Lou Caruthers

"You wanna a Pepsi pal, you gonna pay for it!"

—Lou to Marty

Lou Caruthers

Biographical information
Date of birth	1900s
Age (1885)	Not yet born
Age (1955)	50s
Age (1985)	80s
Age (2015)	110s (possibly deceased)
Physical description
Gender	Male
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Brown
Behind-the-scenes information
Played by	Norman Alden

[Source]

Lou Caruthers was the owner of Lou's Cafe in 1955 and Lou's Aerobic Fitness Center in 1985. On the morning of November 5, 1955, Lou was behind the counter at his cafe, serving breakfast to several diners, when a kid wearing a life-jacket came through the front door and asked to use the phone. Lou stared the kid curiously when his electronic wristwatch beeped.

The kid tore a page out of the phone book and started asking directions without ordering anything to eat. When he did order, he wanted a tab, then asked for a Pepsi (free!), and finally got a five cent cup of coffee, then ran out of the restaurant after one of the customers.

A couple of days later, with the cafe filled with customers after school, the same kid started a fight when Biff Tannen came into the restaurant, then ran out the door. Lou stepped outside to watch, while Lou's employee Goldie Wilson ran over to see a wreck when Biff's car collided with a manure truck.

The kid came into Lou's Cafe one final time on the night of November 12, shortly before closing time, asked to borrow some stationery, and sat down at a table to write a letter, which he signed as "Marty", with no last name. Lou didn't see the stranger after that.

Sometime between 1955 and 1985, after the downtown restaurant lost customers to fast food places like Burger King, Lou stopped selling burgers and shakes, and opened an aerobic fitness center, which attracted a steady supply of customers throughout the day. At some point between 1985 and 2015, someone else revived the cafe as a theme restaurant, called "Cafe 80s".