Halftime Bar and Grill in Pleasantville has won the 2025 Iowa’s Best Burger Award from the Iowa Beef Industry Council. 

Halftime received their award on Thursday after the top ten finalists were announced in the middle of March. Halftime is owned by the mother and daughter duo of Kathy and Amanda DeHeer. They took over the restaurant after the owners of Frosty’s, the previous restaurant that occupied the building, wanted to retire. Both Kathy and Amanda had worked at Frosty’s before it closed and the previous owners had asked them if it would be something they would be interested in buying. 

Halftime offers nine different burgers and a variety of other menu items, including wraps, salads, wings, sandwiches, and a kids menu. Amanda tells KNIA/KRLS that they are proud to receive the award.

“It means a lot to us. We have worked really hard in the short time we’ve been here and we strive to make the best burger we can and for people to come back all the time and I feel we’ve done that so it means a lot to us.”

Kathy says that her and her daughter Amanda work well together owning the restaurant in the town they grew up in.

“The fun part is just being in our hometown. We get to see a lot of people that we grew up with or have known for years. We come up with different ideas. We get together on Mondays to come up with different weekly specials and we put our brains together to see what works for the week and what people like. What she is good at, I’m not so good and vice versa so we work well together.”

The Iowa’s Best Burger contest started in 2010 and last year’s winner was JJ’s Tavern and Grill in Ankeny. Hear more from Halftime’s owners Kathy and Amanda DeHeer on this weekend’s In Touch with South Central Iowa.