The Chalet Suzanne Restaraunt and historic inn was founded in 1931 by Bertha Hinshaw.

Bertha was from a wealthy northern family, and spent much time during her youth on European tours. She married Carl Hinshaw, Sr. in the early 20's and moved to Lake Wales with the intention of developing the land that they had invested in with J. L. Kraft, the famous cheese maker. When the land boom crashed, Kraft pulled out of the deal, and Carl died of Pneumonia soon after, leaving Bertha penniless with two young children to care for.

In order to survive, Bertha opened her home to travelers who enjoyed her gourmet meals. She also sold pies on Hwy 27 to bring in some extra money. Eventually they pushed some old barns and chicken coops together to form what is today the main restaraunt of the Chalet Suzanne. Through the years Bertha and her family added on to the Restarant and inn, eventually adding an airstrip to accomodate small engine planes. The Chalet is filled with the morrocan style lamps, Transylvanian tiles, and Swedish ashtrays that Bertha collected in her travels through the years, giving it a feeling somewhere between a Bohemian salon, a Swiss Chalet, and Munchkinland.

The Chalet received an excellent endorsement early on from Duncan Hines, the cake guy, in his travel book Adventures in Good Eating. They also brought people in by sending signs to New York City for friends to display in their shop windows inviting people to visit the Chalet Suzanne. And so began a long history of unorthadox advertizing.

Bertha's son Carl was very involved in the family business through the years. He was a naval aviator, and trainer in WWII, and the reason for the construction of the runway. He also had a talent for cooking, and was the one who formulated and canned the Chalet's many famous soups.

Carl's hostess and bride was Vita Petersen, who also grew up in Lake Wales. Vita, and avid newspaper reader-- she even reads the boring stuff in small print -- saw an announcement that people hoping to get their processed foods approved for use on NASA space flights was going on in Bartow, a nearby town. So they got their Romaine soup approved. Years later, Jim Irwin, a family friend and astronaut, requested Romaine soup for his trip to the moon on Apollo 15, and so it became "Moon Soup."

Through the 1 land crash, 5 fires, and 50 or so golden spoons later the Chalet is still around for us to enjoy with the 3rd and 4th generations of Hinshaws at the helm.

Click here to visit the Chalet's webpage