After hearing Susie K’s restaurant in Opelika was closing its doors at the end of December, two men decided to they would be the ones to keep it going.
The previous owners Timothy Lowery and his wife Suzanne took over what was formerly Sara J’s restaurant and renamed it Susie K’s in 2017. The couple kept the menu similar to the previous restaurant, which is what many locals grew up eating, and the regular customers continued coming.
The Lowerys said it was a hard decision to close Susie K’s, but it was something they had to do because of the current state of the economy and the increase of the cost of everything from supplies to wages.
The new co-owners Shane Pope and Chuck Sumner plan to reopen the restaurant in March 2023 and rebrand it as the Old Mill Country Kitchen. Pope said they plan to keep a very similar menu.
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Neither Pope nor Sumner have experience in the restaurant business, but they both believe it’s important to keep this location up and running for the community and the loyal customers who’ve been eating there for decades.
“Our main reason for reopening the restaurant is the ministry that goes on every morning here and also the community,” Pope said. “It’s been in this community for several years and we would like it to stay in the community.”
Groups met at Susie K’s for morning Bible studies and high school reunions. The local ROMEO club, Retired Old Men Eating Out, also frequented the restaurant as a meeting place.
Pope said he often met with his pastor for Bible studies on Tuesday mornings at Susie K’s and he loved eating there.
In 1995, Pope moved to Opelika and opened Shane Pope’s Taekwondo. Later, he got a position with John Deere and that’s where he first met Sumner, an Opelika native who works for an athletic sports turf company. Starting in 2015, Pope sold Sumner a tractor then other needed equipment, and over time they built a friendship.
After Pope saw a Facebook post from the previous owners of Susie K’s, he sent them an email asking about the possibility of taking over the restaurant. Then he reached out to Sumner.
Sumner said he was in Mississippi duck hunting when he got the call from Pope. He initially thought Pope was calling about something involving a tractor, but Pope surprised him by asking if he wanted to go into the restaurant business with him.
“He started talking about what it was and it was this restaurant, and I was like okay. That caught my attention,” Sumner said.
Besides enjoying the homey atmosphere of Susie K’s, Sumner said the restaurant also holds sentimental value.
“I have a lot of family that’s gone on now that used to come here all the time. That just means a lot too, so hopefully we can keep it going,” he said.
Sumner then came up with the slogan ‘A taste of history.’
Pope and Sumner plan to serve Southern fried cooking including chicken and dumplings, pork chops, fried chicken, vegetables and a variety of desserts. They will also be making renovations inside to get ready to open in March.
While working on the renovations, Pope said they’ve already had multiple people stop by ready to eat.
Pope said they are also looking to hire a few more cooks and servers, but also have several who worked at Susie K’s and plan to stay.
“They’ve had some very good employees here and they want to stay,” he said. “We’ve got about four servers that want to stay. We’ve got two cooks that are very known in the area for really good country cooking.”