Kevin Fitzpatrick and his wife visit Truckee a lot, and no matter which route they take, they can always find a Black Bear Diner somewhere along the way. They’ve always loved the food, he said, and wondered why there wasn’t one on the Central Coast.
That’s why the Arroyo Grande-based couple decided that maybe it was up to them to bring the down home, stick-to-your-ribs classic diner food to the area. They sat down with the owners of the company to discuss opening a franchise and agreed that the Fitzpatrick’s would be a good fit with the company.
They had a spot lined up near where they live, in Arroyo Grande, but the location fell through, Fitzpatrick said. They then looked to the former location of Santa Barbara Bank and Trust in Santa Maria, at the corner of Betteravia Road and Miller Street in the same shopping center as Target.
“There’s so much traffic,” Fitzpatrick explained. “You look here, and there’s 50,000 cars that go by by here every day on Betteravia and 30,000 here on Miller. So, it’s been a great location for us.”
Before they could wheel in the wooden bear sculptures and start frying bacon and eggs, though, the location needed some serious work. The remodeling process was extensive, Fitzpatrick said, and included doing something about the old bank vault.
“It was a big undertaking,” he said. “They turned that into the skullery, the dish pit, so they had the big concrete saws to saw off the side, and then they had the chisels in the floor to put in the electrical and drainage.
“If there’s an earthquake, I’m running in there,” he added.
The skullery certainly came in handy during the new Black Bear Diner’s first week in Santa Maria. The location opened on Aug. 7 and immediately saw a line out the door.
Fitzpatrick spoke with the Sun on Aug. 10, when the restaurant was on track to set a corporate record for opening week earnings, he said. It’s impressive considering that Popeye’s Chicken also had a popular opening just down Betteravia around the same time.
“Santa Marians, they’ve really embraced this store,” he said.
Part of the draw is the family atmosphere at Black Bear Diner, Fiztpatrick explained, where parents “feel comfortable with their kids.”
Kids and parents alike really take to the wooden bear sculptures found at the diner, Fitzpatrick said, and when he and his wife were planning out the new store, they wanted there to be a strong local tie. The artist who makes all the wood sculptures, Ray Schulz, will work within a theme, Fitzpatrick explained, so they asked him to design something special for Santa Maria.
“They always have a baby bear, mama bear, and daddy bear out front,” he said. “So I said, ‘Can you have a baby bear holding a big strawberry? … And have the daddy bear have a wheelbarrow with a giant strawberry on it?’ and that’s what he did.
“And the kids are all climbing all over it,” he added. “And that’s the thing about these restaurants, is people always take pictures with the bears because they are all unique to every store.”
Once the diners waiting outside with the strawberry bears got inside to eat, they had a wide selection to enjoy and choose from. The Black Bear Diner serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, from eggs and bacon all the way to steak and mashed potatoes. Most things are housemade, Fitzpatrick said, like the salad dressings or the meatloaf, which is a big part of the chain’s draw.
Between a packed opening week and scratch cooking, Fitzpatrick needed to hire more than 100 people to join his staff. They held a job fair and found locals with plenty of restaurant experience, hiring at least 16 cooks and seven prep cooks.
“It’s really been overwhelming,” he said. “I just want to thank the city of Santa Maria for really embracing this place.”
Locals leaving the new restaurant voiced their approval of the food, some stopping to take photos with the bear sculptures. One man, who left with his wife and two kids, had used up his lunch hour at the Black Bear Diner, so didn’t have time to give his name and a detailed retelling of their first visit. He still shared some quick thoughts on the way back to his car.
“It was very good,” he said. “Well worth the wait.”
Highlights:
• Habitat For Humanity volunteers recently got some help from Towbes Group employees on improving the conditions at mobile home parks in Ventura, Carpinteria, and Santa Maria. Volunteers cleared away brush and weedy overgrowth, painted patios, and offered general cosmetic care to the senior living communities.
• Marian Regional Medical Center, of the Dignity Health network of hospitals on the Central Coast, welcomed new Neurosurgeon Matthew Schreckinger to its staff of medical professionals. According to a release from Dignity Health, Dr. Schreckinger specializes in nuerological surgery for spine, back, neck, and brain disorders with expertise in minimally invasive procedures.
Managing Editor Joe Payne wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, mail, or email at spotlight@santamariasun.com
This article appears in Aug 17-24, 2017.