February 26, 2009 Issue
End of An Institution
Blowing Rock’s Sonny’s Grill Closes After 54 Years
For 54 years Sonny’s Grill has stood, wedged cozily between the small buildings that line Blowing Rock’s historic Main Street. Amid the hustle and bustle of shoppers and sightseers, the restaurant offered a simple retreat to those seeking no more than a cup of coffee and a hotdog and fries. In a tourist resort town covered wall to wall with boutique stores, gourmet restaurants, upscale antique shops and fancy bed and breakfasts, Sonny’s Grill was a bona fide greasy spoon.
“We always ran the place with no pretense whatsoever,” said Tommy Klutz, son of the grill’s late founder, Sonny Klutz.
Its simple façade became a Blowing Rock icon. Painted in red and white-outlined block letters on the restaurant’s large glass windows are the words “SONNY’S GRILL” and “Ham BISCUITS.” Two wooden benches flank the entrance and inside a green screen door is the tiny dining area, with cherry red seats and bar stools. The walls are covered with memorabilia and photographs from the past, including a framed picture of Sonny himself.
Sadly, though, restaurants can’t survive on rosy nostalgia and beloved memories alone, and on Sunday, February 22, 2009, Sonny’s Grill served its customers for the final time. After several years of declining revenues, the Klutz family decided to close the grill down for good.
Sonny’s Grill opened for business on December 13, 1954. Prior to that, Sonny had served in the Philippines in World War II, and when he returned to Blowing Rock he started a taxi service. When business fell off in the winter season, he found work painting houses and in the furniture factories in Lenoir. He married his wife, LaVaughn, in 1949.
Making money stretch between jobs was difficult, and when his friend offered Sonny the opportunity to take over a restaurant on Main Street, he jumped at the chance. The only problem was that Sonny didn’t know how to cook.
LaVaughn schooled him in the art of frying hamburgers, hotdogs, sausages and other foods, and “eventually, he got really good at it,” Tommy said.
The booming economy of the 1950s, ‘60s and early ‘70s was very good to the restaurant. Sometimes the restaurant would be slammed and customers would volunteer to help the staff wash dishes to get through the rush, Tommy said. Tommy started working at the grill when he was about 5 years old—not even tall enough to reach the bottom of the dishpan.
Over the years, Sonny’s has seen thousands and thousands of customers come through the door, from the local plumbers and carpenters, to school children, to local dignitaries, to national celebrities and big-shot CEOs. But every single one of them got the same treatment.
On Monday, February 23, the Klutz family, friends and former Sonny’s Grill employees met at the restaurant for photos and reminiscing.
“It was a place for all social levels to gather to talk about sports or politics in the most informal and relaxed atmosphere possible,” said Blowing Rock Mayor J.B. Lawrence. “I have met and made more friends there probably than any other place in town.”
As for the famous people, Tommy said, they typically wanted to be treated just like everyone else. When the occasional entitled customers demanded service ahead of others, Sonny would tell them to wait their turn or, Tommy laughed, he’d tear up their ticket and tell them to go elsewhere!
The grill used to stay open from morning to night, but eventually, Sonny decided to close at 3:00 p.m. to reduce the managers’ long hours. The grill always used the same recipes and bought its meat products locally. The interior and exterior have remained basically the same since 1954. When it closed, you could get a cheeseburger, fries and a drink for about $6, Tommy said.
“We never wanted to make it any better than it was. We just wanted it the way that it is,” Tommy said.
Tommy worked at the grill for a long time and helped manage the restaurant when Sonny fell sick. When Sonny passed away in 1999, LaVaughn became the business’s sole proprietor.
A changing Blowing Rock brought changes to Sonny’s Grill. Downtown business used to revolve around the town’s workforce—the tradespeople, builders and business owners, Tommy said. These were the people who came to Sonny’s on a daily basis. But as tourism became the sole industry in Blowing Rock, business started to revolve around events and weekends instead of daily routines.
The grill struggled to balance staff needs on the busy weekends with the slow crawl of the weekdays, when business dropped about 65 to 70 percent, Tommy said. Fuel, food and supply costs continued to climb, but “we couldn’t charge $10 for a cheeseburger,” he said.
The small dining area inside Sonny’s Grill only had seating for about 20, but many thousands of customers have ate there over the years.
At age 79, LaVaughn suffers from many health issues, and the stress of running a business like Sonny’s became too much. The recent devastating economic downturn, along with a declining customer base, pretty much sealed the deal.
“I hoped that Sonny’s could have gone on forever,” Tommy said, “but we just couldn’t make it.”
There is some hope. Tommy said he’s currently working with someone who’s interested in buying Sonny’s Grill. “He said he feels that Blowing Rock’s lost without it,” Tommy said. And the restaurant could very well live on in the pages of a book, as Tommy said he has so many memories about the grill that he intends to write about it.
Mayor J.B., who remarked that he was in “mourning” about the loss of Sonny’s, said, “No business has ever or will ever have the impact that Sonny’s Grill has had in promoting the small town charm of Blowing Rock. It will be missed.”
Tommy said he wants to thank all of the hard-working employees of Sonny’s Grill and his family for putting up with him through the years while they tried to keep the business going.
And, he said, “I want to thank all our customers, from every walk of life.”
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