her grandson Grant, who now manages the location. But beyond that, she also keeps a regular schedule at several other locations where she still makes the delicious soup customers order on the regular.

And beyond Raymond, every Keys Cafe you enter is owned and operated by a member of Barbara’s family. So when she walks in to make her special soup or work a shift, she’ll be right alongside one of her children or grandchildren keeping on the family tradition she started.

During the 50th anniversary celebration at the North End Event Center on the State Fairgrounds, all four of Barbara’s children were on stage with her to celebrate with 500 or more members of the extended Keys family the enduring success and legacy of Keys.

Barbara spoke to the crowd saying, “I am so blessed and it is all because of all of you,” she said sweeping her hand across the event center. “I could not have done it alone, thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

Customers, employees of the present and past, as well as vendors, friends, and family members not working directly in the family business, filled up the hall. While enjoying the buffet, the famous Keys Cafe Chocolate Cake, and catching up with people they may see every day or haven’t seen in years, everyone was able to celebrate what Keys has meant to them and their communities.

It was a Keys Family Reunion.

50 years in, the Hunn family isn’t slowing down, having announced earlier this month that Keys Cafe will open another Keys location in Stillwater in early 2024. Bringing the number of restaurants owned-and-operated by the Hunn family up to nine(!) across the east metro area.

Barbara’s son Roy and his wife Amy will own the new Stillwater location, and of course, one of their daughters will manage it. She learned the family business working with her parents at the Hudson Keys Cafe. Showing once again that Keys is truly a family tradition that will keep living on.

The new Stillwater Keys plans to provide a warm, comfortable and relaxed environment. Where staff and customers share moments building friendships around ‘The Food You Grew Up With.’ But if you’ve been to any of its eight predecessors, you wouldn’t have had any reason to expect otherwise.