Women's History Month: restaurateur is proud that 'doing it yourself' brings success after hard work
Photo by Joanne Beck
It was no wonder why Tricia Davis had some tears while talking about her Twilight Meadows restaurant — a hotdog stand-turned-diner operated as a family business for the last 36 years in Alexander.
First owned and operated by her mom, Brenda Jarvis, in August 1988, Davis worked there from the beginning and took it over seven years ago. She is now, sadly and excitedly, handing over the keys to new owners at the end of March.
“When my mom took over, this was a hotdog stand. So this place has been here since the 50s. My grandmother went to Alexander school. My mother did. I did, and all my kids did. So I have a lot of deep connections around here,” she said during an interview at the Route 98 site. “So my mom was only 36 when she took over here. And I was 17, so it's been a great place, but the people before us, this was called the hotdog stand, but it was always Twilight Meadows. It's got a lot of neat little history. And people always come back here when they come into town or from the cemetery, you know, people go to the cemetery plots, and they always seem to come here to have their lunch or whatever it might be.”
While packing up to prepare for the new owners, she was reviewing some photos of her teenage self and thought, “No wonder the counter was full of guys,” she said with a smile. She said that her mother was “a pretty good-looking chick,” which didn’t hurt to attract male customers.
The restaurant was an idea of her grandfather, Harold Walton, a milk trucker who happened upon the nicknamed hotdog stand and thought it might be a viable pursuit for his daughter Brenda. Art and Elaine Kendall owned it from 1955 to 1988, served drinks in frozen cold root beer mugs and gave pretzel sticks to kids.
Grandpa Walton put a down payment on the place, buying it for $115, and his daughter paid it off. She poured her hard-earned experience of having waitressed throughout the area, often in Batavia's The Hideaway, into successful entrepreneurship. Davis soaked up mom's early career as a young girl who worked on a coloring book at a table until mom's shift was over.
When Davis took over, the interior had been converted to enlarge the kitchen and dining space, and the menu gradually expanded to include more entrees — homemade soups, meatloaf, spaghetti, salads, home fries — and breakfast favorites, with omelets being the most popular, she said. Her daughter Sarah, 19, works there part-time and said she spends a good six hours a week peeling and cutting up potatoes for the home fries that customers seem to love.
There was a lot of crying at the start while trying to figure it all out, said Davis, a 1989 Alexander High School grad. She remembered her wise grandpa’s advice to “plan on doing it yourself,” which she has taken to heart — throughout the pandemic and while learning how to be a boss and an employee.
“Since Covid, that’s how I do it. I do all the shopping … I run the restaurant like it’s the 50s, I am not computer literate,” she said. “When my mom left I had to learn how to do everything; the stress of it all, I had to learn sales tax — you’ve got to save for sales tax. I just learned it and was careful. I just figured it out. I’m proud of that.”
She also learned not to order too much inventory ahead of time and not to schedule more staff than she could keep busy. Davis established a routine for where to shop and for what to save the most money and get the right food deliveries. She mowed the lawn. Tended to an outdoor garden. Cooked and washed dishes. Waitressed and did bookkeeping. Cleaned and supervised employees.
During the pandemic shutdown, she had days when orders soared upwards of more than 100.
“It was hellish,” she admitted. “I had 120 take-outs at any given time on any given Friday. I was overwhelmed. People just came; they wanted to be out.”
People were also gracious with their tips and generosity, she said. During any downtime, she kept busy painting the walls and ceiling. There were no lazy Covid days, she said.
“I worked hard. Every day, I had a task,” she said. “I got this place right cleaned up. My son would deliver food. I survived it, and I’m exceptionally proud of it.”
In addition to food, she has also served up plenty of smiles and conversation. Davis described herself as “goofy and an entertainer.” She is someone who loves people and good customer service and has observed that most people like a side of chit-chat with their burgers. The walls are decorated with large framed collages of photos she has taken of customers over the years — many of whom have passed away from a client base of the 20s through 40s, and others that she knows will miss her just as much as she will miss them.
Something must have worked through her intentions to provide a homey atmosphere. A gentleman said to her one day that if she ever wanted to sell, he was interested. They eventually had a more serious talk and struck a deal. At 53, Davis believes it’s time for her to take a break from the constant busyness of business.
Part of the deal with the new owners includes Sarah's current restaurant staff, Davis’s sister Michelle, and three others. Davis agreed to work for the first two days as Twilight Meadows changed hands.
She gave credit to her husband Mike for supporting her all these years, to Aunt Clara for helping out her mom as a cook and waitress the first 20 years, and for “being part of the reason it succeeded,” and to Dawn Meyers, a “very good cook” who worked full- and part-time throughout the years and has always been around to help out.
You might not want to ask Tricia what she will do next. She may not know or want to do anything in particular. For any of the good, there have also been exhaustion and sacrifice, she said.
For now, “I just want to be,” she said.
Photo by Joanne Beck
Photo by Joanne Beck
