Early start required to feed president, visitors

CEDAR RAPIDS - Long before his usual 9 a.m. start, Jim Hanson unlocked the Maid-Rite West's doors Wednesday and fired up his grills.

But that was OK. He asked to feed President Barack Obama during his Cedar Rapids stop.

“My wife and I got here at 5, another girl came in at 6:30 and we had to have it all out there by 7:30,” said the owner of the eatery at 621 First Ave. SW.

Hanson delivered “30 pounds of meat, 20-some pounds of baked beans and 20-some pounds of potato salad” to Conveyor Engineering & Manufacturing, enough to feed 120 people.

“I did volunteer it,” Hanson said. “My son works out there at Conveyor and I said, ‘If they want something to eat, I'll bring the stuff out.'”

“I was hoping we would get to serve it but they wanted the self-service so we just dropped it off,” said Hanson, who was able to watch Obama's speech at the plant.