Denny’s Opens in Santa Paula

By Sheryl Hamlin

Closed since 2013, cure the building formerly occupied by Carrows sold to new owners in September 2014, cialis although it had been rumored for some time that Denny’s restaurant would be taking over this facility. The new owner of the building is not necessarily the restaurant chain or the business owner and could be an investor. 

The Santa Paula Denny’s restaurant business franchise is owned by Farooq Ghias. Denny’s also has corporate owned restaurants. The average company owned restaurant grossed $1.94 million in 2013, while the average franchisee operated restaurant grossed $1.41 million according to Statista. As of yearend 2014, there were 1,529 franchised Denny’s restaurants and 160 company owned restaurants according to Google Finance. Founded in 1953 as Danny’s Donuts in Lakewood, California, the Denny’s yellow and red logo has become a symbol of well-priced American food.

The location of the Santa Paula Denny’s is ideal for travelers on Highway 126 as well as locals who access via Palm. The address is 327 South Palm Avenue, Santa Paula, California. The phone number is 805-525-9500. Takeout orders are accepted via phone.

Sunday, March 8 was opening day for the Santa Paula Denny’s. The line formed prior to 11:00 am and continued through the evening. The mantra of Denny’s is “Americas Diner is Always Open”. That means Denny’s is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. Translating this to hours, this means 61,320 hours, which will be served by a staff of 60 to 70 people. The Santa Paula location has an occupancy permit of 110 people. Assuming a leisurely hour meal, this could translate into hours of eating and sales tax for Santa Paula. This restaurant could generate an additional ten to fourteen thousand dollars annually for the city in addition to providing new jobs.

The interior is fresh with pictures of Santa Paula on the walls. Four historic photos include a 1912 sports team and a view of Santa Paula showing the old Sears Catalogue Store on Main Street sourced from John Nichols Photography Studio.

Giving the restaurant 24 hours to “break in”, we decided to try it on Monday, March 9 arriving around 1:40 pm. The lunch crowd had dispersed and the east dining area had thinned out. By 1:52, the server had not taken the order, so we hailed the hostess who located a waitress. The order was one Caesar salad, one pie a la mode and two bold coffees. The menu featured the bold coffee so it was definitely something to try. When the coffee arrived, I confirmed if this was the bold brew. The answer was negative, so the waitress arrived with two mugs of bold and crème, which had not come with the first cups. Two salads arrived next. One was returned because we only ordered one. The pie came next and it was picture perfect. The salad was fresh and the bold coffee excellent, well worth the entire experience.

Denny’s is not known for low-cal or fitness foods; however, they did provide a helpful guide showing all menu items with calories, fat and carbohydrates. I had originally picked the steak salad, but at 630  calories and 40 grams of fat, this was too much for late lunch, so switched to the 220 calorie Caesar salad. The pie of course, was too wicked to mention here.

When the bill came, we had been charged for two Caesar salads with chicken and avocado, one pie a la mode and two coffees. They fixed the bill immediately. At $15.00 including tip, this was a reasonable late lunch with sinful snack.

Clearly with a large staff, the management will be training and re-training to perfect the ordering and delivery. We will return in a while to see the improvement and hopefully order the steak salad and definitely the bold coffee.

*Photo Credits: Sheryl Hamlin

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Sheryl Hamlin: With an MS in Industrial Engineering, Sheryl Hamlin spent years in technology with stints at Motorola, Tandem Computers and various startups. She has been on the boards of neighborhood organizations both in San Francisco and Palm Springs where planning issues were her specialty. She now resides in Santa Paula and loves the historic fabric of the city.  Ms. Hamlin’s blog Stealth Fashion  and  technology product ‘ Plug and Play Webmaster’.

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