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Gaylon Yarberry opens a Huddle House in Campbellsville One of the prime movers in the development of Jamestown Street from Russell Road to the Louie B. Nunn Interchange, Gaylon Yarberry, is re-entering the restaurant business, dovetailing it with the last years of an extraordinary education career One photograph with this story By Ed Waggener ed@ColumbiaMagazine.com Along about the end of April or the first of May, 2006, folks happening nearby Big Lots on 210 in Campbellsville will be able to get breakfast 24/7, 365 days a year at the new Huddle House which will be open then. It won't be just any Huddle House. This one will be owned by a pioneer and legend in the fast food industry in Adair County, Gaylon Yarberry, in partnership with his wife of 12 years, Phyllis Stubbs Yarberry. Huddle Houses are a lot like Waffle Houses, "Only better," Professor Yarberry says. "They tend to be at the exits of major interstates," he said, "Huddle Houses are at some of those locations, but we love the smaller towns, too." Huddle Houses are open 24/7, 365 days a year. They serve breakfasts any time of the day. As well, there are full lunch and dinner menus. "And it's good," Yarberry says. "Our food is delicious. Our prices are reasonable. And I challenge anyone to say anyone has better service than a Huddle House." Yarberry got his start in the food industry 30 years ago. Thirty years ago, when upper Jamestown Street was a few houses and pasture land, Gaylon Yarberry, James Brock, and Clifford McGaha opened a Burger Queen franchise at the corner of Jamestown Street and Gaston Avenue that ignited a transformation of the area. Gaylon Yarberry went to Burger College at Burger Queen headquarters in Louisville, where he learned the lingo and the culinary skills needed to produce Royal Burgers, hawk the delicious but tongue searing fried apple pies, to train the counter line to shout "icy cold milk," when a customer ordered that libation, not just "small milk," and to up sale by asking the customer if they wanted something more, regardless of how big the order. It was a new world for Columbia diners, who were used to eating in a dining room, and weren't quite sure where to go when the front line order takers at Burger Queen told them to "have a seat in the patio and I'll bring your order out when it's ready." The seating area had came with the new term, "Patio." At the time, a lot of traditional business men predicted failure for the enterprise. Innnovative financing had to be obtained. Local banks shied away from the project. Some questioned why they bought the Burger Queen in the first place, reasoning that McDonald's was the only franchise to own. For "The Boys," as they called themselves, answer was simple: "Burger Queen was the only franchise we could afford." The pre-opening celebration, with all the local dignitaries there happily feasting on the free Burger Queen food, it began to look like The Boys had Done Good. It was especially pleasing for everyone to see the lender who took the most pleasure in pronouncing the venture doomed carry his tray of Burger Queen booty out onto the patio with a rather sheepish look. They were on their way. From the start the Burger Queen was successfully. Gaylon stayed as manager for two years, after which Charlie Roy took over, and the rest is history. Under Roy's skilled management, the store produced handsome profits, netting for many years a margin in the six figures, giving each of the three owners a far-above-par Adair County income as silent partners. One year later, they bought the lot across the street from Burger Queen, Dr. Simmons, a Monticello general practitioner, had set up a mobile burger diner, Scottie's, which had closed after a celebrated murder took place there. In an astonishing move, at least to those with local wisdom, they sought out a competitor to sell the lot to. "The Pizza Hut franchises in this area were owned by a Mr. Fugate in Kansas City. We presented the idea to him, and he bought the place. The pizzeria has been in continuous operation since. "That started the Jamestown Street boom," Yarberry remembers. The Boys got the ball rolling on the Wal-Mart Center Their next development was much more ambitious. They acquired the Sine Turner property through "a conglomerate" of several other young men. The idea for the investment company came from insurance agent Don Moss, Yarberry remembers. "We were in over our heads," Yarberry remembers."We knew we had enough land for Columbia's first shopping center, but we didn't have the expertise to land an anchor store to get it rolling." He credits Larry Russell Bryant, then Deputy Adair County Judge, with coming up with the idea to move the land to someone who did have the expertise. "Larry went to see Wanda Hill. She was president of the Bank of Columbia," and asked her if she didn't have a relative over in the mountains who developed shopping centers. She did. The land was sold to Farmer/Forcht associates who secured the present Wal-Mart store as an anchor, and since then, the center of commerce in Columbia has been at Jamestown and Hurt Streets. Was partner in Famous Recipe For a time, Yarberry was a full partner with Tommy Rodgers of Liberty, KY, and manager in the Columbia Famous Recipe restaurant on Hudson Street in Columbia. It's in one of the oldest restaurant buildings in Columbia, originally built by the late Doc Walker. It was called "Columbia Restaurant at the time." It was later operated by an icon in the area's food business, Jim Curry, who sold the restaurant to the Famous Recipe folks, retired, and then opened the Cumberland House in Campbellsville, KY. Yarberry may be back as part of Columbia business life. Yarberry says he may be back taking part in Columbia business life. When the Campbellsville Huddle House is firmly established, Yarberry says that he will be looking at other South Central Kentucky locations. With the opening of the Louie B. Nunn Parkway/KY 61 Interchange later this year,that area of Columbia is becoming very hot. Besides, it is very close to Toria Road, the site of Yarberry's nativity. He is the son of the late G.V. and Anna YarberryBoth parents died in 2003 within a few months of each other. Gaylon Yarberry is the eldest of four in the family. A brother, Rocky Yarberry died last year at age 48. The other siblings are Dianne Murrell and Tyrone Yarberry, both of Columbia, KY. This story was posted on 2006-03-08 10:15:26
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