The Cedars restaurant adds south side location

Once occupied by La Mex and most recently The Station Cafe & Pub, the space at 3322 S. Campbell Ave., Ste. DD in Sheid's Plaza, soon will be home to The Cedars.

Dennis Butzlaff and Jim Dillard, owners of The Cedars, hope to be operating the south side location by mid-May in addition to their 15-year-old establishment near the corner of North West Bypass and Chestnut Avenue.

Butzlaff said they had been looking to expand their business for a while, but the difficulty was in finding a space that was designed for restaurant use. The 4,000 square foot space was previously occupied by The Station Cafe & Pub, a railway-theme restaurant that opened April 29 of last year and recently closed.

The space is being renovated by Ron Long of Shade Tree Carpentry in Sparta, who began infilling the first week of April.

"This looked like a good opportunity," Butzlaff said of the new location.

According to Dillard, the main reason they chose the South Campbell site is the high traffic flow in the area. He also thinks it will better serve some of their existing customers.

"We have a lot of people come across town to see us," Dillard said.

With a menu focused on home-cooked meals for less than $5, The Cedars' primary customers are families and construction workers during the breakfast and lunch rushes.

However, Butzlaff and Dillard have been developing a catering business as well. Butzlaff said that one-fourth of the restaurant's business is from catering, especially in delivering lunches to doctors' offices. He said they also do business events, parties and weddings.

When they began serving the west side in 1986, The Cedars was the only restaurant near the intersection. Now there is Hardee's, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Scramblers, which also specializes in breakfast and lunch.

But those additions, Butzlaff said, have only increased The Cedars' sales.

"That's what prompted us to move on," he said. "Even Scramblers moving across the street didn't hurt our business."

Butzlaff said he sees overflow potential from Ziggie's, The Belgian Waffle House and Village Inn all on the South Campbell strip that The Cedars can benefit from.

"We hope to get a little bit from everybody out here," he added.

Once the new restaurant is in full operation the two will employ a total of about 45 employees. Each location seats approximately 130 people.

Unlike the first Cedars, the South Campbell location will have a closed-off smoking area.

"The main area will be nonsmoking ... that's one of the biggest complaints where we're at right now," Butzlaff said. "We'll have a special room for smokers only."

The south-side location will start out serving breakfast and lunch only with hours of 6 a.m.-2 p.m.

The north side Cedars serves breakfast, lunch and supper and is open 5:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.