Hot Rodz Diner opened in February 2020, giving Kathy and Rodney Lawson only a short start before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted restaurant life across the country.
Crandall’s April 2024 business profile documented that opening date and described how the owners navigated the pandemic and subsequent increases in operating and food costs.
The setting looked backward in style while the business confronted a distinctly modern crisis. The diner featured red booths, red chairs, black tables, rock-and-roll music, and a 1950s-inspired atmosphere.
It also inherited connections from an earlier restaurant. Hot Rodz operated in the former Happy Day’s Diner location, retaining some of the same staff, according to the city’s account.
Those details explain why the business could be both new and familiar. Ownership and the name changed, while employees and a place for residents to gather provided continuity.
By the time the city featured Hot Rodz during National Small Business Week in 2024, the story was no longer simply an opening announcement. It was the account of a restaurant that began immediately before an unusually difficult period and was still being highlighted four years later.
For customers, a booth and a burger may be the main attractions. The timing supplies the trivia: this Crandall restaurant’s first weeks in business fell directly before one of the largest disruptions the modern restaurant industry has experienced.
