CALDWELL — The city’s oldest restaurant has a secret recipe that has allowed it to remain operational for nearly six decades: unchangeable core values.
Since its establishment in 1969, Gem In & Out has operated on its core values of family, community and humility to serve the Caldwell community and beyond bringing feelings of nostalgia not only with each step taken inside, but also with every bite of food from its decades-old menu.
Gem In & Out sits at the gateway of Caldwell, located at 322 Cleveland Blvd., just four blocks from the city’s welcome sign with its motto “more to offer” after entering Cleveland Boulevard from State Highway 19.
The bittersweet nostalgia has enabled the decades-old burger joint to become a staple for the Caldwell and classic car community.
Every Friday evening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Gem In & Out hosts a car meet where classic car collectors gather, adding to the restaurant’s oldies-style atmosphere, and has helped attract customers from all walks of life.
Even despite operating during the country’s high economic challenges, the restaurant staff has relied on the idea that if they took care of their community, the community would take care of them.
After successfully getting through tough times that other business owners may have not, former longtime owner Tim Nielsen decided it was time to hang up the gloves four years ago and pass a family-owned business to his daughter-like employee of over 30 years, Kimberly Egan.
LEAVING A LEGACY
Gem In & Out was founded in 1961, then purchased by Nielsen’s parents in 1969. The name Gem represents Idaho’s nickname “The Gem State” and In & Out was used as a generic term to describe fast food. Nielsen then purchased the burger joint from his parents in 1981 when he was just 22 years old, vowing to keep the same recipes on their classic food menu items.
And while the world’s technology has advanced, operations that have successfully worked remain the same at Gem In & Out, by still using an old drive-thru sound system, cash register and hand note orders. It’s a system that has been Nielsen’s golden rule over the years: “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
It was imperative for Nielsen that he continued the legacy of the small and independently owned burger joint his parents established, especially as numerous fast-food corporations took over many locations across the country.
“I wanted it to continue and survive because the time and effort I put into it is kind of a legacy, and corporate America has taken over everything, and there is nowhere better to eat than a ma-and-pa establishment,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen’s father died in 2019, but his mother remains alive and filled with pride to know the restaurant she and late husband opened is still fully operational as it was 57 years ago.
There is also a far deeper importance of keeping the same legacy recipes that were established by Nielsen’s family in 1969. After someone who grew up going to Gem In & Out relocates to a new city and later returns to Caldwell, those exact flavors they taste are meant to provide deep human connection through memories from the past.
“Eating is a way of connecting, bonding, reminiscing, and sharing,” Nielsen said. “Fond memories are very important for people’s psychological and mental well-being.”
Although he never had children of his own, Nielsen chose to pass down his family’s restaurant to someone who over time became a daughter-figure to him. Egan, who is soon to be Siler after her wedding in June — where Nielsen will walk her down the aisle — has worked at Gem In & Out since she was 16 years old.
Now 47, she hopes to continue the values and legacy of the Nielsen family that they created in their establishment. She is also teaching them to her 22-year-old son, Aaron Egan, in hopes that he will become the owner one day and either pass it on to his children or someone who is just as passionate about keeping Gem In & Out’s reputation alive.
“I just want Gem In & Out forever, I just want it to be forever,” Kimberly Egan said.
TAKING CARE OF THE COMMUNITY
When customers walk into the bright red and white restaurant, they are greeted with dozens of plaques on the walls with pictures of a city recreation sports team, and with the words “Thank you for sponsoring us.”
Rather than using their advertising funds elsewhere, Gem In & Out decided to pour those funds into supporting the community, reaching generations of families. After Nielsen’s sports were sponsored as a child, the non-negotiable decision to sponsor a children’s recreational sports team every year is a way the restaurant chooses to give back to the world.
“It takes a village and we are one little structure in this village that has given what we can with no expectations of anything in return,” Nielsen said.
It is something Egan has continued as the new owner, donating to more community-centered establishments such as charity auctions, the Caldwell Fire Department’s Burn Out Fund that helps displaced residents with financial support, and sends gift certificates to schools as positive encouragement.
“It’s karma; what you do for the world, the world will do back for you,” Nielsen said.
‘GEM FAMILY’
Many in the community did not notice the change in ownership four years ago, and that was done intentionally by Egan and Nielsen, because while there was a new quarterback in charge, the plays are staying the same.
“I like people to know that anything that was going on then, is still going on now,” Egan said.
And although Nielsen still makes himself available for any questions needed, he said he gets to watch Egan thrive as an owner up from the grandstands.
“I’m very proud, and it brings a very strong sense of joy to me knowing that what I had worked for all of my life basically, is still continuing — the legacy is going to continue,” Nielsen said.
Work becomes family at Gem In & Out, and for Egan, who did not think she would one day become its owner, it has been there for her during all stages of her life — from the biggest heartaches and loss of her father, to graduation and the birth of her son. And through it all, she has had Nielsen by her side guiding her on how to be a good leader, and person.
“I’ve always been able to hear his words and learn from him. He’s a good teacher, and he does everything in a certain way,” she said.
But the family dynamic reaches far beyond the kitchen at Gem In & Out; it also reaches its regular customers. In Egan’s role, she gets to connect with the loyal customers, knowing them by their name and their order by memory, sometimes even using her ray-of-sunshine personality to turn their days around.
“They know about our lives, and we know about their lives,” Egan said. “It’s just like a Gem family.”
Customers come from all over the Treasure Valley, including Sandy Waters from Nampa, who goes to Gem In & Out once a month for lunch with her sister. The restaurant and its Gem Burger that comes with ham and cheese help remind the 71-year-old of Nampa’s Red Steer Drive Inn.
“The reasonable price, excellent food, and it reminds me of another drive-in that in my teen years I used to go to — it’s home,” Waters said as she described Gem In & Out.
The same burger joint with the same values will remain in good hands with Egan as the owner, according to Nielsen, who is spending his retirement by enjoying hobbies and joining a civic group.
“I’ve done my time, and it’s time for me to sit back and bring it all in,” Nielsen said.
Dining and Cooking