Stoby’s Restaurant, a landmark in Conway since 1980, is rebuilding after a fire heavily damaged the restaurant 10 months ago.
Although the new building will be almost three times bigger than the old one, owners David and Patti Stobaugh say they plan to keep the ambience people remember.
The original building was 1,375 square feet; the one under construction on the same site will be approximately 4,000 square feet. The cost is estimated at $1.5 million, including contents, Patti said.
The new restaurant is scheduled to open “end of summer,” she said.
David said a small dining room will keep the feeling of the old restaurant, but another dining area will accommodate many more customers.
The exterior will be reminiscent of the original restaurant, too.
“We have decided if you’re standing on the curb looking, it’ll look like Stoby’s never burned,” David said.
The building was designed by Conway architect Steve Hurd, and the contractor is NBMC of Greenbrier. Patti praised Steve Yelenich, the structural engineer, with helping to design the building’s roofline so a large tree on the property could be saved. “He has been a godsend,” she said. The oak tree was scorched in the fire, she said, but it survived.
Patti had a suggestion that was incorporated into the design: a smoke-free, dog-friendly patio on the Robinson Avenue side where the drive-thru used to be.
“It’ll give it that neighborhood feel,” David said.
When the framing goes up on the construction site, Patti said, she wants to have a “festive afternoon” on a Sunday so people can sign the boards, writing well wishes, Bible verses or whatever they want. She said the restaurant will serve Stoby’s Cheese Dip and punch to attendees.
“That won’t be long, really, probably another month,” she said.
On this sunny afternoon, David was sitting in his truck on the property, talking to Patti as construction vehicles went back and forth across the dirt. Patti operates PattiCakes, the bakery immediately west of Stoby’s. She started the bakery in 2006 in Russellville and opened the Conway location Nov. 11, 2010. Her stepson, Clifton Stobaugh, is the nighttime baker.
One unexpected outcome of the fire was a boost in her bakery sales after the restaurant was razed, she said, because the restaurant blocked the view of her business. People will have to drive by PattiCakes to exit the new restaurant, she said.
The couple also have Stoby’s Restaurant in Russellville, which opened in 1984. Patti’s younger son, David Cooke, manages it.
In addition to its sandwiches and desserts, Stoby’s Restaurant is known for its cheese dip. American Idol winner and Maumelle native Kris Allen gave Stoby’s a shout-out on national television once.
It was March 19 when David got a call that the restaurant was on fire. Patti said she and David were still in bed, drinking coffee and talking, about 6:30 a.m. when a longtime employee, Debbie Patrom, called and said the restaurant was burning.
David said he wasn’t too concerned at first.
“We’ve had little fires, flare-ups,” he said. But when Patrom told him “flames are coming through the roof, I said, ‘OK, this is a big deal,’” David said.
He thought the fire was over the deep fryers, so he knew the fire-suppression system should have caught the blaze. But the fire was in a motor on the roof, and the system wasn’t designed for a fire that started above it.
Patti said she texted her two sons: “Boys — Stoby’s is on fire.”
David said that as he stood at the back of the restaurant during the fire, he thought, “Well, at least I’ll get a new ceiling in my kitchen.”
Patti said the Conway Fire Department did an “excellent job” of containing the fire and not letting it spread.
After the firefighters left, David peered into the drive-thru
window. Patti recalled that he crooked his pointer finger and motioned for her to come look.
“I knew then,” she said. The damage was much worse than they thought.
“We knew it was life-changing at that point,” she said. “That’s when your heart sinks.”
Fans of the restaurant posted condolences and memories on Facebook.
“Several people’s romances started here,” David said. He mentioned Aimee and Jeff Prince of Conway. Then Aimee Reynolds, she worked at Stoby’s for seven years in high school and college. Jeff Prince worked at the newspaper in Conway and delivered newspapers to Stoby’s every day.
A co-worker bet Aimee $5 she wouldn’t ask Jeff out — and she did. (The bet paid off; they’ve been married 21 years in August.)
Aimee said she was upset when she heard the restaurant burned.
“It was heartbreaking, thinking of all the memories — not just personally, but when you work there so long, you become part of their lives,” she said. They were customers, too.
She said her family continues to frequent the restaurant, which set up a drive-thru-only location at 1310 Prince St. It doesn’t have a grill, but it sells sandwiches and desserts.
The Stobaughs are debating what to do with the drive-thru after the new restaurant opens.
Aimee said she is excited about the new restaurant, and she’s seen the design.
“It looks awesome — so big,” she said.
David said another story he likes to tell is about a Hendrix College graduate who is an investment banker in New York. The man called a few years ago and asked to rent the restaurant for a night. He and his wife, a University of Central Arkansas
grad, had their first date at Stoby’s, and it was their 15th wedding anniversary.
“We left the drive-thru open, and let them rent [the restaurant],” David said. “They pulled up in a stretch limo.”
The man told his friends in New York that he’d rented an entire restaurant for his wife.
“If they could see the place,” David said with a laugh.
Patti said, “It’s been humbling how people have so identified — it’s almost like they have ownership. It’s been great. It sustained us at times; it’s been hard.”
David got his start in Conway at Danver’s Restaurant, which no longer exists. In addition to other jobs, he sold ice cream on a three-wheeled bicycle in Conway, wearing an apron that had Stoby’s printed on it, based on his nickname at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
He went to Mrs. Smith’s Pie Shop, a little frame building on Donaghey Avenue where Florence Smith made pies, and suggested that she let him sell sandwiches. David said she was happy to get rid of the whole restaurant, which became Stoby’s, but then she asked him for a job.
They worked together about 20 years, he said, and some of her pie recipes are still used at Stoby’s.
The couple are eager to get their restaurant going again and continue the tradition.
“I just thought I was selling sandwiches, and the community adopted Stoby’s,”
David said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.