The White Barn: a NoCo tradition for 29 years

Despite its small size and, some would say, dodgy location, the White Barn in Moline Acres serves up nearly 1,000 pounds of fresh hamburgers every week.

If you’ve been to Crown Candy or Dad’s Cookies or Eat-Rite Diner, you’ll understand what I mean. Every so often, a local business sticks around long enough, and changes so little over the years, it’s almost like you stumbled into a time warp. The food is the same. The decor is the same. And the people – those interesting characters who color the business and shape its unique feel – well, they’re still doing exactly what they’ve always done, and all of us are just lucky to enjoy it.

That’s the story of the White Barn, a no-frills hamburger shack in Moline Acres that has barely changed one bit since 1981. It’s also the story of Rich Robson, the 75-year-old chef and original owner whose beaming smile and juicy burgers draw devout customers from all over St. Louis.

Rich Robson with his "beautiful ladies" - current White Barn owner Debbie Mueller (left) and her sister Lisa, who both grew up in North County

Robson opened the White Barn 29 years ago, on Halloween, following more than two decades as the owner of a lunch truck. Once known as “Dick the Diner,” he peddled sandwiches and hamburgers outside of companies like GM and Carter Carburetor, until one day he noticed a “for sale” sign on a little barn-shaped building on Chambers Road, right next to the Moline Acres Police Department.

Built in 1968 as a drive-thru dairy, the barn measured just 481 square feet, but to Robson, it was just the right size. “Coming from a lunch truck, I didn’t need a lot of room,” he says, ever the cheerful optimist. “And I need even less now that my hair is gone!”

The belly-busting, one-pound White Barn double cheeseburger

Indeed, size doesn’t seem to matter at the Barn, where more than 90 pounds of fresh beef is ground, balled and cooked every day. Customers order at one window then pick up their food, 5-10 minutes later, at another window just a few feet away. Inside, 3-4 employees prep, cook and bag in nearly perfect precision, constantly on the move.

“I guess our volume is pretty incredible,” says Debbie Mueller, a salt-of-the-earth, lifelong North County gal who bought the hamburger stand from Robson in 2003 and now works there five days a week. “A restaurant equipment guy came by recently and couldn’t believe the business we do on a 24-inch grill and two fryers. Especially for a place that doesn’t advertise!”

Perhaps it’s due to the Barn’s savory burgers, which are made using meat from nearby Riverview Dairy. Or maybe it’s the fact that you can get a 1/2-pound cheeseburger, fries and a soda for the bargain price of just $4.50, always served with loads of personality.

“We get a lot of utility guys coming here,” Mueller says, just as one of her regular “boyfriends” pulls up to the drive-thru. “Hey there, honey! What can I get you today?”

Rich's White Barn burgers, formed into 1/2-pound balls every day

After jotting down his order – all in shorthand, on a piece of scrap paper – Mueller tells me that many of her customers grew up eating White Barn and now come from all over St. Louis to bring their kids back. “They like the burgers, but I think they really love Rich,” she says. “If they call him Dick the Diner, you know they’re from way back.”

“It’s just my pretty face,” Robson jokes. “Actually, I’ve been frying here almost every day since 1981 and I still don’t know how to cook hamburgers. I just do this for fun.”

Nonsense, Mueller retorts. Not only does Robson cook great burgers – “worth the weight,” as the Barn’s slogan says – but he also makes delicious pork steak, meatloaf, catfish, Polish sausage and a whole array of fried delights, including funnel cake!

For her part, Mueller keeps the restaurant stocked and ready, often buying ingredients from local vendors. “We try to stay local whenever we can,” she says. “Our sausage is from Piekutowski’s in North City, our buns are from Wonder, our soda is from Vess. We also get a lot from Tocco Foods on East Prairie.”

And from now on, all of those orders will be doubled. That’s because Mueller and her husband recently opened the second White Barn location – in the former Rally’s, near the Florissant Post Office.

White Barn #2, in Florissant

Robson, a grandfather of five who lives in Ferguson, won’t be working there, which is too bad. But the new restaurant will still be serving his original recipes and maintaining the Barn’s legacy of good, simple food for a reasonable price. “Rich created all of this,” Mueller says. “We’re just lucky that he let us be a part of it.”

The original White Barn is open Monday through Saturday, 11am-8pm, and is located at 2457 Chambers Road, 63136. Cash only.  White Barn #2, which takes cash and debit cards, is open the same hours and is located at 2182 N. Lindbergh, 63033.

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