Sometimes the recipe for business success can only be measured with two ingredients, hard work and good service.
Porter's Place in Lehi has used these ingredients to make a great dish.Bob Trepanier bought the restaurant four years ago. Porter's Place is a steak-and-potatoes place based on the life of Orrin Porter Rockwell, who was a bodyguard to Joseph Smith, the first president of the LDS Church.
"There are a lot of novelty restaurants around," Trepanier said. "But the novelty wears off pretty quickly if it is not accompanied by good service, a good atmosphere and good food."
When people enter Porter's, the first thing they notice is the decor, much of which comes from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The 37-year-old proprietor said the bar was built in the 1880s and comes from a saloon in Montana. The carpet was the original floor covering in the Hotel Utah, complete with faded beehives.
Despite an economic crunch in Lehi right now, Porter's seems to be holding its own.
"We are a destination restaurant," Trepanier said. Nearly one-third of the restaurant's clientele comes from southern Salt Lake County.
"I have discovered that people will go anywhere if they have heard that there will be a good meal," he said.
Porter's Place, which is on Lehi's Main Street, was created in 1971 by Frank and Dennis Huggard because they were interested in Porter Rockwell. So was Trepanier - he named his first son Porter Rockwell Trepanier.
Trepanier was working in the mines in Carbon County when a co-worker discovered his interest in Rockwell and told Trepanier about the restaurant.
In 1986, Trepanier found the money to buy the business.
Since that time, the restaurant has grown approximately 40 percent each year, he said. "We started out with about 50 seats and now we can seat 110 customers."
Trepanier has also added other Rockwell memorabilia to his restaurant.
He produced a video called the "Life and Times of Porter Rockwell," which he shows for $1 to anyone who comes in.
Utahns aren't the only ones who know this restaurant.
A year ago, Disney came and filmed a segment of the film "The Secret of Lost Creek" inside Porter's.
"They liked the place so much that they got permission to change the script to include our name," Trepanier said.
According to Trepanier, the real appeal of the place is its uniqueness coupled with good food and service.
Four women customers agreed. One claimed she had come from Arizona just to visit Porter's Place. Then she admitted that wasn't exactly true, but said every time she comes to Lehi she goes there.
Trepanier said most of the restaurant's patrons are repeat customers. "Once they come here, they will keep coming back."
People from Lehi seem to be proud of the place, he said. "They always tell me that it is nice to have a classy place right in town that they can bring friends to."
Maybe it's the food, maybe it's the service, but maybe Porter's Place attracts because it's the only place where someone can order a Skull Valley Soda, a One Eyed Jack, a Buffalo Burger, or Swampwater.