Cafe in Astoria under new ownership

 

By Tammy Mathison

hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

The café in Astoria,S.D.is un­der new ownership. Joseph and Ronda Campbell recently pur­chased the business, which has been most recently known as TimBuck2, from Jill Eilers.

On Jan. 2 the Campbells and those involved completed the necessary paperwork in rela­tion to the transaction, including signing the lease for the build­ing, and opened for business on Jan. 3.

Originally from California, Ronda and Joseph Campbell, along with their four sons Mi­chael, Christopher, Joe and Timmy, moved to Astoria in late 2005 after having lived in South Dakota for few years. “We moved here right after the ice storm,” said Ronda.

Many in Hendricks may rec­ognize Ronda as being the first place winner of the pie baking contest held during the 2011 Hendricks Harvestfest. The ap­ple pie recipe used during the contest is one she uses at the café. Ronda is also the person who has had the baked goods available at Vick’s Grocery in Hendricks. “I love baking. I bake all of my own hamburger buns here, along with the dinner rolls, pies and desserts,” said Ronda.

Unsatisfied with her job and having a love of cooking and bak­ing, a couple of years ago Ronda took some advice from someone close to her and opened her own catering business, which she and her family have done out of a lunch truck for the last couple of years. The truck has a com­plete kitchen in it, with all of the requirements in place to meet code. “We cater three days a week at Larson’s Manufacturing and when the wind turbine guys were working we were there on the jobsite for lunch,” said Ron­da. “We offer burgers and brats, hot dogs or specials like lasagna and fettuccine Alfredo and a lot of Mexican food out of the truck,” she added.Campbell’s Kitchen and Catering is a family busi­ness and, as such, three of the couple’s sons, 24-year-old Michael, 19-year-oldJoe and 16-year-old Timmy help out at the café and with the catering. Her daughter-in-law and two of the sons’ girlfriends also help out.

As the Campbells already had the existing catering business known as Camp­bell’s Kitchen and Catering, it was necessary to change the name of the café to the same. “Knowing what the name TimBuck2 meant to Jill, we would have loved to keep the name, but since we already have the business name, we needed to change it,” said Ronda. She went on to say that the phone number is the same, but still listed under the old name for now.

The name isn’t the only thing theCampbellsintend to change.

The couple plan to make some additions to the menu and the hours of business. At the time of the interview, the Campbells had yet to finalize what the additional hours and days they will be open.

However, they did say that they plan to try a breakfast buffet every oth­er Sunday and would like to add some ethnic foods to the menu. The existing Tuesday and especially Friday night specials will remain the same for now and other specials may be added. A Valentine’s Din­ner is also being planned. “We are planning on doing some advertising in the lo­cal papers and we are on Facebook,” said Ronda. She went on to say that their specials and hours will be on their Facebook page or that people can call the café with questions or to make a reservation for the Valentine’s Dinner. “Res­ervations will be required for the Valentine’s Dinner,” said Ronda.

The Campbells said that they would be willing to deliver meals to home­bound people and they are discussing the possibility of doing pizza delivery toAstoria,Torontoand Hen­dricks if there were inter­est in such a service.

Ronda said that they are excited about running the café and have many other plans in store. They are also thankful for all of the support they have received so far. “We are blessed with good sons and blessed with good people in our lives,” said Ronda.

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