The end of a tradition and an institution, Spiffy's restaurant has officially closed their doors. For many, it stood as a symbol of a restaurateur standing up against closing their business, for others it was a place to work as a teenager. Whatever your thoughts are, Spiffy's has been around for 50 years and many of us are sad to see it go.
Rod Samuelson took the time to answer some of our questions, giving us more of a history of Spiffy's. Spiffy's has been open for 50 years. What influenced Rod to stay in business 50 years? He stated, "My background prior to owning Spiffy's was finance administration. As our business grew it fit well into my background. It (Spiffy's) continued on an upward plane. At first it was slow, but steady, then it grew into a most successful and profitable business. I'm not a cook, I'm an administrator, and could probably do a similar job running most businesses."
Many of us remember the single wide trailer Rod started his business in, then he built a full scale restaurant. Rod stated, "October 1985 construction started on converting a drive-in, dine-in to a full restaurant. Several small additions preceded this addition. I had added an office, small food prep area, a bakery, another larger office and converted the first office to dry food storage, added stairs to the lower part of the restaurant, enclosed the stairs, etc. These were all done prior to the larger addition. I had gone into the donut business and eventually purchased the corner in Napavine to expand that business. It became extremely busy and I was working myself into the ground, so I sold the donut business. At that time it was producing 600 to 1000 dozen per day, all sold before delivery. We had two trucks on the road all night. Occasionally a driver would call-in sick...I had to drive, because I was the only one that knew the route. Also, many of the small stores were closed, so I had to build boxes to put the donut trays chained to some part of the store. (Ask my son Wade, he helped build dozens of those boxes.) The largest was for a school that held approximately ten trays. We delivered to five schools, several grocery stores, and a hospital, plus I do not know how many convenient stores."
"Now, why?" he said. "Life was changing. The days of the mom and pop diners were obviously over with the advent of fried chicken, etc. in convenient stores. My wife and I discussed what to do. Go big or sell."
Many restaurants were open during the pandemic, Rod was one of three that ended up with fines. Even though I know of at least three other restaurants that were open that did not get fines. Rod was open for several reasons.
"Two reasons," he said. "First, we were forced to be closed most of the year and lost thousands. We needed cash to get through the winter months ahead. Second, the employees needed cash as well. The employment agency was closed. They instructed applicants to leave their name and number on their website and someone would call them. They didn't call."
Employees throughout the years stayed for a longtime when they came to work for Spiffy's, when asked of the longevity of the employees, Rod continued, "We tried to treat people like we'd want to be treated. Not always did we succeed, but for the most part I believe employees respected our effort. During the early days we employed many teenagers. We were one of few places that did so. Our longest employees were with us over 35 years. I think there were four. One at 28 years and many, many over 15."
Spiffy's was a destination for those who drove along I-5 too, many enjoying their pie and cinnamon rolls for a quick stop. Rod spoke about how they were able to be a restaurant for 50 years, "I'm kidding anyone when I say; location, location, location. Without Jesus Christ none of what we did would not have happened. That's a fact! As time went on we tried different ideas with food, hours, and advertising. Some were successful, some were not."
There were good and bad times, we asked Rod what were some of these times. He continued, "Best, we heard of numerous accounts of people accepting the Lord, or making a commitment to change their life. We provided jobs for many, many people, including our two kids. It was able to pay for most of their college costs. We were able to stay together as a family, working together."
"Worst," he continued. "Gosh, I guess that would be what is happening today. Government intervention. We couldn't get employees and, then of course, fines for staying open and providing jobs."
Rod is not the type to sit around, he owns his decision to close his restaurant. "People frequently are asking if I'm depressed over closing. No, absolutely not. I'm very content with my decision. I'm going on age 82. It's time to retire. I am saddened that it had to end this way. Our managers, Rob and Kathy Grant were to carry-on, but because of all the issues they chose not to do so. They are great people and deserved better, as well as many employees. I'm very thankful for our customers. Wonderful life-long friends were made with their patronage."
For those of us who worked there out of highschool learned a work ethic that allowed us to be successful in the real world. Without the restaurant training in customer service, it gave us the ability to go farther in life. Thank you Rod and Dianna, for giving us kids an excellent start to our lives.