His family's legacy in the St. Louis business community traces back to 1812, when his great-great-grandfather founded a pretzel shop near what is now the south leg of the Gateway Arch.

But it was his television appearances, often alongside an oversized furry yellow chicken that chirped "Cheap, cheap, fun, fun," for which Fred Teutenberg may be best known. Those corny TV spots, regularly laced with low-brow humor, made Dirt Cheap discount liquor and cigarette stores a hit, both as a business and as a recognizable brand across the metro area.

Now the man, who not long ago was reminding viewers that "the more she drinks, the better you look," has moved on. After spending the last 16 years helping establish Dirt Cheap and nurturing its growth to 14 stores, Teutenberg is starting a new line of liquor stores under a new name.

While he's excited about his new venture, Teutenberg declined to discuss how he feels about competing against the company he helped build. Nor does he care to discuss his departure from Dirt Cheap, including reports that he was forced out.

"No use going into the nitty-gritty, but we had a parting of the ways," said Teutenberg, who was the company's president.

Dirt Cheap is controlled by members of the Paul Taylor family. Taylor founded U-Gas, which operates 15 gas and convenience stores in the St. Louis area. Through an attorney, company officials declined comment about Teutenberg and his plans. In fact, both sides signed a legal agreement that prohibits them from discussing the split.

Already, it's clear Teutenberg won't stray too far from the strategy that made Dirt Cheap such a success. The name — Fred's Cheapo Depot — is the first giveaway. The stores also will carry many of the same product lines as Dirt Cheap.

But there will be some changes. The Cheapo Depot stores will have a retro atmosphere that harken back to a time when, as Teutenberg describes it, "people were more comfortable drinking and smoking in public and not so politically correct."

Competitors, friends and family describe Teutenberg as a kind-hearted workaholic with a passion for his customers. At 70 years old, he has no intention of retiring.

Instead, he is busy working on two new stores he hopes to open by the end of the year. One store will be in downtown St. Louis, the other in South County.

"It's starting from scratch," said Stacey Page, a former Dirt Cheap employee who is vice president and chief financial officer of the new stores. "But there's a lot of people who care about Fred and want him to be successful."

Teutenberg says he's ready for the challenge. And besides, it's not the first time he has had to start over.

HARD KNOCKS

For five generations, the Teutenbergs operated several well-known bakeries and restaurants in the area, making it at one time the oldest continually operating business in the Midwest.

But with creditors closing in, it was Fred Teutenberg who made the decision to close the last of the restaurants in 1991.

"It was no longer economically viable," he said. "We couldn't go on."

The family sold their home in Ladue and moved to a smaller house in Clayton. "It's fair to say we struggled," he said.

Teutenberg's wife of 42 years recalled the months after the restaurants closed as an introspective period for her husband. "It was time when he figured out he wanted to go in a new direction," Janet Teutenberg said.

About that time, cigarette outlet shops were opening across the country that took advantage of tax variances among neighboring jurisdictions to sell their products at a lower price.

Teutenberg went into business with Taylor, a friend he had been classmates with in high school and college. The first Dirt Cheap store opened in January 1993 in a strip shopping center that Taylor's mother owned at Highway 30 and Valley Dell Drive in Fenton. They hoped Jefferson County's lower cigarette taxes would lure customers from St. Louis County seeking cheaper alternatives.

The second and third stores opened later that year at Telegraph and Forder roads, and at Dunn and Bellefontaine roads, locations aimed at drawing Illinois buyers. Buying in bulk, selling at a discount and operating on thinner margins, the business took off. Then came the television spots.

Teutenberg offered customers "the last refuge for the persecuted smoker." His reminder to "be careful out there" became a staple. The chicken arrived when the store needed a logo for its own line of beer.

"We struck some kind of chord," Teutenberg said.

Haim Mano, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said he often discusses the Dirt Cheap ads in classes. Despite their low-value production, the ads effectively use humor to draw in viewers and boost brand awareness.

"The fact that they've been going on for so many years, and we talk about them and love to watch them even though we hate them, means they're doing something right," Mano said.

A television commercial for Teutenberg's new stores — minus some of the trademark lines of the previous ads but featuring a cartoon version of Teutenberg — began running earlier this month. On the new store's website, Teutenberg wrote, "We have ditched the pesky chicken and the big company bureaucracy and left them behind."

FRUGALITY LEARNED

Friends and business associates say Teutenberg's common-man approach isn't just a marketing ploy.

Teutenberg grew up in Webster Groves and attended public schools before graduating from Washington University. Despite their success, his parents were frugal, influenced by the Depression and World War II, a trait they passed on to their son, according to his wife.

From his father, Teutenberg said he learned to work hard, not waste money, be diligent and treat everyone fairly. But he said one lesson didn't stick.

"He always said, 'You have your business so you can live, you don't live so you can have your business,'" Teutenberg said. "He might accuse me of living too much for my business. But I think he would be proud of me."

Along the way, Teutenberg said he has learned that karma and luck have as much to do with success as anything. "I know people in business who worked hard and were successful and other people who worked just as hard and weren't. Working hard, per se, doesn't guarantee it."

The couple, who have four grown children, now live in a modest-size brick house with an American flag out front on a quiet street in Brentwood. Teutenberg drives a 4-year-old Jeep Cherokee. He has no real hobbies, belongs to no country clubs. He sleeps only a few hours a night, smokes a pack and half of Kent Lights a day, and relaxes with Beefeaters gin and a good book.

He wears rumpled, off-the-rack suits and rarely dons a tie.

"It's who he is," said Jon Rand, president of Discount Smoke Shops. "Fred could afford as nice a suit as anybody, but that's not his image. He'll wear a suit every day, but it's a common man's suit, isn't it?"

REFLECTING ON LEGACY

If Teutenberg ever had any guilt about not passing the family restaurant business on to his children, it has been alleviated.

Three years ago, his youngest daughter put the family name on a restaurant she opened with the help of relatives at Seventh and Olive streets. Joanne Teutenberg, 26, believes her father always had regrets about leaving the restaurant business even though it opened up other opportunities for him.

"I think it was nice for him to be able to reconnect with that when we reopened down here," she said.

Taking a break at a table in the restaurant's smoking section last week, Teutenberg was asked to reflect on his family's legacy and his place in it. He doesn't worry that he might one day be best remembered for his corny commercials.

"I don't think about that kind of stuff at all," he said in his smoke-cured voice. "That stuff's for presidents."

His competitor, Rand, suggested what he considered a most appropriate epitaph — Fred Teutenberg: "He loved his customers."