Hall, owner and manager of the business, could not disclose the total cost of the rebuilding. But owners plan to have dine-in and drive-through service and an outdoor shelter. Eventually, the family hopes to have miniature golf, a baseball diamond and a soccer field, she added.
“We’ve outgrown our building,” Hall said. “We don’t even have room for the employees.”
Currently, 13 people work at Fent’s serving ice cream and diner food such as hot dogs, burgers and sandwiches, said Joy Carter, Hall’s sister and manager at Fent’s. After the new building opens at the end of the year, Fent’s will hire about 10 to 15 more employees.
“We’re so packed in the summer,” Hall said, citing children who come in after baseball and softball games and tournaments. “And now the kids who used to come here are bringing their kids.”
The family attributed some of their success to the location of the store on the corner of Shrine Road and Troy Road.
Hall said the business gets commuters off Ohio 41 and Ohio 235. She said in 24 hours 7,000 people travel on those roads.
Orla Fent said when he bought the family farm next door to Fent’s, his father pointed out that corner.
“My old man told me this is a million dollar corner, so I should build something down there,” said Fent, 82. “So I did.”
The restaurant has thrived through a bad economic climate that has overwhelmed many a small business. Or, like Jay Fent said, “There are so many people that sell out and stuff.”
Hall said the restaurant stays in business by keeping prices as low as possible and by keeping up the quantity and quality of the food. The restaurant also uses only local vendors.
For the last 40 years the Fents have operated strictly as a family business. All Fent children have worked here, and Carter said even her children have worked there on occasion.
“I used to work all day and all night here,” Carter said. “I was 15 when I started, and (Rita Hall) was 13.”
Hall left the dairy corner for years before returning.
“When mom passed in 2006, I didn’t realize how much I missed working here,” she said.
For this reason, the two sisters often debate what to do with the old building — merely a fifth the size of the new facility going up — once construction is complete. Most likely the building will be torn down.
“So many of our customers beg us not to tear it down,” Carter said as the three siblings talked about people who return to Fent’s after 30 years. “People want to go back into their past.”
And it’s these same locals who have been Fent’s customers for years that are now helping the family to realize their dream of expanding. Hall said many of their customers are also contractors for the construction project.
“The community made us, so it makes sense that they would build us,” Hall said.
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