The door opens to a warm haven plastered with car-racing paraphernalia and smelling of deep-fried, home-style meals.
Lisa Slade, owner of the small-town Hillsdale diner The Finish Line, glows as she greets the regular customers at their tables and new customers who are just passing through.
Beginning in 1977, Slade was a night waitress at the ice cream, soup, and salad shop that opened in 1976 at the current location of The Finish Line. She hasn’t left since.
In the 1980s, a chain popular in northern Michigan, House of Flavors, bought the location, perpetuating its ice cream parlor-like atmosphere.
The shop changed hands once more before Slade became the owner. The woman who owned it before Slade, a woman named Judy, owned the restaurant for eight years, keeping the House of Flavors’ name and personality. Slade became the manager of the restaurant.
After Judy was killed in a car accident, her husband wanted to be sure the restaurant remained in good hands. He worked to help Slade navigate the financial details of the decision, and Slade became the owner in 1995.
Slade struggled at the beginning due to all of the would-be customers who passed the restaurant thinking it was only an ice-cream shop due to the name association with House of Flavors. In 2000, Slade renovated the restaurant to its current racing style, branding it with its unique look and name.
“We aren’t part of a chain, so we don’t have all the extra costs and things associated with that. So we try to keep things at a reasonable price for everybody,” Slade said.
Patrons can easily get a hefty meal for under ten dollars.
In the front corner of the restaurant, in the waiting area, Slade proudly points to the “Best Breakfast” awards the restaurant has earned from the Hillsdale Daily News’ annual naming.
“We get best dessert on and off, but we get that one [best breakfast] every year,” Slade said with a smile.
Breakfast is the most popular meal at The Finish Line, though not just in the morning hours. The restaurant is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and breakfast is ordered non-stop throughout the day. Two of the most popular dishes are the breakfast burrito and the pantry omelet. One of the fall specials, pumpkin pancakes, also makes the most popular dish-list this time of year.
The chicken and biscuits are also a favorite, and have been for the last 40 years. It’s the only menu item that has remained on the menu since the location firts became a restaurant.
“That has endured through the years, and it is one of our most-sold items that’s not a breakfast item,” Slade said.
Slade spoke highly of the Finish Line staff. The small staff of around 20 employees has little turnover, about 75 percent of them being full-time.
“A lot of them have been here a lot of years,” Slade commented. “They usually stay unless something happens with their circumstance. We don’t have a lot of new faces.”
The current manager and kitchen manager have both worked at the restaurant for over 30 years.
Slade mentioned how much she loves when the college gets back in session, though there is not a noticeable lag in business over the summer. Many people with lake houses come to town from surrounding cities like Toledo and Detroit and have made The Finish Line a go-to restaurant on their trips.
There is a slight slowing of business in late fall between the “lake people,” as Slade referred to them, leaving town and the college students moving back into Hillsdale.
“It’s just kind of hectic all the time!” Slade laughed.
Though it has its stressful periods, Slade loves the restaurant business. The interaction she finds with the town and college is unparalleled, meeting citizens and students and serving them a plate of delicious food with a side of the small-town diner atmosphere.
