Women in Business

Central Café was owned by George Peterson, a Greek immigrant who had come to the United States in 1912. By 1923, George had opened his restaurant, the Central Café, at 2021 Central Avenue in Kearney, which is the current location of Fanatics Sports Bar. This café became a well-known restaurant within the region, being described as one of the “best equipped and most comfortable restaurant between Denver and Omaha” by the Kearney Hub on July 2nd of 1924. The restaurant operated until 1959, when George and Venetia retired and settled down in Kearney. Although George was the owner of the restaurant, his wife Venetia likely served as the head waitress, helping him run the day-to-day operations of the restaurant. Unfortunately, however, there is little information about Venetia Peterson herself. Many of the newspaper articles of the time period focused on George Peterson, as he was the man who owned the business.

Around the same time, from 1942-1947, a restaurant down the road was owned and being run by a pair of sisters. Sophie Moon and her sister-in-law Mildred (Millie) Moon opened up the M&M Café (Moon & Moon Café) in 1942, which was located at 1917 Central Ave, just down the street from the Central Café. Sophie Moon was the owner of the restaurant as well as the head cook. Sophie had been working in restaurants throughout her life, after graduating from high school. She had worked in Jack Chapman’s café as their cook as well as being a server in a handful of other cafés at the time. Millie also worked at Jack Chapman’s café as a server, where these two women became good friends with one another. Millie met her husband while working in Jack Chapman’s Café, who was drafted in 1942. With the drafting of Millie’s husband, both Millie and Sophie decided to start up their own café as a means to earn money for their families during the war.

Together Sophie and Millie ran their restaurant only for a few years. While the café was up and running, both Sophie and Millie were there six days a week from open to close, making sure the restaurant was running smoothly and the place was clean. Sophie was the head cook while Millie was the head waitress, along with Sophie’s son as the dishwasher for the restaurant. Unfortunately, the café did not last very long. Millie’s husband came back from the war in 1945, after which she quit the café and went to live with her husband. Sophie ran the restaurant with her son and a few other individuals throughout the years. The M&M Café closed in 1947, when Sophie decided to sell the restaurant and began to cook at another café in Kearney, the Streamline Café. 

Buffalo County Historical Society Archives

Central Cafe Archive

A-1 Cafe Archive

Her Business Adventures on the Kearney "South Side" - Sophie Anna Williams-Kantaras-Moon

Howell, Alice Shaneyfelt . The First Greeks in Kearney - Part I. Buffalo Tales. February 1st 1986. 3 - 5.

Howell, Alice Shaneyfelt . The First Greeks In Kearney - Part II. Buffalo Tales. March 1st 1986. 5.