The Roanoker Restaurant Celebrates 75th Anniversary

The Roanoker Restaurant, at its current Colonial Avenue location since 1982, celebrates its 75th anniversary in July after originally opening in downtown Roanoke in 1941.
The Roanoker Restaurant, at its current Colonial Avenue location since 1982, celebrates its 75th anniversary in July after originally opening in downtown Roanoke in 1941.

Don’t fix what’s not broken.

That is the underlying philosophy for Roanoker Restaurant owner Renee “Butch” Craft on what has driven the success of the landmark Roanoke eatery over the years.

The Roanoker celebrated its 75th anniversary in July, and as Craft tells it, while many things have changed over that three-quarter century, the keys to the restaurant’s longevity have mostly remained the same.

“Our menu has been very consistent over the years,” Craft notes. “Many of the same items that were on the menu in 1941 are still there today. It’s been our niche, and you can’t get away from that. We don’t want to change.”

A quick look at former year’s menus, still on display near the cash register at the present day Colonial Avenue location, confirms that point. Like they did in the 1940s, hamburger steaks, baked ham, roast beef, vegetable plates, signature sandwiches, along with coffee and ice tea still firmly have their place at The Roanoker.

The main difference you’ll note are the prices from bygone days when the United States was in the middle of WW II. The 1944 menu reflects a hamburger steak with vegetables and bread for a mere 40 cents. A baked ham sandwich set you back 25 cents; coffee- a nickel.

And, while the lunch and dinner crowds flock to the restaurant in the form of individual diners, couples, business groups, church groups, family reunions, along with those celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, retirements and marriages, it’s hard to beat a Roanoker Restaurant breakfast that has drawn crowds from all over the state for decades.

At breakfast, customers are drawn to the restaurant’s famous sausage gravy which has not only appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show,” but also was featured in Southern Living magazine and in the book “Off the Eaten Path.”

The numbers are staggering. Craft estimates the restaurant serves 4,000 biscuits on a busy holiday day, with up to 2,000 on an average day. Sausage gravy is prepared by the gallons.

The Roanoker Restaurant opened its doors on July 1, 1941 at 11 South Jefferson St. in downtown Roanoke by E. Crafton Warren and two of his friends, all of whom decided to open a lunch counter in the downtown area. They began as a limited partnership with $600. When World War II broke out six months after The Roanoker opened, Crafton’s two partners were called to duty, leaving him to operate The Roanoker and serve as a civilian neighborhood volunteer. After the War, his partners sold their shares back to Crafton, and the restaurant continued to serve good food at good prices to the Roanoke Valley.

The Roanoker moved to Salem Ave. due to downtown renovations, and stayed downtown in three different locations for 20 years. Many original Roanoker recipes, a number from cook Cordelia “Knookie” Clarkson, were written on the wall beside the telephone, including those for buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, corn sticks and fried chicken.  It was around this time that Crafton’s son, E.C., started helping his father at the age of 8. E.C. would go on to own and operate the restaurant with his father, working there virtually every day after school and throughout his adult life.

In the early 1960s The Roanoker expanded its operation and moved to the newly constructed Towers Mall. In 1970, Crafton hired Butch Craft as a secretary at the urging of longtime Roanoker personality and Butch’s brother, the late Posey Oyler.

The Roanoker made one final move to its current location in 1982, setting itself up as a stand-alone restaurant and no longer a lunch counter or cafeteria.

Crafton passed away in December, 1982, just 11 months after the restaurant relocated to its present location. E.C. Warren retired in 2005 and turned the business over to Butch.  E.C. remained involved in the business until his sudden death in 2008.

When it opened in 1941, the restaurant employed 10 and seated 50 people. Today, The Roanoker employees between 70 and 80, while seating 300.

Craft reflected on the phenomenal accomplishment of the restaurant being in business for 75 years.

“I can’t believe it,” she said recently while sitting in the restaurant’s main dining room as customers enjoyed lunch. “We’ve stuck with a simple, basic philosophy. We have consistently good food, many of our recipes have been the same for decades and we don’t take short cuts. I’ve always said if you can’t do it right, don’t do it.”

“We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of good employees over the years,” Craft added. “It’s a culture here. We have a lot of long-time customers and many of our wait staff have quite a following. They know what their customers eat and when they’re sick. You could say we connect. I can’t say enough about so many wonderful people who have come through these doors. Crafton Warren was the most hospitable person I’ve known, a friend to everyone. That’s what The Roanoker is about.”

Many of today’s employees have been around for years. Manager Pat Allen (Butch’s sister), now a fixture at the front register, has been at the restaurant for over 35 years. Same for server Fran Lambert and waitress-turned-hostess June Rogers.

Diane Page has been in the kitchen for over 30 years, while server Gail DeHaeseleer has achieved quite a following in the front room for more than 25 years. Just a few of the many who are on hand most days to make things run smoothly for Craft and her general manager, Samantha Craft.

The Roanoker has also been a strong supporter of youth activities, including sponsoring a baseball team in the Cave Spring National Little League since 1967. They’ve also been a part of Boy Scouts, and serving the community with support of churches and families in need.

“Mr. Warren loved baseball,” Craft pointed out. “When he was around those kids always had something to eat.”

While The Roanoker is known best for its long-established signature entrees, the restaurant has expanded its menu over the years to keep up with eating trends and to satisfy their guests.

The restaurant recently celebrated its 75 years in business with a special week of promotions that included gifts, merchandise and discounts, to show their appreciation to their customers.

Longevity where, as the proverb proclaims, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”.

Bill Turner

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