Local food landmark under new ownership
Thursday, July 10, 2008
DAYTON — After 45 years and two generations of family ownership, The Root Beer Stande is changing hands.
The restaurant, at 1727 Woodman Drive, is being sold for $365,000 to Emily Collins of Dayton, who plans to run it with her family. The sale is to be finalized Friday, July 11.
"It's staying open; it will never close," Collins said. "There's probably going to be some improvement."
A Dayton native and graduate of Stivers School for the Arts and Ohio University, Collins has wanted to own a business since college.
"It's always kind of been in the back of my mind," she said.
While the current business climate is less than ideal, the opportunity to buy The Root Beer Stande was one that just worked out for her family, Collins said. Her father and mother both have experience in the restaurant business.
Currently, the business employs about 20 workers, excluding the family that owns the restaurant, the Meyers, and their children, the Fabricks. Collins said all employees are planning to stay.
Changes planned for the restaurant include extended weekend hours, an expanded ice-cream menu, and operation on Sundays. For the past three years, The Root Beer Stande has been closed on Sundays. Collins also makes pottery and would like to incorporate her artwork into the restaurant, eventually making root-beer mugs, she said.
Collins' mother, Barb Collins, a sixth-grade teacher at Loos Elementary School in Dayton, plans to take a year off to work in the restaurant, her daughter said.
"I plan on spending 70 hours, at least, a week (working in the restaurant). She's planning on 60," Emily Collins said. Her dad will probably be the Sunday grill cook.
Alex Fabrick, whose family currently owns the restaurant, said he is happy that the family-business tradition will continue at The Root Beer Stande.
"That's what we wanted to keep it as," he said.
Mike and Virginia Meyer opened The Root Beer Stande on June 21, 1963. According to the restaurant's Web site, it is the last Dayton-area restaurant with curb service.
Contact this reporter at ahazlett@DaytonDailyNews.com.
