Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynette Purdy.
Hi Lynette, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My husband, Bill, and I have always loved cooking and feeding good food to lots of our friends and family. As our children started to get older and graduate, we discovered that there was not a lot of good options for catering in our area and began to entertain the thoughts of having a commercial kitchen to be able to start a business. As we had talked more and more about it we started to look into what options might be available. We both work in Chisholm and the drive-in in town that had been open since 1962 had closed, but had remained off the market for a while. One day Bill was driving by and saw the owner there and we decided he should stop and ask what their plan was and within a week we were signing the purchase agreement! The former owner was excited that someone was going to come in and give the building a fresh start while still respecting the history of Chisholm. It all had happened so fast that we had not even talked about a business name, but Bill and the kids all felt that Nette’s was the most obvious choice because all of their friends, for years, had said they were going to Momma Nette’s for dinner.. So, now we have extended that family to include community members, visitors, and all of our furry friends that visit us on the deck or in cars. While we did take over the drive-in business for the summer months, we kept true to our original hopes and offer catering in a variety of ways throughout the year. We have now upgraded smokers twice and have added many items to our catering menu. In order to help families keep things affordable we offer items for pick-up, delivery, or full service if the event calls for it. We have had the honor to help with events that range from a family brunch to several hundred cyclists coming to town and it has been a total joy.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have enjoyed the journey, but it has not been easy. The drive-in had been a staple in town for so many years, not everyone embraced the change right away but we stuck by our convictions of making fresh grilled to order sandwiches that offered a quality choice over fast food. The more people tried us, the more the word got out! Then in 2025 the mining industry took a hard hit locally and we worked hard to make affordable options for our community and they continued to show up to make sure our community small business kept going. The cycling community has been an amazing group of people to invigorate the Iron Range. We also have been able to serve a lot of people on their way boating, fishing, and camping on their way North and most of the time they stop on their way home as well. We strive to improve all of the time. We continue to make improvements to our deck seating each year and were voted the Best of Outdoor Dining on the Range for 2025. We keep our menu options small in order to guarantee the best quality with the most efficiency possible. We reduce waste whenever we can. One example of doing this is making ice cubes out of all of our drinks. This way we have no waste at the end of the day and our customers never have a watered down drink. Our family has been a wonderful support system and have helped us put in some long hours at times to make sure we are a success, and we can’t thank them enough.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We run a drive-in service restaurant with Char-grilled burgers and Chicken that are made to order and always fresh. We also do catering with smoked meats and a variety of family recipes. We take pride in making our own spices and sauces and having personal service for our customers. Bill does an amazing job with the kitchen, while I take the lead on the front and the drinks. When it comes to catering and recipes, we are a team in duties and in recipes! Attention to detail and flavors sets us apart from other diners. We take pride in everything that we send out, from a single burger to a wedding dinner we take pride that everything tastes good.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Staying true to what we value and making sure we are meeting the needs of our customers is a balance. We may not be able to make everyone happy or serve every dietary need is sometimes hard for me to accept, but the fact that we make the effort makes so many people show appreciation for what we do and that always warms my heart. Also being a family run business is wonderful, but making sure that we have quality family time outside of the business is another important factor in our success. We always appreciate our staff and the hard work they put in for us and we try to always show them how much a part of our family they are.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nettesdiner.com
- Instagram: Nette’s Diner & Catering
- Facebook: Nette’s Diner & Catering
