06/25/2021
I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been avoiding writing this because it is something very hard to do. It saddens me to say that we will not be re-opening ever again. The past several years have been very challenging for us, we experienced setback after setback. COVID was really the last straw. It all chipped away at our resolve. Owning and running a small business is hard enough on its own but these things really made insurmountable costs and challenges for us. It became more and more difficult to stay afloat while keeping prices reasonable. Finding employees had been difficult for years but after COVID it proved nearly impossible. A restaurant needs lots of people to function. Believe me if we could run it with just a few of us (without disappointing our customers) we would! We did try it after reopening this past summer and let me tell you it was rough! The responsibilities of a restaurant are tough and we have shouldered a lot of long days, covered shifts, too much to list for many years. I personally worked without a day off for so long I didn’t even know what free time felt like anymore. To be completely honest we are just wiped out. Exhausted. Sad. We didn’t have the energy to keep trying.
It was not all for nothing though. Serving this community for over 25 years has been an absolute privilege. Seeing the smiling faces of our customers is what kept us going through it all. The ones who made us laugh. The kids who gifted us their drawings. Little Oliver who was always so excited to see miss Lisa! The Sunrise Rotary holding their morning meetings for so many years. The regulars we looked forward to seeing every day. Many relationships began here, some resulting in marriages… even babies born because their folks met right at the diner! I could go on… but we cannot thank you all enough for supporting us throughout the years. The memories we have shared over time will always be with us.
We have had some of the greatest employees on earth. So many have come and gone, but we appreciate you all so much. Special mention to our chefs, we only had a few over the years and that helped us deliver consistently delicious foods. Nick with the best pancake recipe of all time, Tina and her amazing dinners, Bill and his wildly popular soups just to name a few of my favorites of theirs. Sharon, Lisa, Ashley, Chelsea, and Patti some of our longest serving waitresses. Zach one of the most upbeat and fabulous hosts of all time. Mike our rockstar dishwasher for many years. Dennis who held the line down mostly by himself when we reopened. Too many to name everyone but I could go on forever! Each and every one of you have had an important part in not just our livelihood but our LIVES, and we cannot thank you enough. It is so hard to go from spending almost everyday together to few and far between and we miss you all terribly.
If you have gotten this far thank you. Thank you for understanding and allowing me to speak from the heart. I have spent the majority of my life at the diner and it is hard to imagine my life without it, but sometimes change is very necessary and allows us to spark new life. Perhaps this is not goodbye but more of a “see you around,” we hope!
~Stefanie and Steve
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