Sharon’s Cafe will close for the final time on Saturday when owner Sharon Keck retires after running the restaurant for 28 years in the Orchard Shopping Center.
Keck says she has thought about retiring the last few years, but the possibility became reality when Brian Hubbard who owns the Bonnie Cafe restaurants reached an agreement to buy Sharon’s.
“I love my customers,” Keck said. “They’re the greatest, and I think they will get behind Bonnie’s 100 percent.”
Keck says it’s been a busy week as customers have returned for one final time.
“I don’t have any major plans. I’ve got a trip planned and I’ve got a wedding to go to at the end of the month. That’s the only thing I have planned, I haven’t had time to think about it.”
Keck has worked in the restaurant business since the age of 14. A tornado brought about the opportunity to open her own restaurant. She was working for Bob and Marilyn Shetley running a store when it was hit by a tornado. The Shetley’s set her up to run the restaurant in the shopping center they formerly owned. Keck later bought the business. She currently has 13 employees.
The owner of the Bonnie Cafe’s in Bonnie, Mt. Vernon, Centralia, and the Ozarks in Missouri says he has long been asked about opening a restaurant in Salem by those from Salem who traveled to the Mt. Vernon or Centralia locations. After brief thoughts about slowing down, Brian Hubbard says he pursued the idea of opening a location in Salem and after a number of calls from shopping center owner Keith McNeil he got together with Keck.
Hubbard says the restaurant will be closed about two weeks after Sharon’s closes to install new equipment.
“We still give a good meal for a cheap price at the locations,” Hubbard said. “Naturally, Mt. Vernon is a buffet, Bonnie and Centralia are both dip plates which we’re going to do here. We’ll get in here, put our menu in here, that will match all the other locations and we’ll get going.”
Hubbard explains some of the features.
“You can get breakfast all day,” Hubbard said. “We’re open at six in the morning to eight at night. We’ll close at two on Sundays here, but we’ll be a seven day a week operation.”
Hubbard expects to keep many of Sharon’s employees and add more for the longer hours. He plans to continue to welcome organizations to use their meeting room and may eventually have a small buffet for special occasions.
Sharon Keck receives a rocking chair from the Salem Lions Club.
