Food Center turns 20

Jon Henaman, owner, opened the Food Center back in 1998. This July marks his 20th year in business. EJ Photo/Travis Charlson

Tucked away behind the soft hum of glass-doored refrigerators a small fish bowl sits on Jon Henaman’s desk in his back office at the Food Center. 

“He’s back there. He’s getting old, he takes it easy most days.” Henaman said about his fish, hiding behind aquarium decor. 

A black and white American flag with a single red stripe hangs on the wall, representing firefighters across the nation. A few pictures drawn by his kids are stuck to the wall, tokens of affection from the days before they’d grown up so fast. 

With his mild, easy-going demeanor, Henaman finds time to not only run the Food Center, but also volunteers as St. Ansgar’s Fire Chief. 

“We don’t get much time away from here, it’s kind of like babysitting all of the time,” Henaman said.

Henaman bought St. Ansgar’s grocery story in 1998—this July marks the Food Center’s 20th year in business with Jon as the owner. 

“Schubert’s had the grocery store, and they were retiring,” Henaman said.

Henaman had just finished up serving 4 years in the army and 4 years in the guards, and was deployed during the first Gulf War as part of Desert Storm. 

“I went right in the Army after school,” Henaman said. “Sue and I got married, and the same day we got back from Ft. Bragg, I got deployed, so she didn’t care for the army a whole lot. So when I was done with my four years, we wanted to move back here, to something other than the military life.

“It was interesting work, and sometimes I regret not staying in. I liked what I did, The camaraderie is unbelievable. You don’t really find that in the civilian world. But, I had a few friends that stayed in, and on their fourth, fifth deployment over there, well, they didn’t come home. So I feel pretty fortunate to still be around.” 

The Henamans then settled down where they grew up, and that’s when they bought the grocery store. 

“It was pretty difficult at first, but it turned out to be a pretty good deal,” Henaman said. “There’s a lot to it. Going from a paratrooper to selling breads is a big change.”

The Food Center has been around for a while too, but Henaman isn’t about to hide under some rubber seaweed and plastic coral like his desk companion. 

The Food Center already added on to the front of the store recently, adding on a pop room and a beer cave, and Henaman said the next project is to put in a loading dock and add on to the back of the store.

“It should help us unload truck a lot quicker, give us more room to move.” Henaman said “Now we use the skid loader to unload, and in that tiny little room, you get six pallets in there and there’s hardly any room to move. You’re running into each other.”

“It’s been great,” said long time employee Sandy Eberling about working for Henaman. “[He knows] when to stop and talk with people, and when to get work done.” 

“Sandy has actually been here longer than me,” Henaman said. “When Sue was in high school, they worked together at the east end grocery store used to be up there, and then Schubert’s moved here and built this, and they worked here together.”

If he wasn’t busy enough with the store, Henaman took over as St. Ansgar’s Fire Chief two years ago when Jerry Rachut retired.

“It wasn’t something I had planned on doing. When Jerry retired, there were four other guys in the department that had seniority over me, and they didn’t really want to do it, and I was dumb enough to to say ‘yeah, I’ll do it!’,” Henaman joked.  “It’s been good, I’ve had to learn a lot there too. It’s not just the fire chief, you’re on the 911 board, rural board meetings, budgets to figure out, right now we’re trying to get new equipment.” 

Henaman continues to stay busy and asked if he plans on sticking around another 20 years said “Gee, I hope to be retired by then!”