Saving Rosie's Diner
Randy and Jonelle Roest met several years ago in a small-town tavern on the west shore of Michigan. Little did either of them suspect then that in not-too-distant future they'd own a restaurant of their own.
The two were working their way through school at the time. Randy, now 27, pursued a career in real estate; Jonelle, 24, nursing. On occasion they'd talk about owning a restaurant "'someday." Given Randy's access to property listings, they'd check prospects out from time to time, but nothing they looked at really impressed them.
When the couple heard Rosie's Diner in Rockford, Michigan, was going to be auctioned, they decided to visit. "It just grabbed us," Jonelle said. "We had dinner and sat for two or three hours that night, brainstorming. It became the place we wanted to make ours."
It didn't hurt that artist Jerry Berta, the diner's then-owner, offered to show them around that evening. Berta was anxious to sell Rosie's--and the other three diners and the mini -golf course on the 4.5-acre property--and planned to hold an auction in January 2006. "I'm an artist," he explains. "My whole goal was to create something, not to run and manage it."
After talking to the Roests, Berta took Diner Land off the block. "At auction, you don't know who you're dealing with; there was talk of people moving the diners away--out of state--and selling the land. Staff lose their jobs, and there are so many customers who love the place," Berta said. "Randy and Jonelle--they wanted to keep it here." The couple took over managing Rosie's on March 1 and closed on the property at the end of the month.
Berta, now a regular customer--and big fan of Jonelle's meatloaf--says he has no regrets whatsoever about the sale. He rents one of the diners, formerly Uncle Bob's of Flint, for his studio and gallery. "People say to me, "What are you going to do? Rosie's was your whole persona. Now I'm the artist formerly known as the owner of Rosie's diner. The key word there is artist."
The Roests are honing their art and craft as well. Randy likens his role at Rosie's to that of a mechanic running a well-tuned machine. With his restaurant experience, he handles the business side of things, including scheduling and staffing. When big decisions need to be made, the two put their heads together. Jonelle has overhauled the menu--and the kitchen. She says she's upgraded the quality of the ingredients, eliminated prepackaged food, and yanked a few pages from her grandmother's old recipe book. On the menu now are a fried bologna sandwich that her father grew up with, classic hot sandwiches including turkey, pork and beef, and "really good burgers."
She's also added rotating dinner specials such as goulash and country-fried steak; liver and onions; fried chicken; turkey and her grandmother's beef and egg noodle recipe. Coconut cream and fruit pies are made from scratch daily.
Rosie's now has a liquor license, and the Roests are remodeling another of the diners, formerly the Garden of Eatin', which will open as a vintage sports bar this summer. "We're restoring it, but we'll also bring in pool tables and a flat screen TV to make it modern. We want to keep it as authentic as we can," Jonelle explains. "We don't want to make it a kitschy, cheesy place. There will be no gas pump in the corner or records hanging from the ceiling. We want to stay true to what it is. That's why people come to places like this, they're an anomaly now."
She didn't realize just how much of an anomaly until all of the media attention around the time of the sale. "I never thought my uncle would call me and tell me it made CNN. That blew my mind. That really pointed out to me what an icon this was and how we were going to work hard to maintain it."
Customers' stories have underscored Rosie's icon status. One man from Pennsylvania drove to Rosie's just for the day because he had one of Berta's neon signs on his wall and was inspired. Lots of late-night calls come in too, from customers at bars and taverns nationwide looking at Rosie's signs on establishment walls. A local reporter shared how she met her husband through her coverage of Rosie's several years ago; another couple told Jonelle they had their first cup of coffee and date at Uncle Bob's when it was in Flint. "It's neat to hear everyone's experiences," Jonelle said, "and neat to be part of diner culture. It's nothing I ever fathomed. I love that we get to be part of this history now."
Rosie's famous Cruise Night has started again, and the Roests are hiring some additional staff to handle the summer rush. They're designing a new website and working with Berta on a new sign. They also hope to restore the miniature golf course by the fall, although Jonelle acknowledges that goal may be "a little aggressive."
All of the work hasn't scared the couple, who just tied the knot last year. "We weren't worried we couldn't do it," said Jonelle, "but it's a huge, huge life change. Owning a restaurant was a 'Someday. Someday we'll do this.' This is our 'someday'."
"It was put in our lap, and we really had to sit down and think about if we were ready. We looked at what Rosie's was and its potential, and it fit us too well...Randy is an avid oldies listener and loves old car shows. He says he was born in the wrong era...This was the place, and we couldn't deny that when it happened. We couldn't pass it up."