Fred’s Cafe

Built in 1971, Fred’s Cafe went up for sale when the owner was diagnosed with cancer. My husband Dean, cousin Anne, her husband Frank and I bought it.

The health department grade posted the day of the sale read 93.5, so how bad could it be?

With no building codes in 1971, the builders cut corners. Only two lights in the front worked. The hood covering the grill and deep fryer was aluminum, and there were no fire-extinguishers. Both bathrooms were dark and tiny. Using the commode required feeling for the seat, and then sitting sidewise. There was a pond of sewage under the building. The wiring and gas hook-ups were scary.

We spent almost three months cleaning, removing, replacing, repairing, re-plumbing, redoing, repainting, repapering and refinancing.

Within six months after opening, we replaced the compressor for the walk-in freezer. And someone broke in and took groceries, money and our cash register.

For five years, we watched money go like sand through an hour-glass. We replaced the heat pump, re-plumbed the septic system again, graveled the parking lot, rebuilt the walk-in freezer and replaced the compressor again. We sold it in February 2004. We said thank God and good riddance!

Carol Caudill Winebarger
Traphill
Surry-Yadkin EMC