Hunger Paynes Family Restaurant

The history of the restaurant goes back a little over 25 years. There have been three previous owners to this business.

Dave Kegley was the original owner of this restaurant, opening in June 1978. It was then called Barrel's Restaurant & Old Fashion Ice cream Parlor, or as most will remember; The Barrel. Dave had customers standing out in line in the hallway of the Mall. Unfortunately the Barrel Restaurant was only open for a few short years.

The restaurant remained closed until August 1983, when Mike and Dianne Stumpf opened it back up. Not changing the name it stayed The Barrel restaurant. Unfortunately the restaurant closed once again in May of 1985. It remained closed for only a few short months until another couple opened it. August of 1985 Dick and Barb Brown reopened the restaurant this time naming it; BJ's family restaurant. In June of 1990 the restaurant again had new owners, Jim, Sharon, Jerry and Connie Payne. The restaurant would now be named; Seltzer Station Restaurant, Co-owners decided on this name hoping customers would have an easier time finding the restaurant since it was named after the mall. After about a year, one set of Paynes bought out the other. Within another year, Jerry and Connie Payne would decide to expand the restaurant.

It was a big step but fortunately, we had customers waiting in the hallway of the mall. We felt confident we could expand our restaurant and be successful. First we had to convince Seaway Foodtown, the landlord of the mall. It took many months of planning, discussing and finally negotiating with Seaway Foodtown. We were determined to convince them to expand. On Feb. 10, 1992 we had moved over and were open for business in our newly decorated restaurant. We had five beautiful windows to look out of every day. It has made all of the difference in the world. We also had a banquet room on the side, which was originally the restaurant. We doubled our seating as well as our staff. It's a lot of work and a lot of hours, but we liked what we were doing and it shows.

In 1997 we moved to the new location, on east Main St. we also have a new name, Hunger Paynes. Many thanks, to all of our hometown customers, groups and organizations, as well as neighboring towns. You are all what has made our business a success and we do appreciate your patronage.

Today, we may have a different location and go by a new name, but the same basic principles that the restaurant was founded on remain intact - give people quality food service and refined, clean image of the national chains while retaining the home-style family service and warm atmosphere of a locally owned restaurant.