Family health crisis shakes, but doesn't topple, mom-and-pop diner in Rockledge
ROCKLEDGE — Stop in at Rockledge Diner on a Saturday morning, and chances are good you'll see Mayor Tom Price having breakfast.
Don't worry if a fire truck shows up. Rockledge firefighters are regulars, too.
In the seven years since Cisha and John Feather took over the little breakfast and lunch spot off Barton Boulevard, they've created a place where city officials, public servants, families and friends go for a meal and camaraderie.
"It's a family-owned business, and they treat you like family," Price said.
As a true mom-and-pop place — two of the couple's five sons frequently help serve and bus tables — the Feathers have built a cozy haven for the community.
But like many small business owners, they also know their dream of owning this intimate diner teeters on a thin edge.
As many as 61% of restaurants fail within three years of opening. They've made it past that mark, but few things in the restaurant world are certain.
A boy, an appendix and a small business
In late August, Cisha and their 5-year-old son Jack weren't feeling well. A stomach bug was going around. Maybe they'd picked it up.
On a Thursday, they stayed home from work and school. By Saturday, Cisha was feeling better, but Jack was getting worse. After four hours in a local emergency room, they were sent home. When he hadn't shown signs of recovery by Sunday, they were at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando.
Jack had appendicitis, and his appendix had ruptured.
Jack was admitted to the hospital. John's parents stepped in to help with the four other Feather boys while John and Cisha stayed with Jack.
Six days in the hospital meant closing the restaurant.
"We did not like being closed at all," John said, not only because of the lost wages, but because they don't like letting their customers down.
"But family first."
Back in business — almost
Jack came home on a Saturday. The diner reopened the next day. On Friday, he asked to go to work with his parents.
"He said, 'Mom, people haven't seen me in a lot of weeks,'" Cisha said.
A crew of Rockledge firefighters came in that day and let Jack sit in the driver's seat of their truck. Things were getting back to normal.
Until they weren't.
A week and a half after being released from the hospital, his school sent Jack home sick. The family went back to Nemours for six more days.
Scary September
Jack's been feeling better lately.
He was happy last Monday, his dad said.
"He was having a dance party while he was getting dressed," John said.
It's a huge relief to see him back to his normal self. What's less reassuring is the bottom line from September. They spent 12 days in the hospital, nine days with the diner closed.
"That's two weeks of sales," Cisha said, "two weeks of me not getting tips."
"I don't want to think about financial things when my kid's in the hospital bed," John said, "but it's hard not to."
The family has health insurance, and for that they're thankful. "What if we didn't have insurance?" John said. "We would just be ruined."
Despite the income loss, they're doing OK. "It's not like we're without savings," John said. "But it puts you back at Square 1."
Planned updates to the restaurant will now have to wait a while.
Keeping the business afloat
Jack has more doctor's appointments, and that appendix still has to come out. Doctors didn't want to remove it while it was inflamed and infected. But the Feathers are optimistic about his continued recovery.
Now they're counting on Facebook posts to keep regulars apprised of their temporarily fluctuating hours, with more closures necessary in the coming weeks. "We don't want people to think we're closed for good," Cisha said, because that's definitely not in the plans.
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Before Rockledge Diner
The diner is the realization of a dream for the couple.
Cisha grew up in Brevard. John grew up in Pittsburgh.
He followed a girl to Tallahassee. The relationship didn't last, but he stayed in Florida. Cisha followed her mother north to the state capital. They met when Cisha took a job at the Subway sandwich shop John was managing.
They started their family in Tallahassee, then moved to Brevard about 10 years ago. Cisha still worked in management for Subway; John was a kitchen manager for Applebee's.
Both were working long hours, and their family was growing. The upside of a corporate restaurant job is knowing you have a guaranteed paycheck. The downside is working 70- and 80-hour weeks.
"We always wanted our own restaurant," Cisha said.
She saw Rockledge Diner was for sale.
Breakfast, lunch and home for dinner
Owning a breakfast and lunch place would mean being home with their boys at night. They got a small loan from John's parents and took the leap.
"Did we know anything about breakfast?" Cisha said. "No. But we knew about management."
They hired a cook who knew how to make breakfast and John learned on the job. "He never knew how to cook grits until me," Cisha said.
Owning a restaurant is different from managing one, John said. Equipment breaks all the time. Food costs are impossible to predict. Staffing can be stressful.
John runs the kitchen with the help of a cook and a dishwasher. Cisha runs the dining room with a couple of part-time servers. The profit margin is slim.
When things got tough during COVID, they expanded the diner's hours and started offering dinner to go."We were putting in a lot of hours, but we had to," John said. Even without a pandemic, John said: "There's not a day that goes by that you don't have some sort of problem," John said.
So why do it?
"I enjoy it," Cisha said. "All the people here are kind of like family. If he sees their cars drive up, he'll start making their food. He knows their order."
"I like to make people happy," John said. "I can't sit in a cubicle."
Restaurants are all he knows. His first job was making salads at a little pub in Pennsylvania.
"I know people can make breakfast at home," he said, "but if I can make it for them here and make them happy ..."
The drive to keep going
His voice trailed off as Cisha started pointing out photos of children pinned up behind the cash register, kids who come in with their families almost weekly.
The mayor comes for breakfast on Saturdays with a group of six to 12 men.
"She bought us all our own coffee mugs with our names on them," Price said. "She treats us like kings. As long as they're open, we'll go there."
Right now, the Feathers are feeling the love of the community. One of their customers-turned-family started a GoFundMe campaign that brought in almost $5,000 in 72 hours.
"We're beyond grateful," John said.
Suzy Fleming Leonard is a features journalist with more than three decades of experience. Reach her at sleonard@floridatoday.com. Find her on Facebook: @SuzyFlemingLeonard or on Instagram: @SuzyLeonard.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Rockledge Diner withstands family health crisis with community support
