Fatboy flagbearer Burger-slinger brings Minnedosa its own version of the sloppy classic By: David Sanderson Posted: 2:23 PM CDT Friday, Jul. 10, 2026

MINNEDOSA — It could have been his chili-smothered secret.

One of the first things Zac Easton did four years ago after he and his wife Cass became the latest set of owners of the Dari Isle Drive-In, a seasonal, 70-seat restaurant that has operated in Minnedosa since 1965, was introduce a fatboy hamburger to the menu.

The 31-year-old grew up in Westwood. As an homage to the burger haunts of his youth — iconic spots such as the Burger Place, Nick’s Inn and the Dairi-Wip Drive-in — he was excited to show off his version of the Greek-style favourite at their new premises.

The interesting thing was, many of the people from the southwestern Manitoba town didn’t have a clue what a fatboy was, and those who ordered it that first summer assumed it was the Eastons’ own creation.

“He definitely could have gotten away with it for who knows how long,” chuckles Cass, 30, who was born in Minnedosa, and who worked at the Dari Isle, also well-known for its ice cream treats, every summer while attending junior high and high school.

Zac is proud to report that Winnipeggers who’ve made the trip out have let him and Cass know their fatboy is as good if not better than any they’ve sampled in the city.

“We developed our own chili sauce (and) we finely chop our onions instead of the big chunks you see at some of those Greek places,” he explains, adding everything else one expects from a fatboy — lettuce, cheese, tomato and mayo — is present and accounted for.

Zac admits the name fatboy continues to throw newbies off, with many assuming it’s a more daunting meal than it actually is.

“Cass and I were laughing that it feels less common for a female to order a fatboy. We thought about doing a ‘fatgirl’ for inclusivity, but we won’t mess with a classic,” he says.

Unlike his wife, Zac didn’t have much experience working in the hospitality biz. Sure, there was that one summer after he turned 13 when he washed dishes at the Gates on Roblin. Except he found the pace there so stressful he told himself, “This is crazy. I can’t believe people do this for a living.”

That being said, he has always loved visiting new restaurants, which was one of the things he and Cass had in common when they met in 2016 at Red River College Polytechnic, where they were both studying Creative Communications.

After graduating in 2017, Zac caught on as a copywriter with a downtown advertising firm while Cass landed a communications position with the Canola Council of Canada. In July 2018 they were visiting her family in Minnedosa when Cass took Zac to her old workplace, which was founded by Les and Shirley Cummins in 1965.

Her former bosses, Dave and Shannon Alexander, were still in charge and at some point Cass jokingly told them if they were ever thinking of selling, she and Zac would love to take over.

“I forgot ever making that remark but I guess Shannon never did,” Cass says, seated next to Zac in one of the dining area’s tall-back booths. “Three years later — by which time we were both fairly accomplished in our field and basically living our lives — I got a text from Shannon saying, ‘Our plan is to stay one more summer, then sell. Still interested?’”

“Trust me, I’m a city kid through and through,” Zac states. “Except every time we went to Minnedosa, I’d tell Cass on the way home how much I loved it there, only what we would do career-wise? Suddenly, we had a possible answer.”

To help make up their minds, Zac and Cass spent two days a week in July and August of 2022 working alongside the Alexanders in an effort to learn the ropes.

Every Friday at the end of their respective workdays, they’d hop in the car to make the two-and-a-half-hour trek to Minnedosa to sling burgers, fries and milkshakes all weekend to the Dari Isle’s loyal clientele.

Convinced it was a good fit, the Eastons officially received the keys in January 2023, at which point they moved into a one-bedroom apartment directly above the restaurant, which was shuttered for the season. (The Dari Isle generally opens in mid-April and closes the second or third week of September, depending on the weather.)

Three months of renovations followed. That included replacing existing carpeting with black-and-white floor tiles plus adorning the newly painted walls with framed photos, newspaper articles and record-album covers from the 1960s and ’70s to grant the space a more diner-like feel.

They thought they were fully prepared when they officially flipped on the “open” sign on the front door that spring, only to — in Zac’s words — “get slammed.”

“The dining room wasn’t open, a holdover from COVID, when we shadowed the owners, so that period wasn’t in any way indicative of what we were suddenly up against,” he says, noting customers couldn’t wait to dine inside again, versus sitting at one of the shaded picnic tables situated on the east side of the parking lot.

“That and we’d used our advertising skills to create this big splash on social media,” Cass interjects. “We took everything we knew about marketing and applied it to the restaurant, only for it to work tremendously. Suddenly we were like, ‘What have we done? We’ve created a monster.’”

Thanks in large part to a staff of 15, many of whom had already worked there for a few summers, they hit their stride within a couple of months.

It even reached a point that Zac, the head cook, was recognizing vehicles pulling in, thus allowing him to begin prepping their regular order before they’d even reached the front counter.

“For instance, there’s a guy who gets a bacon-cheese dog with just relish every single time he’s here,” he says. “Or there’s the fellow who, like clockwork, stops on his way to his cabin to grab a double bacon-cheese burger with an extra patty, I guess for the long drive ahead.”

In addition to the aforementioned fatboy, the Eastons, who have since purchased a house five minutes outside of town, also fleshed out the existing menu by replacing shredded cheese with cheese curds for the poutine and developing a secret sauce — Isle-style, they call it — that can accompany everything they serve, including chicken fingers, mushroom balls and mozzarella sticks.

Finally, they brought in smash burgers, which Cass hopes will lure members of a band performing at this year’s Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa music festival, which runs from July 31 to Aug. 2.

“How great would it be if the guys from Smash Mouth came in for smash burgers?” she laughs, referring to the American band that topped the charts in the ’90s with hits such as All Star and Walkin’ on the Sun. “It’d be like a marriage made in heaven.”

Zac and Cass initially wondered what they would do to pass the time when they were closed for the winter, but they’ve since figured that out.

Zac freelances as a copywriter, plays on a local hockey team and is a volunteer member of the Minnedosa fire department.

Cass was also accepting the odd advertising assignment, but with their first child due in October, she guesses her hands will be full.

“The longest anybody owned the Dari Isle was 18 years and Cass and I talk about how great it would be to better that mark, and turn the place over to our kids one day, if that’s something they’re interested in,” Zac says.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s a tough business and being on your feet umpteen hours a day can be exhausting, but now I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The way I view it is we’re hosting a barbecue and the whole town’s invited, so let’s get out there and have some fun.”

(The Dari Isle Drive In, 11 6th Ave. NE in Minnedosa, is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. It’s closed on Tuesdays.)

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