Hit the road and head south
Southside Diner gives travelers, locals a place to grab homemade meals
Posted on February 7, 2008
Tim Boyers has been the manager of the Southside Diner, more commonly known to its frequenters as “the truck stop,” for the past five years. When he got there, the kitchen staff was cooking out of cans.
“They would literally pour sausage gravy out of a can and just heat it up,” Boyers said, chuckling.
Now, everything from the BBQ pork butt to the meat loaf to the hand-formed burgers is homemade at the diner, located right off I-81. It’s been a challenge, Boyers said, but the food is what keeps hungry truckers and locals coming back for more.
Boyers had never worked at a truck stop before, so he visited over 100 in preparation, just talking to truckers.
“Nowadays, truck stops are putting McDonald’s and Subways in,” he said. “But truckers don’t want that. I wanted to take things back to the way they used to be.”
When Boyers left his old diner in Front Royal, he brought a slew of new recipes with him.
“I got rid of everything when I got here, “he said. “It’s really just trial and error. If people like it, you do it the same. Give them what they want.”
It must be working, because Boyers says he and his staff serve about 1,200 customers a day. In January, the diner served 4,443 cups of coffee. Boyers makes sure his staple recipes are being followed.
“About half of my cooking staff speaks Spanish,” he said. “It’s difficult with the language barrier to make sure everyone is doing the same thing. So I translated the cookbooks into Spanish.”
The original diner, established around 1955, seated about 50 people. The current lunch counter used to be a cafeteria line – something Boyers immediately changed when he arrived.
“We’ve grown 100 percent in the last five years,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
The patrons range from truckers to businessmen to late-night visits from students. Boyers estimates 40 to 50 people that come in for lunch are regulars.
“Every weekday, five businessmen occupy that same booth,” he said, pointing to a large corner booth. “They never miss a day.”
Boyers said he wanted to attract more students to the 24/7 diner, but had trouble because it’s out of the way.
“By the time students figure out we’re here, they graduate,” he said.
Boyers is supported by a staff of waitresses and cooks — most of whom are the reason for regulars, Boyers says.
“This is [truckers’] home away from their home,” he said. “You should see Christmas around here. There are presents and cards everywhere.”
Boyers, who can tell you how long every waitress has been working at the diner, hasn’t hired a new cook in two years.
“Nobody leaves here,” he said. “Everyone here cares about their job, which I’d say is a pretty unusual thing.”
Even when his waitresses leave to be teachers or nurses, they still want to work one or two days a week.
“They don’t need the money,” Boyers said. “They just want to keep in touch with the customers.”
