People of Interest:
Dad's Diner
(315) 682-6294
by Robert Ferguson

Twenty year old Andrea Fritcher has grown-up between orders at Kingsley's Family Diner, where she has worked since she was 5 years-old. Her uncle opened it in Manlius 15 years ago, and owned it up until 2001, when he sold the property to Andrea's father. Andrea worked with her dad almost all the time. When she turned 15, she finally had grown tall enough to reach the top of the stove. She went from washing plates to cooking dishes.

Today, Andrea is the owner of Kingsley's Family Diner, only it isn't called by that name anymore--though her uncle's original sign still stands. The windows show a different name though: Dad's Diner. When Andrea's father passed away in December, she became the owner, and decided to remember her dad by renaming it in his honor.Dad's Diner is a family enterprise: Andrea's aunt, Sharie, waitresses in the morning; her 76-year old Grandfather Dick has washed dishes for a decade; her younger cousin helps out on the weekends.

It was through her family's help that Andrea managed the most difficult time of her life.In March 2006,her mother passed away. The next January, Andrea's dad started getting sicker. She says the experience brought them closer. Then he passed away in December. She was nineteen.

"I was like what do I do, I don't have anybody," Andrea said. But she did not hesitate to take over the business. "What are you going to do? You gotta go. You can't stay home," she explained. "That's the thing, I'm afraid if I stay home, is that I'll never leave my house, because I just won't want to."

Andrea keeps busy. As well as running the diner, she also owns a renovating business that refurbishes vacant or older houses and then turns them into tenant homes. She owns a house on the west-side of Syracuse, along with property in Texas. She is not too busy to talk to the people that frequent Dad's Diner. They are a regular crowd of Manlius locals, electricians, carpenters, retirees, who come there every morning to get their usual orders, such as the famous homemade Corn-beef hash.

Others arrive for the delicious omletes, rich with cheese and vegetables. Andrea is into the old-fashioned foods. "I like all the real diner foods, Hot turkey sandwich, gravy-ummmmhhh," Andrea said. She said that she hopes to redo the inside of the diner soon, perhaps in a retro-style, which she is researching right now.

Dark black, endless cups of coffee give the character of the diner, a small corner in a strip-mall, bustling with local news, talk of marriages and divorce. Andrea comes and goes, from business to business, hauling junk to the dump, then exchanging hellos with the diner patrons that once called her father a friend.
Through it all, she remembers her dad, the great meatloaf he used to make, and the time right before he passed. They exchanged recipes, and he wrote down tips on how to run the business. Today, she has a large photo of him near the cash register. He smiles. His diner lives on. And, with it, his memory.

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