KURTZ — Her grandmother, Vivian Branaman, used to own Branaman’s Cafeteria at Freeman Field in Seymour.

Her great-grandmother, Mabel Gray, had two restaurants in Ewing.

Her Aunt Rita owned Fleshman’s Grocery.

Her mother, Sara Branaman, ran Kurtz Mini Mart, a grocery store and restaurant, for a couple of years.

“It’s the only thing I know how to do,” Darlene Branaman said of opening a new restaurant in Kurtz, Mom’s Cafe, on Jan. 21.

What makes the location at 8720 W. State Road 58 unique for Darlene is it’s the same place her mother ran her business 30 years ago.

“It was a booming thing,” Darlene said, smiling. “She ran it a couple years. She got sick with lung cancer after that, and it closed down.”

Since then, it has operated as a store or restaurant until people gutted it and made it into a gun shop. That closed at least five years ago, Darlene said.

In October 2021, she was driving around the area reminiscing about the time her mom ran the store.

“We drove by the people’s house that owned it, and I had never met them and I stopped and talked to them. They own the horse camp out at Maumee (Scout Reservation),” Darlene said. “I just went out there to shoot the breeze and they said that they had decided that weekend that they were going to sell it, and I said, ‘Please don’t list it. I’ll buy it from you.’”

Once Darlene became the owner, she and her family worked to renovate the building to open Mom’s Cafe.

“I’ve always wanted it,” she said. “We didn’t want to close down when we did years ago, and things just went that way. I just now got it back.”

When she walked into the building, she said she cried thinking about her mom.

“It’s just like coming home,” she said. “My brothers helped out (with renovations). It has been a family thing. My kids were in here (opening) weekend busing tables and cooking. It has truly been all hands on deck.”

Her brother made the wooden bar near the front entrance, the kitchen was completely gutted, plumbing and electric work was completed, the ceiling was redone, the floors were buffed and the walls were painted.

“We worked night and day,” Darlene said. “Everything in here has been done from scratch.”

She also had to get approval from the Jackson County Plan Commission, Jackson County Board of Zoning Appeals and Jackson County Health Department along the way before she could open.

On opening weekend, Darlene had a breakfast bar with bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy and more for breakfast and fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh salads and fruit and more later in the day.

She and her staff were overwhelmed — in a good way.

“Oh my gosh, there were people standing everywhere,” Darlene said. “There wasn’t enough parking. I’m not kidding you. I’m shell-shocked. I couldn’t believe the people that have came in here — family, friends, just everybody. It has been unbelievable.”

Her sister-in-law, Lisa Branaman, is the restaurant manager and also was pleasantly surprised with the great opening.

“Oh I think it was awesome,” Lisa said. “The people were good.”

Darlene received a lot of positive feedback about the first restaurant in Kurtz in many years.

“It was good. They were all nice,” she said of the customers. “They wanted to look around the building and sit around and talk. Everybody was extremely nice about how we started out.”

The next week, she spent one day just to restock and even had to travel to pick up some things because she said it’s very hard to get distributors to come to the rural northwestern Jackson County community.

She still is tweaking the menu and prices, but she knows she wants to have fried chicken, tenderloin, fish sandwiches and hamburgers on the menu. She also wants to have breakfast in the morning on the weekends, and her daughter, TreyAnn Berry, is making homemade pies to sell by the slice.

As the business moves forward, Darlene said she wants to have dinner specials. Last week, she offered meatloaf and pizza among the specials, and those sold out.

As of now, she plans to have a Valentine’s Day special on Feb. 11 with a half rack of ribs and two sides.

The salad bar and hot food bar operated during the opening weekend, but Darlene said those are put on hold for now.

“That takes a whole person to run by itself,” she said. “We tried it (opening) weekend, and getting the temperatures and everything, we’re still working on all of that stuff.”

At the front bar, she wants to serve hand-dipped ice cream, sundaes and milkshakes. That, too, is coming later.

The hours through the winter are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, and Darlene said that may change later.

With bicycle, motorcycle and car groups and horse riders frequently going through the area along with the locals wanting to try something new, Darlene expects Mom’s Cafe to stay busy.

“It’s busy out here constantly, so we will increase our hours and our foods,” she said. “But for right now, we’re just easing into it.”

At a glance 

Mom’s Cafe is at 8720 W. State Road 58, Kurtz.

Current hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

For information, visit facebook.com/Moms-Cafe-111993914623788.