Family-owned Lee's Cafe, a longstanding Bountiful landmark, will soon be demolished to make room for a McDonald's franchise.
Owner Brent Epperson said McDonald's and other companies have been after the lot at 500 South and 500 West, one of most valuable parcels of business real estate in Davis County, for at least 10 years. He said he has received 200 to 300 offers for it over that time.McDonald's will occupy the land under a 20-year lease. Lee's will close its doors probably around the end of the year, at which time it will be demolished and McDonald's will begin building.
Bountiful Mayor John Cushing called the cafe "a landmark."
"Whenever you want to give someone directions you just say, `You know where Lee's Cafe is? Well, you just go from there to . . . ,' " he said. "That will be a significant change in the profile of our community."
The new McDonald's will be positioned between a franchise at 2468 S. U.S. 89 and one just off the Centerville exit of I-15.
Though specific lease terms were not released, Epperson said with a wink that he'll receive "just a little" more than the $30,000 his father, Lee, paid for the property in 1950. But after so many years in the business Epperson leaves with mixed feelings. He took the restaurant over from his father, and his son, Jamin, 23, was set to take it over from him. Epperson, 43, began working at Lee's when he was 11.
"It's all big corporations now," he said between stints of cooking eggs and fries on one of the cafe's two large grills. "It's kind of a sad deal - real hard for me."
For years Lee's was a de facto meeting place for Bountiful's Rotary and Exchange clubs, and was known as a spot where cronies could gather to smoke and drink coffee. The eatery was hard hit with the state's latest anti-smoking law which went into effect last January, prohibiting smoking in all public restaurants.
During Tuesday's lunch hour, Carroll Featherston, who has gone to Lee's three times a day since 1953, was sitting comfortably in a booth stirring coffee, joking and exchanging stories with three long-time meal companions.
"This is my home away from home," he said to nods from his friends.
"We call (gatherings at Lee's) the `board meetings,' " said the group's "chairman," Roger Bredsguard. "We were coming here before he was ever thought of," added Pat Jacobsen, jerking a thumb at Epperson, who was standing nearby. Epperson laughed and nodded yes, saying maybe he would give the board its oft-frequented booth.
Featherston said he had no idea what eatery he would go to when Lee's closes its doors. "Maybe we'll just go to (Epperson's) kitchen."
While the board was pontificating, JaneBons, a 24-year Lee's Cafe waitress, was replenishing water glasses and recommending Tuesday's special: sirloin tips over noodles. As one of 15 employees who will be looking for someplace else to work soon, Bons was philosophical about the restaurant's demise.
"I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do about it," she said.
It's a natural time for reminiscing. Epperson delights in telling about when his father decided to buy some land in 1950. It was mostly cornfield and included the corner where Lee's would be built. It also surrounded a bank where Lee Epperson unsuccessfully sought a loan to buy the land. The bankers rebuffed him with "You think you're going to find gold on that corner?"
A few years later, the bankers were forced to go hat in hand to Lee Epperson to request purchase of part of his property so they could expand their building.
"I was just a kid, sitting in the office," Brent Epperson recalled. "My father looked at them and said, `Gentlemen, today's the day we just hit gold.' "
Now Brent Epperson has also hit gold - in the shape of arches.