When you see Jean, make sure you congratulate her, she is bubbling with joy and has been awaiting Bryson's arrival for the last several months.
If my math is correct, Bryson will be 20 years old and either in college or in the work force when the Dine-ah celebrates it's 25th anniversary! Let's see, that will be 2032 and I will be 78 years young! I don't even want to think about it, cause I still have a lot of living to do, between now and then!
First thing, I am going to do is to welcome all of you next week to our celebration of our 5th anniversary. Yes, 5 years and it seems like yesterday, that we opened our doors and our hearts to all of you. It has been a tremendous run serving some 450,000 meals since we opened the doors. I can't thank all of you enough, not only for your support of the Dine-ah, but also of the friendships that have been developed with all of you, between myself and staff.
It is so heartwarming to hear our servers say "John and Linda were in last night or Dale and Walter, Phil and Linda, Muriel and Bob, Howard and Ann, Carl and Kim, Jane and Rodny, Tiffany and Joe, Bob and Sue, Todd and Patricia, Dawn and Trevor, Cathy and Amos, Charlie, Susan and Karen, Ralph and Dottie, Todd and Teresa, Toddy and Carol, Truman and Amy, Bob and Linda, Jon and Mary Anne, Tom and Stan, Fred and Bonnie, Pauline and Richard, Linda and Don, Jody and Rick, Nancy and Al, Barbara and Richard, Caroline and Alice, Ron and Poe, Jimmy, Truman, Barry and Sandra, Stephanie, Sheldon and Diane, Joe and Patsy, Shirley and Carlton, Jack and Anne, Lee and Rufus, Diane and Brian, Linda and Wayne, Rick and Mary, Laura and Tom, ...." I could go on and on, but you get the point. We have a lot of people who are thought of as one of us. Without the support of each and everyone of you, five years in the restaurant business would not have been achieved.
In some ways, I feel like the Dine-ah is just a baby and in other ways, I feel like we are all veterans in the food service industry. The baby piece of me tells me that we have so much to learn and the veteran piece of me reminds me of the trials and tribulations that it has taken to get us to this point. I will never forget the first year when we had wait times of up to 1 1/2 hours, because people had heard about us and everybody wanted to try out the new "kid on the block". You need to remember that our first year we did over 100,000 meals with a brand new staff. It was an accomplishment to say the least. The restaurant business is tough in and of itself, but opening a new restaurant, in a new location, with all new staff, without help from corporate is a major feat! We were tested by critics and friends alike and we have stood the test of time at least for the first five years. I hope to see our 25th however it would not break my heart if somebody else was at the helm making all the calls, and my role was to come in and talk to staff and customers. Physically, that's all I'll be able to do at that stage in my life! That's what I'm working towards and we are well on our way.
This coming week, I will be putting some of my other duties aside, so that I can spend more time out front with you the customer, during our week long birthday celebration. Regretfully, Sherri will be gone Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week to celebrate the induction of her daughter Stacy Westfall into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held in Fort Worth, Texas and Sherri will be traveling with her sister Linda Poulin. Safe travels to you both.
Sherri will be back for the weekend festivities.
Michelle Glidden will be filling in for Sherri and she will be in the house with our friendly and capable staff to meet, greet and serve you. During the week, we will be having giveaways and everyone who comes in during the week will be entered into a special drawing for numerous prizes. If you are a regular or have not been in for a while, please join us for some great home cooked food and friendly service.
Have a great week and I hope to see you for our birthday celebration!