Buhler ? Joey’s Diner in Buhler seems the very quintessence of small town eateries, but behind the coffee pots and blueberry muffins bustles something remarkable.

The owner, Anna Pinto, is just 19 years old.

At an age when most teens are getting out in the world, she spends more than 80 hours a week behind the counter. She not only owns and runs the diner, she also owns and runs the town’s pizza and Italian food place, the Grape Vine. She has invested nearly $60,000 in the two and employs more than 20 people, including her mother.

The state of Kansas recently recognized her as its young entrepreneur of the year.

She runs two of Buhler’s three restaurants. Her restaurants provide people a place to share that cup of coffee or slice of pizza that makes a town an inviting place to live.

“It’s where people congregate and visit with one another,” said Mayor Marlo Oltman. “It becomes the life center of a small town.”

Pinto admits she’s still a little overwhelmed by what she’s done. She struggles up at 5:30 a.m. six days a week to open the diner. She doesn’t leave work until 9 p.m.

Christian ethic

She’d like to make a lot of money and retire early, she says, but that’s not her main reason for buying the restaurants. She’s a strong Christian and regards her businesses as both an employment agency and a counseling center for the town’s teenagers.

You can feel some of that when you walk into Joey’s Diner. Christian radio plays softly from the kitchen and a motivational saying is on the board behind the counter (“The man who never made a mistake never made anything”), but that’s subtle.

It’s not a preachy place. The waitress serves $2.79 hamburgers, the community bulletin board lists fall carnivals, the coffee is always within reach.

Pinto’s family settled outside Buhler when she was young. She attended Central Christian Elementary in Hutchinson for five years before the family’s money ran out. She was homeschooled for the last seven years.

Anna Pinto, 19, stands in Joey's Diner in Buhler. Pinto owns the diner, as well as the Grape Vine restaurant in Buhler. She recently was named by the state of Kansas as its young entrepreneur of the year.

Family affair

She picked up her entrepreneurial mind-set from her parents. Her father, Arnie, has been trying to market an invention for years. Her parents are heavily involved in a network marketing business called Quixtar, similar to Amway, except Quixtar uses the Internet. She listened to the motivational tapes. Talk of seizing opportunities and “thinking outside the box” filled the air at dinnertime.

By the time she turned 17, Pinto wanted to get out of the house and earn a little money. (Her mother said she has “expensive tastes.”) Pinto planned to go to college, like her older brothers, where she hoped to train as a counselor.

“I didn’t want to stay in Buhler,” Pinto said. “I wanted to see some of the world. I didn’t want to be tied down.”

Off and running

She got a job at Joey’s Diner and soon became the owner’s right hand. A year later, the owner asked Pinto to buy her out.

Pinto initially told her no. But when she learned another buyer was going to fire the three teenage waitresses who worked there, she agreed.

“I felt this (spiritual) prodding,” Pinto said. “And before I could change my mind, I called her up and told her I’d do it.”

A year later, she bought the former Gambino’s and renovated it into the Grape Vine. It is an even bigger leap than the diner, but the scenario was the same: at first refusal, and then daydreams about what she could do with it and what good she could do. The money became available through her grandparents. So, she bought it.

She has learned a lot since then, she said, some good and some bad.

One employee wouldn’t show up on time and when he did, was hard to deal with. She let it drag on and on.

“I was trying to give him a second chance. It turned out to be five or six chances,” she said and laughs ruefully.

But she also feels she has had an influence on the young men and women who work for her. Her faith reveals itself most when her young employees come to her with problems.

“You live (your faith). You show it by your actions what you believe,” she said. “I don’t try to shove it down their throats. But when they come to me for advice, I offer my Christian faith.”

Bossing mom

But she has successfully negotiated the difficult issue of being her mother’s employer. Anna and Joyce Pinto see eye to eye on most issues, but Anna has a softer heart about employees than her mother.

“It’s hard,” Anna said, “especially when I have to correct her. You have to do it gently.”

“I just have to stop on some things and remember it’s not my decision,” Joyce said.

Joyce said she has a lot of respect for her daughter and what’s she’s done, even if she thinks it’s a big bite to chew.

She remembers years ago when her daughter volunteered to take over her brother’s herd of sheep after he went off to college.

“She said, ‘That’s OK, I’ll just get up earlier’ and she is not a morning person,” Joyce said. “She never missed a day.”

So the teenager who shared the teenage dream of flying free and seeing some of the world is now stuck behind the counter for 14 hours a day, owing tens of thousands of dollars. She is more thoroughly tied to Buhler than ever.

But she said that’s OK with her, at least for now. She saw an opportunity and is making the most of it. The diner is now making money and while the Grape Vine isn’t yet, it’s only been open for four months and she’s encouraged.

“Occasionally, I have second thoughts,” Pinto said, “but I just know I made the right decision.”