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OGDEN — Sandy's Fine Foods is known for serving up well over a million holiday pies, but Monday morning Lema Doyle had trouble choosing just one.
"It's the best place to go and eat," Doyle said. "They make the best pies in Utah, or anywhere else!"
But as current owner Kristen Hill and her sister Tiffany Nash will tell you, the 38-year-old Ogden restaurant is about much more than food.
"I think we've touched the lives of so many people, that they've touched our lives too," Hill said, struggling to hold back tears. "It really is heartbreaking to end an era."
That family legacy started when Hill and Nash's parents, Sandy and Lyle Evertsen, opened the restaurant in 1976. Over the years, each of the couple's nine children worked there.
"I lived in a playpen in the dish room for two years with my next sister that was born 13 months later," Nash said. "We were raised in the dish room by our oldest employee who is still with us."
Both sisters say the restaurant business has changed over the years. Due to increased competition from franchise chains and other economic pressures, Sandy's Fine Foods will close this Saturday, Dec. 6.
"We know we're letting a lot of people down, but we're just trying to go out on top," Nash said. "The tears still flow, and it's really sad to see that we won't see some of these awesome employees and wonderful customers."
Many of those longtime patrons have been coming in for a last meal and to say goodbye. Nash and Hill say the restaurant has been packed all week.
Doyle, who started eating at Sandy's more than 30 years ago, gave the two sisters a hug as they both referred to her as another "grandmother."
"They're friendly. They're nice," Doyle said with a smile. "It's a homey place, you know. It's like coming to your own home and eat there."
"We love to serve our customers," Hill said. "We love to make people happy through food, or comfort them through food. It's very fulfilling."
The Evertsen family will continue serving after the restaurant closes through a catering business, but they say it won't be the same. As they say goodbye to so many customers, they leave with one request:
"Buy and eat local," Nash pleaded. "We pray that people will support the local little guys. The chains don't need your money."
