40 years for any business creates memories.

For a FAMILY business, 40 years touches generations of memories.  Restaurant left-overs fed my brother following after-school football practice.  Sis waitress’d every summer.  Even the non-coordinated sibling got a task – Head Dishwasher.  Kept that title 2 years.

1979: Grandma Marie helped fill in at the cash register; Skip’s sister Tracy came ‘n went multiple times during various stages of life.  As one generation grew, the next generation got their ‘summer’ start – granddaughters Ash & Maddie.  Babies now having babies.

One of us even had a wedding reception here 😊

MOM.

The single one constant in 40 years of Reubens & chicken salad sandwiches.  Mom.  There opening day.  Still shining, still evolving – March 2019.  No longer chauffeuring 3 teenagers.  Those duties traded for outreach & witnessing to her local Arkansas community.

Marriage, children, grandchildren.  My family’s no different than all America.  Live, laugh, love.  Grieve, withstand, start over.

Generations of 2nd CHANCES, generations of DREAMS.

Proud of ya mom.

Proud of your little sandwich shoppe in Williamsburg Square.

Proud of your perseverance, your strong work ethic.

Each of us carry this trait – it’s not genetic, learned by example.  HUGE CONGRATS on 40 years! ❤️

Fort Smith’s Williamsburg Kitchen celebrates 40 years

By Marc Hayot / Special to the Times Record

 

 

Running a successful business can be difficult. According to the JP Morgan Chase Institute, the average lifespan of a business is five years or less.  On March 18, Williamsburg Kitchen, 4120 Rogers Ave. No. 8 in Fort Smith, defied those odds by celebrating its 40th anniversary.  So, what does it take for a business to last 40 years?

 

According to Williamsburg Kitchen’s owner Darlene Rogers, it is good service and quality food.

Rogers recently shared some memories of the past 40 years, plus how she continues to maintain a successful restaurant in a climate when many do not last half that long.  In order to fully appreciate how Williamsburg Kitchen continues to grow, it is best to start back in the late 1970s, when a group of friends encouraged James Rogers to take a chance on a new endeavor.  According to Darlene, the idea to open Williamsburg Kitchen was born when her fiancé James was out with a bunch of friends and was encouraged to open a restaurant of his own.

 

“He had gone to the Corner House … with a group of friends … and they said, ‘You need to do something like this; this is something that you all can do,’ Rogers said. “That’s what got him started to think about it. So that’s how it all began with him.”  Rogers said she always loved to cook, so she agreed to leave her job at DeSoto Furniture Co. and join James at the restaurant. As excited as everyone was, opening day proved to be a challenge.

 

“The first week was a funny thing when I look back, because it was my husband the cook who never cooked, one little girl who helped me that had never waitressed a day in her life, and me,” she said. “Three of us and we opened up this little shop. We did not have the number of tables (that we have today), we did not have that little back room, but we had no experience.

 

“You know how restaurants are in Fort Smith — when they open up everybody shows up, so we just thought we could do this.  It was the most chaotic mess that you had ever seen.”  Eventually, the couple hired an experienced waitress and cook to help the business grow, and things got better. They also opened the back rooms of the restaurant to add more tables and moved the dishwasher to the back of the building.

 

Williamsburg Kitchen also increased the size of their menu.

 

“Our menu was … one page. Now it’s a double page,” Rogers said. “We added specials that we do every day. It was just basically 12 sandwiches and two desserts. Now it’s extensive.”

 

The chicken salad and reuben sandwiches remain the restaurant’s top sellers. Over time, certain items were added to the menu while others were dropped due to a lack of popularity. One of the things that Rogers has always tried to do is look for items to add that were not sold anywhere else in the area. Fruit gems, one of the items sold during summer months, came from something that Rogers saw at a hotel in Las Vegas.  “I try to pick things up along the way and try to incorporate it into my restaurant that you just can’t go anywhere and get,” she said.

 

In 2008, tragedy struck when James Rogers was killed in a motor vehicle accident. The restaurant’s loyal customers were not sure whether Darlene would continue or just close the restaurant.

 

Feeling that God placed her at Williamsburg Kitchen, Rogers persevered, much to the delight of her customers.

 

Today, Williamsburg Kitchen is still going strong. When asked what has changed since she opened the restaurant’s doors, Rogers said work ethics.  “The last two years, I have struggled for the first time to keep employees other than the ones that have retired,” she said. ”[I] get them trained they don’t show up — that is the biggest problem that I have seen … employment has changed.”

 

Another thing Rogers has noticed is that people spend more time on their phones than with each other. That is why there is no Wi-Fi in the restaurant, to ensure that her customers can communicate with their family and friends.

 

In 40 years of business, there are bound to be some memorable moments. Most people will talk about famous or important citizens who have come into the restaurant; however Darlene spoke of a young boy who had just lost his grandmother and hugged Rogers when he saw her. She also spoke about the time when her 13-year-old granddaughter came down from Connecticut and ran the register for a day.

 

The reason for her attitude is that she sees her customers as family, Rogers said.

 

“It is just an everyday event of just visiting with your family,” she said. “I never get up one single morning and go, ‘I gotta go to work.’ I get up and I’m excited about work.”

 

The memorable guests at her anniversary party in March were her first vendor from White Dairy Ice Cream Co. and the daughter of Bill Trisler, who was the restaurant’s janitorial service man (Trisler attended the 30th anniversary of Williamsburg Kitchen in 2009 but passed away in 2012).

 

So, what does the future look like for Darlene Rogers and Williamsburg Kitchen? According to the owner, just to continue to grow the restaurant and be a servant of God.

 

“My restaurant is not about me; it’s where I am serving. It’s His restaurant,” she said. “I just work for Him. That is the way I look at it. My future is right here.”  Faith is a big part of Rogers’ life and she even donates the tips she makes waitressing to the various missions that her church undertakes.

 

Rogers is grateful the Fort Smith community has helped her stay in business for so long.  “I want to thank them for being so faithful and keeping this little business running for the 40 years that I have been here,” she said.