Eat with Family
“Our dad bought Roxy Cafe in 1976. He had stopped in and overheard the owners talking about selling the restaurant, so he went home and because he was 21, asked his parents for a loan and bought the place.
Everybody knew dad. You couldn’t go anywhere—even outside the state—without somebody knowing who he was. He just had this big personality. He was very funny. Everybody loved him. There’s a picture of him right there above the window. After he got done cooking your breakfast, he would come out and sit with you and talk to you all day long. He was very personable. Friends were made fresh daily here.
And he worked so hard. Roxy wasn’t his only job. At night, after the restaurant closed, he would clean at the Army Reserves, and in the wintertime he would plow snow. He did a lot of catering; weddings and open houses and things like that. He liked to buy restaurant equipment and clean it up and fix it and sell it at auctions.
When my dad found out he was sick with liver cancer and started making his arrangements, I asked, what are you going to do with this place? He said, lock the doors and sell it. But there was no way we could do that. It was too important to our family and to Jackson.
He was here cooking until probably a week before he passed away, and we took over July of 2014.
Roxy is just big enough. People are always like, why don’t you move to something bigger? They will come in and mention that a property is for sale and that we should probably think about moving. But we’re not moving. It’s a perfect space. The vibe is awesome. The outside of the building is Art Deco and so cool. Regulars walk in the back door and through the kitchen, and you couldn’t do that anywhere else.
We’re proud of this place and carrying on dad’s legacy. Beyond proud. He worked so hard and our customers have been so loyal to us. We wouldn’t be here without our regulars. I’d say 80 to 90% of our business is regular customers that come here almost every day. Sometimes we have customers that come twice in the same day, once for breakfast and another time for lunch. But we love seeing the new customers who hear about us and want to see what it’s about. We have enough good vibes for everybody.
Our dad had big shoes to fill, but we have been able to keep it going. Everybody is always praising us, saying ‘We’re so glad you didn’t change anything!’, or ‘You’ve still got your dad’s recipes!’ People love that familiarity. People come home and they want things to be the same because it’s something they’ve grown to love.
And here at Roxy Cafe, it’ll always be the same.”
—Sabrina, Christina, and Trina – Roxy Café
606 N. West Ave., Jackson, MI 49202
