New owners step in to save A-Town Diner. Here’s what they have planned
After a sad goodbye to the community of Atascadero last week, A-Town Diner is not closing after all.
Robert and Mimi Davis, longtime friends of Jeanie Dagnall and her late husband, Steve Dagnall, have taken over ownership of the North County restaurant.
“I followed the progression of Steve’s dream with the diner,” A-Town Diner’s new owner, Robert Davis, said. “It has just been a legacy of this area, people in this area love it. ... It broke my heart that the community wasn’t going to have it anymore.”
Jeanie Dagnall said the arrangement with the Davis family came together on Sunday, after she already announced her plans to close the establishment permanently.
“God always works miracles in my life,” said Dagnall, who is a devout Christian.
Dagnall said she prayed for a solution that will keep the diner to open while still allowing her to move forward with her life.
“The support of this community has been so above and beyond,” she said. “The support we had (last) weekend — we couldn’t even remain open on Sunday because we ran out of food. Thousands of people came in.”
Some changes coming to A-Town Diner
Davis said that he and Mimi are running A-Town Diner as a passion project for the community of Atascadero and that the goal is for the diner to be self-sustaining if not profitable.
“There’s definitely going to be some hurdles,” he said. “And we will overcome it.”
While they plan to maintain the diner much as is, some changes will be coming.
The biggest is that the restaurant will not be offering dinner, at least for now.
The hours will be scaled back as Davis focuses on building up breakfast and lunch.
This means the diner will be operating with a smaller staff, but the majority of the employees were offered their jobs back, and everyone who was extended the offer was rehired, Davis said.
As for the food, Davis said, “The menu will stay the same with very few changes.”
The plan for now is to reopen the doors to the diner this upcoming Saturday, he said.
The restaurant will be open seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., with an early-bird special from 6 to 7 a.m.
“Our goal is to keep everything the same as Steve made it,” he said. “The concept is perfect, and it just needs some tweaking and increasing in efficiency.”
Customers can visit A-Town Diner at its original location at 7305 El Camino Real for breakfast and lunch beginning Saturday.
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 1:37 PM.
