From dishwasher to owner: 18-year-old who used savings to buy restaurant has mom 'in awe'

STRASBURG, Ohio – Rosalie's Restaurant is an Ohio diner that occupies a warm place in the heart of its village for more reasons than the food, though the food is the attraction that draws people and provides a common bond.

It is a place where a teen can find her first job, a husband and return more than half a century later to have breakfast with their children and grandchildren.

And it is now where Samantha Frye, 18, embarks on a career as a restaurateur and entrepreneur with savings from her own food-service jobs and financing from the previous owners. The Dover High School graduate bought the American-style eatery last month from Bob and Stephanie Roth, who still live in the house behind the restaurant.

"I started working when I was 14 and then when I was 16, I got two jobs, one of them being here," Frye said. "I eventually had three jobs at one point. And then I worked with my dad. So, basically, I just worked a lot."

She spent about nine months washing dishes at Rosalie's before she started serving. She began cooking at Rosalie's when she was 17 and has also worked at Blazin Burgers, a restaurant in nearby Dover.

"She's always been a go getter," her mother Brandi Beitzel wrote in a text message. "Sam just has me in awe! I think back to when I was her age and there is no way I would have had the knowledge or the courage, or even be able to wrap my mind around the enormity of owning a restaurant."

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'How many 18-year-olds do you see like that?'

Don Gerber of Strasburg is among her admirers and regular customers.

"I think she's a great young lady," he said. "She's got everything all in order, knows what she wants. She's doing what she wants. She's really friendly. I've known her for as long as she's been here working. I knew her grandpa."

Gerber and some other regulars, his dining companions, call her Spike, the nickname shared by her grandfather Gregory Beitzel and great-grandfather Orin Beitzel.

Gerber is amazed that she had time to go to school with all the jobs she worked.

"When we heard that she bought the place, we were shocked ‒ 18 years old, and she's buying the place, got enough money for a down payment," said Gerber. "How many 18-year-olds do you see like that? Not too many."

Frye said that while her parents, Beitzel of Strasburg, and Jason Frye of Winfield, are proud of her, "My mom, she was pretty angry at first, because her dream was for me was to finish college."

Frye went to Ohio State University in the fall with plans to study environmental engineering. But when the chance to buy the restaurant arose, she didn't return for the spring semester. She said she may take courses at an area university in the future.

"I was not on board with her leaving OSU and taking on such a huge responsibility at her age," Beitzel wrote. "But over time, I warmed up to it and realized that it might not have been the path I envisioned (for) her on but it's the path she wanted to take.

"And I couldn't be more proud. I worked in the restaurant industry for 22 years and I know there are going to (be) many obstacles and challenges ahead of her, but with her drive and ambition the sky is the limit."

Frye's concern for the environment may figure in the decisions she makes at Rosalie's.

"I want to start doing compost eventually, so we're not wasting as much food," she said of the restaurant, which is open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch.

And she doesn't plan to change its name.

"It's working," she said. "Why change it?"

"If you change it, I'll never remember it," said customer Ed Weaver, lightheartedly. He visited Rosalie's on a recent Saturday morning with his wife Doris and several members of their family.

The diner as matchmaker

The Weavers met at Rosalie's, then called Cindy's, after Doris got a job washing dishes there at the suggestion of her mother Esther Snellenberger.

The year was 1967, and she was about 18. Ed sat at the table in the southwestern corner of the dining room. Every night when he came in, he'd play the same song on the jukebox. She knew he was there when she heard it. Neither remembers its name. One night, he met her by a back door.

"He asked me, 'Are you dating anybody?'"

Ed's corner booth became Doris and Ed's corner booth.

"That's why we like it here so much. It brings back a lot of memories," Doris said.

The couple, who live about two miles west of Rosalie's in Franklin Township, celebrated 55 years of marriage on March 23.

The diner at 989 North Wooster Ave. is a regular meeting place for their family.

"I just like the atmosphere," said Ed. He likes the food, too. "The Mess is a wonderful, wonderful breakfast ... eggs, potatoes, whatever meats you want, gravy. It's all mixed together."

He takes his with sausage.

Doris had eggs, toast and sausage at their recent gathering. She also likes the cheeseburgers, hamburgers and french fries.

"Anything else that you would get in here is excellent, too," Doris said. Daily specials include creamed chipped beef on toast, baked pasta and poor man's steak — chopped sirloin with gravy. 

The Weavers' son-in-law Jacob Smalley of Uhrichsville said he likes Rosalie's because it is family-oriented.

Where everybody knows your name

Stephanie Roth said that creating a welcoming atmosphere was a goal when she and her husband Bob took over the operation in 2016 from Terry and Rosalie Reed, who had it for 30 years.

“I said I want it to be like ‘Cheers,’ so when you come in, we know your name." Stephanie said. "And that's how it's become. We made it personal. Everybody is important. The business has grown substantially. ”

She said she was sad to sell Rosalie's, but had to step away because of her health and the need to look after her father and Bob's mother.

“We just love the business. We love the people. We love our employees,” Stephanie said. 

On one recent visit with her mother-in-law, Stephanie started talking about some of the diner's older patrons. One had fallen. Another needed surgery but was expected to return home within the week. It felt like she was talking about her own aunts and uncles.

The customers, too, have connections among themselves.

“We do have we have a lot, a lot of regulars who check on each other,” Stephanie said. 

She recalled how she and Bob took food to people when they were sick, or when snowstorms threatened to trap the elderly in their homes.

"A lot of them have family, but that's our mission job there,” Stephanie said. 

She and her husband felt it was important to give jobs to young people who wanted to work. Employees became like family, she said.

"Several of them took food over to my dad and mom," she said. "Several of them stopped to see my mom and dad. They took them in as much as we took others in. And that's what the restaurant’s about. That's how I think it's grown. It's more about love.

“I think that's how God blessed us. We took care of others. God takes care of you.” 

Stephanie said she and her husband felt the love returned when COVID-19 hit, causing the dining room to close.

"Our employees asked us, 'What are we going to do?' I said, 'We have a savings account. We'll be OK. God will take care of it,'" Stephanie said. “And then we had some customers that came in and said, 'We won't let you close.' And they tipped our employees, gave them some extra money. We paid them out of our savings account, along with a little bit that the government gave them through COVID."

Curbside pickup took place at the diner. Two waitresses started making deliveries in town.

“After COVID, then when we opened back up, our business just zoomed," Stephanie said. 

Mentoring relationship continues

The Roths plan to continue to live in the house behind Rosalie's, where they can keep an eye on Stephanie's widowed father Bob Shuman, who lives in the attached apartment. They plan to continue to support Frye and Rosalie's.

Bob has helped by making pies. Stephanie has guided Frye in making the soups.

“We're there to support her and help her any way she can make this a success,” Stephanie said. “We're not walking away. I can't do that. It's too hard." 

Stephanie said she and her husband want to teach Frye how to handle the part of the business that transcends cooking, serving, cleaning and maintaining inventory, the soft skills that involve loving the customers and the place where they live

“It’s the community that supports the restaurant, so the restaurant needs to support the community,” Stephanie said.

Frye understands the place Rosalie's occupies in customers' lives.

Six days a week, she said, the regulars start arriving at 7 a.m. After they filter out, another crew flows in around about 10 a.m. Some stay away on Sunday when the dining room is packed. 

"A few of them come twice a day," Frye said. "There are some characters. It is a little community here." 

Reach reporter Nancy Molner at nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com or on Twitter at @nmolnarTR.