Mel's Diner, The Happenin' Place

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Melissa and Brandon Van Sickel own Mel’s Diner in Prairie Grove.
LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Melissa and Brandon Van Sickel own Mel’s Diner in Prairie Grove.

PRAIRIE GROVE -- Walk into Mel's Diner in Prairie Grove and you'll take a step back in time.

The restaurant, owned by Brandon and Melissa Van Sickel, is decorated 50s style, with a black/white checked floor, high tables with bar stools, an old pay telephone that works, period highway signs such as Historic Route 66, and old 45 records splashed on the walls.

Mel’s Diner

109 W. Buchanan

Hours:

8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday

8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday

7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday & Sunday

Closed Monday

The Van Sickels have owned the restaurant for more than four years and Brandon is using his business experience and culinary certificate to help make the restaurant a success.

He attributes most of the success, though, to treating customers like family and friends, along with serving them good food.

They have regular customers who like to sit in the same place. Many times when they see a particular customer coming in, they already have their place ready and know what they want to eat and drink.

One customer, for instance, comes every Friday and orders the same food, Brandon said. He eats at the restaurant while his wife and daughter go shopping. He's 92 years old.

In another instance, he said there's a couple who comes twice a week. A week had gone by and the couple had not been in to eat.

"I got their number and called them to check on them," Brandon said. "He was so appreciative that I took the time to call that he gave me his cell phone number."

Melissa has the keys to several customers' homes because they do not have any relatives living nearby. This way, she said, she can check on them if there are any concerns.

"We have people who come here everyday for a meal and hopefully, they think we have good food," Brandon said.

One of many satisfied customers is Rick Fires with the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

"There's nothing like eating a good, old-fashioned hamburger than with a Marilyn Monroe picture dangling over your head," Fires wrote in a note to the diner. His message hangs on the wall at the restaurant.

Most of the restaurant's food is cooked to order and made from scratch.

"If you order a hamburger, I will press out the burger myself. The chili also is made from scratch," he said.

Mel's Diner uses Tyson chicken products but Brandon said he tested a lot of products before he selected the ones he liked best.

The restaurant's most popular item probably is the hamburger. The restaurant serves breakfast all day and that menu also is popular.

Brandon said he does not use much advertising but depends on social media and word of mouth to tell people about their business.

The couple is active in the community and uses their restaurant to be an integral part of Prairie Grove. Each year on Sept. 11, for example, the restaurant provides a free hamburger and chips to first responders. The Van Sickels also were instrumental in a community appreciation meal and gathering for law enforcement officers and other first responders at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park.

"Community involvement is very important to us," Melissa said.

Brandon and Melissa have three children and the kids do their part in the restaurant. Their 13-year-old daughter helps in the kitchen and one of their sons earns money by washing dishes. At the same time, he said the couple is careful to make sure they run the restaurant, not that the restaurant runs their family.

Brandon worked in business and corporate management for 15 years before he was laid off. He qualified for a scholarship and was encouraged to seek a degree in what he wanted to do, not something he felt he had to do.

He grew up standing behind his grandmother learning to cook and when he saw a culinary certificate was one of the options, he knew he wanted to pursue that.

"I wanted to do culinary and Melissa supported me," Brandon said.

He earned a technical certificate in culinary arts and is finishing up a business degree at NorthWest Arkansas Community College.

The restaurant's busiest days are the weekends and both Brandon and Melissa expressed their appreciation to the downtown stores for supporting them and helping to tell others about their restaurant.

Community on 09/21/2016