All Aboard! Rolo’s Cafe is Back on Track
The train is rolling again at Rolo’s Cafe.
Rolo’s iconic train is rolling once again. (Photo/Steve Babin)
The popular “meat-and-three” restaurant off Airport Road in South Huntsville in Westbury Square is open again after closing just last month.
The store reopened last Friday and, by lunchtime, seats were full and a line was formed at the cash register.
“We have loyal customers, very loyal,’’ said new owner and former server Christy Michelle Parker. “The phone has been constantly ringing and people are knocking on the front door asking if we’re going to reopen.’’
Parker said she has a silent partner in the business ownership.
Parker is a graduate of Buckhorn High School and a resident of New Market. She answered an ad on the job hiring site Indeed and began working at Rolo’s in 2018.
Christy Parker: “I wanted to keep it open for the community, for the workers.” (Photo/Steve Babin)
When the previous ownership, derailed by the coronavirus, decided to close the cafe, Parker saw an opportunity.
“It definitely impacted the restaurant with staff issues,’’ she said of the pandemic. “I was praying everything (with the opening) goes off without any issues.’’
Rolo’s was founded by Rolo Weaver 30 years ago.
As reported earlier in the Huntsville Business Journal, Rolo’s serves Southern staples such as grits, sausage, country fried steak with gravy and eggs for breakfast along with bottomless hot coffee, and switching to burgers, pot roast, cobbler, vegetables, a cheesy patty melt and more for lunch or afternoon early suppers.
The cafe is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Parker said if she can get staffing, Rolo’s will add Mondays to open hours.
Parker said she saw a business that could thrive post-pandemic, and she wanted to keep the workers on staff employed.
“When I worked here, I treated the place as my own,’’ she said. “I knew it was profitable. I wanted to keep it open for the community, for the workers. They’ve been here for years and years.’’
When the cafe closed on July 2 Parker posted this message:
“This absolutely breaks my heart. For three years this restaurant was my life. My job, my coworkers, and the customers are what helped me make it through some pretty tough times. Yesterday was the last day we will be open. The doors will not reopen after the 4th of July. The only hope Rolos has of reopening is if someone buys the restaurant.’’
Parker made it happen.
