Last A&W restaurant in SLO County is closing — and its customers are heartbroken
Dorothy Giessinger’s family has flipped burgers and poured root beer floats at the A&W Restaurant in Atascadero for more than 30 years.
But Giessinger and her husband have made the difficult decision to turn off the lights at the nostalgic fast-food restaurant for the last time, and they’ll be closing at the end of February.
The A&W Restaurant on Morro Road was started by Giessinger’s in-laws three decades ago.
It’s the last A&W Restaurant in San Luis Obispo County and one of few freestanding locations in California, Giessinger said.
Cost of living, staffing challenges created barriers to doing business
They’re closing for a few reasons. The property owners have put the building up for sale, and staffing challenges along with the cost of doing business in California has made it impossible for the small business to turn a profit, she said.
“The way it’s been in California, it’s just too hard for the small-business owner,” Giessinger said.
She said the cost of food has risen to the point where a pound of bacon runs $10, which made it so she had to increase the price of A&W’s bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. They’re still having trouble breaking even.
“If I priced my prices the way I need to, to make money, I’d price myself out of business,” Giessinger said.
Another challenge has been keeping staff.
During the pandemic when schools were closed, the restaurant was staffed with local high school students, but once schools reopened, Giessinger said she lost her team of employees.
The restaurant closes every day during lunch because the manager leaves for her second job and the rest of the team needs to wrap up the school day.
“We aren’t getting any applicants that aren’t in high school,” Giessinger said.
After the restaurant manager leaves at 1:30, Giessinger is left with herself and two cooks.
“You can’t run it with only three people,” she said.
Linda Cramer has been an assistant manager at the restaurant for most of 32 years.
“I’ve had so many people tell me when they come through, I’m from South County and every time we come up here, we have to stop and get an A&W,” Cramer said. “It still feels more like a mom-and-pop-type restaurant.”
Closure saddens longtime customers
On Friday, longtime customers stopped in to grab some food or a root beer at the restaurant’s drive-through window, reminiscing about how long they’d been eating at A&W.
“I can’t believe it. I’ve been here for 40 years and been a patron of this place,” said Donna Atkinson of Atascadero. “I am really going to miss it.”
Juan Pacheco of Atascadero came by to fill up his jug of root beer and echoed that feeling.
“To come here as a little kid, and it’s been like the last 10, 15 years coming here. It’s sad that they’re leaving but had to buy this before they left,” he said.
Dalene Proulx of Paso Robles said she’d be stopping by as often as she can over the next few weeks.
“This is our second time here in two days,” Proulx said, laughing. “We were here yesterday, came back today. And we’ll probably be back at least three or four times before they close. We’re heartbroken.”
Owners plan to move A&W franchise to Texas
The Giessinger family is doing what many Californians have done as the cost of living and running a business climbs — they’re packing up and moving to Texas.
Giessinger and her husband will join two of their children and extended family in central Texas. Because they’ve got seven years left on their contract as an A&W franchise, the couple plans to relocate their operation from Atascadero to their new home.
After that, the small-business owners look forward to retirement in a more affordable state, but Giessinger said there’s a lot she’ll miss about running the Central Coast’s only A&W restaurant.
“I love it when people come in and say, ‘I met my wife at A&W,’ ‘My first job was at an A&W,’” Giessinger said. “I bet I hear that twice a week. I’ll miss all that.”
She reminisced about her husband pouring root beer floats at high school football games and participating in past Colony Days celebrations.
“The community of Atascadero is really a wonderful community,” she said.
The Giessinger family plans to keep the restaurant running until Feb. 28 and will be selling food, merchandise and possibly even fixtures to longtime A&W fans.
“I’d like to thank the community for all their support through the years. We’re going to miss it,” she said. “I’m going to start crying now. There’s going to be a lot of tears.”
