The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Family restaurant over 70 years strong
Homemade meals and a friendly atmosphere have been staples at Hazel’s Family Restaurant, 615 Cleveland Street, in Elyria since veteran server Charlotte Gregg can remember.
“The Olmsteads were really nice people to work for,” said Gregg, 83, of Grafton.
Mel Olmstead opened the restaurant, which specializes in American cuisine, in 1945, and named the business after his daughter, Hazel Olmstead, said current owner Rita Higgins. Gregg first started working at Hazel’s in 1958 and celebrated her 59th year working there on Feb. 18.
“A lot of people come in to see Charlotte,” said Higgins, 50, of Elyria.
Gregg has stood the test of time and remembers each of the restaurants five owners. Higgins said Mel Olmstead’s son, Stanley Olmstead, ran the business with his wife Audrey from 1974 until around 1985 when Stanley passed and Audrey took over as owner.
Brad Olmstead, the son of Stanley and Audrey Olmstead, took over the restaurant around 1992 and remained the owner until 1996. Higgins said she was engaged to Brad Olmstead and helped him run the restaurant when he passed that year, leaving the restaurant to Higgins.
Higgins said Hazel’s sort of fell into her lap, but she’s learned to love it.
“As long as I’m alive, I’ll continue to run it for my daughter,” Higgins said, referring to Ashley Olmstead, 24, the future owner of Hazel’s and daughter of Brad Olmstead.
Higgins admits running a restaurant can be very mentally and physically stressful, but she and Ashley Olmstead said the customers
and team of employees make it all worth it.
“It’s a family thing,” said Ashley Olmstead, who is also taking classes at Lorain County Community College. “It’s been passed on from generation to generation, so you’d like to pass it on to another generation. Especially since my dad died when I was four, it’s the only family connection. Working here, it feels like family. The customers, you get such a good rapport with them.”
Higgins said a number of the customers have watched Ashley Olmstead and her siblings grow up at the restaurant. Ashley Olmstead said she started waitressing when she was around 13 years old.
“I want her to learn everything,” Higgins said, referring to the various aspects of running a restaurant.
Higgins is one of three cooks at Hazel’s. She said Steve Perry, another cook, has worked at the restaurant since the early 1990s. Heather Linden rounds out the kitchen as the third cook.
Roast beef and chicken paprikash are some of the dishes customers come
back for time and time again, Ashley Olmstead said.
“A lot of customers come for breakfast,” she added.
In recent years, Higgins has added features such as lottery tickets, Keno and Hazel’s T-shirts. The interior of the restaurant received new curtains, floors and carpeting, as well as a fresh coat of paint, roughly a year ago during a twomonth closure from February to April following a water leakage.
Ashley Olmstead said the restaurant has also started to use Facebook to update customers on daily specials.
Looking back on her 59 years with the restaurant, Gregg said it hasn’t changed too much.
Higgins and Ashley Olmstead believe the friendly atmosphere and homemade meals keep customers coming back year after year.
“When you come here you feel like family,” Ashley Olmstead said, noting staff members know customers on a first name basis and build relationships with them. “I think people like that. You don’t feel like just another person or just another number.”