Published: February 24, 2007 10:26 pm            

Holley family switches ownership of Pax diner

By Bev Davis
Register-Herald senior editor
 

There are some new menus and a new name, but the basic flavor of a small Fayette County restaurant remains the same.

On Jan. 1, Mark and Kathy Holley became the new owners of what is now Holley’s Kountry Korner at Pax.

Former owners Bobby Holley (Mark’s dad) and his wife Gracie bought Kelly’s Korner from Vickie Toney in 2000 and changed the name to The Korner. However, both had been with the restaurant a long time and continued the traditions and menus for which Kelly’s became widely known.

The Holleys say they plan to keep those traditions going.

“We wanted to take what was already here and build on that,” said Mark Holley. “I’m from the Pax area, and I’ve watched the business grow, and I think it’s that country feel of a mom-and-pop business that has made it so popular.”

Cooks Dinah Bailey and Theresa Bailey still serve up that home-style cooking for which this eatery has become widely known.
“One thing was certain when we were considering coming into this business. We wanted to keep Dinah and Theresa. They are awesome,” Kathy Holley said. “Not only are they great cooks, they’re wonderful about just picking up with serving or running the register and doing whatever needs to be done. In a small business like this, everybody wears a lot of hats.”

The daily buffet includes a couple of different kinds of meat, a variety of side dishes including corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and cooked apples. Desserts come in a tempting array of pies and cakes.

  
Mark and Kathy Holley are shown with some of the craft items they sell at Holley’s Kountry Korner in Pax. Many of the wood items are made by Mark and painted and decorated by Kathy.
Pinto beans and cornbread are still the staples of the Wednesday buffet, attracting a brisk business each week.

There are plenty of grill items such as hot dogs, hamburgers, hoagies and home fries.

“We want people to come in and enjoy good home cooking in a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere,” Kathy said. “We want to keep that home-type environment that all the owners have had before us.”

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Making the career change brought some sleepless nights for the Holleys.

Mark had been in the grocery chain business for several years — 18 of them at Wal-Mart, where he was the meat manager for five years.

“The people before us have done a wonderful job in finding the right menus and preparing the kinds of food locals and travelers like,” Mark said. “The one thing I want to bring to that effort is my knowledge about meat and where we can get good quality meats. We want baked steak to be our signature dish.”

The job was a bigger transition for Kathy, who was the assistant vice president, regional operations audit officer for BB&T.

“This has been great so far,” she said. “It has been challenging. It has been exciting. It has been stressful at times, but we are loving it.”

Although both say the corporations for which they worked treated them well, the couple wanted to own their own business and work together.

“Some couples can’t do that, but Mark and I can mix it up pretty well,” Kathy said.

A common interest they have will lend itself to some new craft items for sale at the restaurant.

Mark does a lot with woodworking, and Kathy does the painting and decorating. Decorative shelves, hutches, birdhouses and the like are among the items they create. However, they also sell candles and other craft items all made in West Virginia, Mark said.

“We are proud to be from this area, and we’re proud of West Virginia. We want the business to be a show place for some of the items that local crafters make,” he said.

Kathy also loves baking and wants to bring back a missing ingredient following the deaths of some of the members of the Kelly family who made great cakes, pies and pastries for the restaurant.

“The Kellys took a lot of pride in their desserts, and people really looked forward to them. I love to cook and bake. I had boys growing up who loved to eat all that stuff. Now that they’re grown and away from home, I miss that,” Kathy said.

Hopefully, the freshly baked goodies will be displayed in a new deli case.

Kathy also loves the direct contact with customers.

“I was behind a desk for the past eight years, and I didn’t realize how much I missed being with people. I find myself wanting to go out and work the register just so I can talk to the people,” she said.

The restaurant also operates a gas station located just a stone’s throw from Exit 54 of I-77, so it attracts quite a few travelers.

“Some people are just passing through and stop in for a bite to eat. Others travel through this way and have eaten here before and include this as a regular stop on their way north or south,” Mark said.

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Although Bobby and Gracie Holley have bought a home in the Carolinas, they plan to remain on board, working alternate weeks at the restaurant.

“It was hard to give it up, but at our age, we couldn’t manage time off very often, and it was getting to be a lot for us to manage,” Gracie Holley said. “Our families are here, and we don’t want to move totally away, and we’ll still be able to see the people and work here part of the time instead of full time.”

Mark and Kathy say they feel fortunate to have them as mentors for the new job.

“They’ve been great teachers,” Kathy said. “They have been able to show us the reasons why certain things are done the way they are, and we can benefit from all their experience. We feel very fortunate that things have turned out this way.”