The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By Judy Swanson, Quill Staff
Rose and Steve Arnold have owned the Tastee Freez in La Harpe for 4 1/2 years. They have recently changed the name to Route 9 Cafe.
There are several factors for the change, Steve says. The Tastee Freez franchise is owned by a new company located in California and they are making several changes in the requirements to locally owned Tastee Freezes.
One of the changes is that the Arnold's would be required to buy all food and supplies with the Tastee Freez brand. The Arnolds felt they would better serve this area by buying locally so decided to drop the Tastee Freez name.
The Route 9 Cafe currently has 12 employees which includes themselves and their two daughters.
Rose and Steve live about 8 miles from Macomb and had always worked in factories. Neither had any experience in the restaurant business, but decided to give it a try. They have never regretted it. They enjoy being their own boss, they like to cook, and have enjoyed working in La Harpe. The negative side, they said was the work is harder and the hours are longer.
They open the cafe 7 days a week, 16 hours a day, and since they are not just owners, but also employees, they don't have an opportunity to leave the kitchen to become better acquainted with the people in the area. However, they try to help in the community all they can.
When asked if there are any other changes coming besides the name, they said "no".
Like other small business owners, they are concerned about the new minimum wage increase which began this year.
They said they didn't feel that raising their prices or cutting the hours of their employees would be a good solution. For now, they plan to sit back and see how business goes for a while in hopes that adjustments will not be needed.