By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — One of the most popular hangout places for breakfast and lunch in Three Rivers suddenly closed their doors this week.
On Tuesday morning, Dad’s Place at 1104 Third St. in Three Rivers announced on social media they would close that afternoon after more than 36 years in business. The restaurant’s post cited rising costs, lack of help, and “just being damn tired” as reasons for their closure.
“It is very bittersweet for all of us, we’ve been established since 1990 and have formed amazing connections with everyone in the community. We love you all and can’t express how much we appreciate the continued support we’ve received over the years, especially from our regulars,” the post read. “All of you will be missed terribly, but this isn’t the end. It’s a new beginning paved from lots of sweat, tears and hard work over the years.”
The restaurant opened as Dad’s Place back on the weekend of July 4, 1990, with Vera Reynolds and Kelly Evans running the restaurant. Before it was known as Dad’s Place, the restaurant used to be Liz’s Lunch Box, which went back as far as the early to mid-1970s. Prior to it being a restaurant, the building Dad’s Place is currently housed in was a neighborhood grocery store.
Today, Dad’s Place is owned by Evans’ daughter, Alisha Hoercher, with her daughter Tayler Hoercher helping manage and wait tables at the restaurant. Tayler said she and her mother have put “a lot of blood, sweat and tears” into the restaurant over the years, and said it was not an easy decision to close down.
“We’ve all dedicated so much of ourselves to this place that we don’t really have a life outside of it, and it’s time for us to be able to enjoy something outside of running Dad’s Place,” Tayler said. “It hasn’t been easy, especially with the people, you know? So much of the community we’ve made connections with for a very long time, it’ll be hard,” Tayler said.
The decision to close down was made, Tayler estimated, a few days prior to the restaurant’s closure, and she didn’t know about it until Tuesday morning, her first day back from vacation. However, she said there had been talks “probably [in] the past two years” about potentially closing the doors.
Even though she said the business has been “booming” this year, Tayler admitted there has been a bit of burnout mentally.
“It’s been nice, but it’s more the mental aspect of it than it is the business aspect of it. Like, we could keep going, and it would still keep going. We’re in good standing,” Tayler said. “It’s more mentally, it’s exhausting, and when you’ve done it your whole life, and you’re not satisfied with it anymore, you go change it.”
Rising costs over the past few years, she added, certainly didn’t help either.
“I would say, 2020, we were paying like $30, less than that even, maybe more like $20 for 15 dozen [eggs]. Two years or so ago, the egg crisis happened, or it was last year, they went up to over $100 for 15 dozen,” Tayler said. “We order seven cases a week, that’s $700 just in eggs. We don’t get a deal just because we’re a restaurant. We pay pretty much market base for everything that we order.”
Despite that, Tayler said, the biggest thing she enjoyed about the restaurant over the years is the different connections they’ve made over the years with their customers.
“We’ve formed a lot of connections in the community. I can’t go a single place in this town without running into somebody that I know and talking to them,” Tayler said.
Over the years, Tayler said the restaurant had grown quite a bit, given the factories in the area and its early hours of operation. She called the restaurant, in the beginning, a “gold mine.”
“Weyerhaeuser, Lasco, the Foundry, we got a lot of people and clientele from them. We used to be open a little bit later. We’d get a lot of third shifters that, they would get off, they’d come in. So, business has always been quite well,” Tayler said.
However, she said the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 “killed a lot of it.”
“We were a lot fortunate than most people or most other restaurants. A lot of businesses, unfortunately, had to shut their doors, and we did not. And the community was a very big part of that. They kept us afloat,” Tayler said. “But over the years, it definitely, business-wise, it’s gone down just because people can’t afford to go out to eat anymore.”
She said she believed the closure will especially be hard on the loyal customers that have come in over the years.
“I think it’s going to affect quite a lot of people, more so than I even realize, just based off of what I’ve seen from today,” Tayler said. “The day we’re closing is the day we tell everybody. Nobody really had a warning. I think it’s been a staple in the community for almost 40 years. A lot of people have grown up in this restaurant. A lot of people have come here with their parents who passed away already. It’s going to be affecting a lot of people, not being able to come in anymore. It’ll be sad. It’s a sad day for sure.”
Many of the patrons in the final hours of the restaurant said they were sad to see it go, and that the closure of Dad’s Place would be a huge loss for the Three Rivers community.
“They’re ready to do something different, and I understand all that, but it’s going to be missed,” David Leeth, who said he has been coming to the building since 1979, said. “It’s going to matter to everybody. There’s a lot of people that come here.”
“It was always friendly, excellent food, nice service,” Sharon Budenieks, who said she’s been going to the restaurant for the last 20 years, said. “It’s going to be a big loss. It’s the old-time, back-in-the-day restaurant. It’s like Cheers, everybody knows your name. You walk in, you see familiar faces.”
“I think it’s going to be a big loss, even for the families that own the place and the workers and their families. This is definitely a big decision for them, and I’m sure it wasn’t just something overnight for them,” Nichole Kirchner, another longtime customer who said she remembers coming to the restaurant with her grandparents, said. “This is a family place to come and visit; these people are like my family.”
Tayler said she’s not sure what the future will hold for the Dad’s Place building, noting they’re “kicking around a few different ideas” for what’s to come for them, but she said it’s still “very sudden.”
“We’ll have to sit down and talk about that and figure it out,” Tayler said. “I am not too sure of what’s going to happen, honestly. Wherever the wind blows us.”
At the end of the day, a little after 1:20 p.m., the final checks were rung up at Dad’s Place. There were plenty of emotions from both staff and customers as they gave final good-bye hugs to each other. Overall, Tayler said she’ll miss the people when the restaurant closes.
“I’m going to miss everybody that I see every day. I grew up with them. All these people that come in and out of here, I’ve known them since before I could even walk, so it’s hard,” Tayler said. “But I think it’s for the better.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
