Nostalgic Style at Mark’s In and Out
Livingston
By Stella Fong
Photography by Stella Fong, Stu Hoefle and contributed by Mark’s In and Out
Scott Black, owner of Mark’s In and Out in Livingston says “nostalgia never goes out of style.” For over forty years, he has been in style selling ‘“Famously Fresh”, 100% Pure Beef Burgers out of the landmark 1954 drive in located at the corner of West Park and 8th Streets. The craving for nostalgia is obvious with long lines found in front of the red and white building with neon lighting.
My mother would give me and my brother a quarter to get French fries in the summer.
- SCOTT BLACK
“I grew up at the end of 8th Street. My mother would give me and my brother a quarter to get French fries in the summer,” Black remembers of riding his bike to Mart’s In and Out. “She just wanted to get us out of the house.” After attending Eastern Montana College (now MSU Billings), and studying film and television at MSU Bozeman, Black returned to Livingston in the late ‘70s to start a photo studio business with his brother, Mark.
The original owner, Mart Phillips, established Mart’s In and Out in 1954. “When we bought it in 1980, we wanted to keep it as original as we could,” Black says of using his brother’s name, Mark, only, changing the “t” to a “k” in renaming the business. “We got two hours of training before Mart went away. It was a sink or swim situation,” Black recalls of learning the business before opening in May of 1980.
Currently Mark is no longer a partner and Scott heads up the burger operation, mostly coming in during the mornings to help setup and fill orders. He opens seasonally, saying “I follow the dates of baseball season from April 1 to about mid October.” “We take the winter to recharge, to try to do other things. I take care of a honey-do list that is as long as my arm,” Black says with a laugh.
Black’s staff is made up of mostly sixteen-year-old workers along with “kids back home from college.” This year he started with his core staff of six people. Usually, he has his staff in place, but this year, “I am hiring on the go” experiencing the same difficulty other restaurants are having in recruiting people to work. Black finds he has to start training at “a more basic level.” As work challenges arise, he says, “When the going gets tough, the tough get training.”
“The Super Cheese Burger is the most popular. It has the best meat to bun ratio.”
The burgers at Mark’s In and Out are “made the old fashion way.” Up until this year, burger patties were made in house with a Hollymatic patty machine. These days, Diamond N Meats, a butcher shop in town, houses the patty machine, making and delivering 1600 1.6-ounce patties daily. “The burgers are fresh, never frozen. Freezing allows ice crystals to form within the cells, piercing the walls, allowing the juice and flavors to run out.”
“The Super Cheese Burger is the most popular. It has the best meat to bun ratio.” A customer can choose a single, double and triple burger from the menu and has received requests for five patties. “YHM. Young Hungry Men. They sustain every hamburger franchise in the industry,” Black shares, with a laugh.
Mark’s uses Wilcoxon’s Ice Cream for the shakes, a local Livingston ice cream institution established in 1917. Crowd favorites include: “Anything with marshmallows. The marshmallows make the shake sweet,” Black says. “Chocolate marshmallow, Chocolate peanut butter and strawberry shakes are popular.”
To this day, Black continues to pay the franchise fee from Paul De Angelis in Wisconsin for the “Pizza Burger.” For $20 a year, he has the rights to sell the burger with the secret blend of Italian herbs and spices that he mixes with tomato puree. The burger comes on a Franz bun with grilled onions, the secret sauce and Parmesan and American cheeses melted on top of the meat. “It has a certain flavor and the smell of pizza. Every time I smell it, it takes me right back to the first day we opened in 1980,” he says fondly.
Black’s menu has expanded over the years from the eleven items on the original menu when a “BEEF BURGER” costed 29¢, “SUPER BURGER” and “PIZZA BURGER”, 39¢ and “FRIES” at 24¢. He wants to simplify the menu back to what it was but knows that it will take some time and consideration.
He laments a bit about his summer success, missing regular customers who do not want to fight the tourist crowd. “We can go hours without seeing a familiar face,” comforted when a friend or local customer stops by, yet he enjoys the diverse crowd his business attracts.
Black derives satisfaction in “watching his young crew develop, seeing kids with no skills turn into solid kitchen workers,” believing that cooking skills can always provide a job when needed.
For the Livingston community, tourists and his workers, Black will continue to create nostalgia that will always be in tastefully in style.