Loma Linda keeps it all in the family for decades
Written by Brigitta Burks | News Editor | BBurks@toledofreepress.comLoma Linda is a family-run business — but it’s clear that Adela Mundt is the boss among the bosses.
Standing under 5 feet tall, Adela will always be the leader, said Jeanie Kunzer, the manager who used to be married to Adela’s son.
“No matter what, she’s got her name out there. She’s, what’s the word I’m looking for …,” Kunzer said.
“The boss,” interjected Alfred Mundt, Adela’s husband of 30 years.
Adela and her family have been a force on the Toledo restaurant scene for years. The family, which included siblings Connie Barron, Delores King, Rhoda Baldwin, Marie Hinojosa and Arturo Cavazos, opened Loma Linda in 1955 and has been involved in many restaurants, including Ventura’s, Arturo’s Fritz & Alfredo’s, Barron’s Café and Casa Barron.
Adela Mundt and her family at their restaurant Loma Linda.
“You didn’t have an eight-hour shift. There was no such thing as an eight-hour shift. You worked from the time you came in to the time that it was time to close up. And you couldn’t say you were tired,” Adela said.
The restaurant started out as the Last Roundup before transitioning to serve Mexican-style food and going by Loma Linda. A family friend taught Adela’s mother how to cook in regional style of Puebla, Mexico, Adela said.
Originally, the restaurant’s menu didn’t have prices on it.
“If you came in and looked like you were poor, you didn’t pay much,” Kunzer said.
Today sales are steady, although Adela has observed some differences since the beginning.
“People don’t order the way they used to. They don’t overeat like they used to. They don’t overdrink like they used to. And your sales stay pretty much the same,” she said.
Adela added that she is grateful to the Toledo-area community for her family’s success.
“At this time in our lives, we have acquired a lot. And I’m not saying monetary. I’m saying we’ve acquired things people dream about,” she said, adding that she is passing on some of that success to her younger family members like Kunzer.
Kunzer started working at Loma Linda in 1978. Although she and Adela’s son Mike divorced, she continued working at the eatery.
“Something that once was isn’t anymore,” she said. “There’ll be customers that come in and say, ‘You won’t see me anymore. I just got divorced and my wife, we’ve been here for forever, she won this in the divorce.’ And I’m like, ‘What?!’”
Loma Linda is located at 10400 Airport Hwy., Swanton. Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.
For more information, visit the website www.toledostripletreat.com.
Tags: Adela Mundt, Jeanie Kunzer, Loma Linda
