Help Us Save a 26-Year Family Dream

OLDE TOWNE CAFE BAR & GRILLE

Every morning before sunrise, my 76-year-old father unlocks our restaurant doors while my 66-year-old mother begins preparing breakfast. They have done this for more than 25 years.

This restaurant isn’t just where they work—it’s their life’s work.

In May of 2000, my parents started with nothing more than a tiny breakfast counter inside a neighborhood drugstore. There were only a handful of seats, a griddle, and a dream. They worked tirelessly, sacrificed weekends, holidays, and family time, and slowly built something special: a place where customers became friends and friends became family.

Then, in early 2021, the drugstore unexpectedly closed.

After more than two decades of hard work, my parents suddenly faced losing everything they had built. Instead of giving up, they took the biggest risk of their lives. They used their savings and expanded into the abandoned drugstore space. We renovated it ourselves—late nights, scraped hands, tears, uncertainty, and hope. What started as a tiny breakfast counter became an 80-seat restaurant with a full bar.

Today, my parents still work here every single day. They are the first to arrive. They don’t know how to stop fighting for this dream because this restaurant is all they have ever known.

This restaurant has become much more than a business. It has been a place where birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, first dates, and family traditions have been celebrated. We’ve watched children grow up and return years later with children of their own. We’ve laughed, cried, and celebrated life’s milestones alongside our customers, who have become part of our family.

Now, we are facing one of the most uncertain moments in our 26-year history.

The building we currently occupy is under contract to be sold, and we have been given notice of the potential sale and the possibility of significant changes to our lease terms. As a small family business already struggling through one of our most difficult years, we are simply trying to survive.

We don’t know yet whether we will be able to remain in our current location under a new lease or whether we will need to relocate entirely. What we do know is that either path requires resources that we simply do not have.

We are not a corporation. We don’t have investors or deep pockets. Everything we have has been poured back into this restaurant. What we do have is determination, faith, and a family that refuses to give up on a dream built over 25 years of sacrifice.

Your donations will help us survive this transition by helping us:

• Secure and transition into a new lease at our current location, if possible

• Keep our employees working and continue supporting their families

• Preserve the legacy my parents have spent their entire lives building

Losing this restaurant would not simply mean closing a business. It would mean losing my parents’ life’s work, their legacy, and the place they have devoted every day of the last 26 years to creating.

We are asking for help not because we are giving up, but because we are fighting to keep going.

We still believe this dream deserves another chapter.

If you have ever shared a meal with us, celebrated with us, or believe that family-owned businesses are the heart of a community, we humbly ask for your support. Every donation, every share, and every kind word gives us hope and brings us one step closer to keeping our family dream alive.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for believing in us and for helping us fight for the next chapter of our story.

With gratitude,

The OTC Family