Frosty Inn changing owners, not closing

Carrie Dover, Jeff Robinson, Ramona Robinson and Pam Murray pose outside of Frosty Inn, which has been an institution in the community for more than 50 years.

Social media exploded over the weekend with talks of Frosty Inn, a popular restaurant and local institution, closing down after 52 years in business.
For those who have lamented and mourned the loss of foot-long hot dogs, chicken fingers, tater tots and some of the best burgers around, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Originally when current owners Jeff and Ramona Robinson decided it was time to hang up their aprons and call it quits, they scheduled Sept. 2 to be the last day the Frosty Inn’s doors would be open.
But Ramona Robinson said this week that they are currently in negotiations with a few different people who are looking to purchase the restaurant, and if all goes as planned, the Frosty won’t have to officially close this Sunday.
“When we made the decision that we just couldn’t continue to own the business, our hope was always that we could find somebody who could pick up where we left off,” Robinson said. “We hoped to find someone who would know that this is more than just a job – it becomes your heart and soul.”
Robinson said they might be close to getting their wish, but it’s too soon to tell at this point.
“Ever since we started telling people we were going to be closing, we have had several people approach us about purchasing the business,” Robinson said. “Right now we’re still in negotiations, but we should be able to keep the Frosty open until we find new owners.”
Even though the restaurant will not be closing, the change in ownership, however, will still go on as planned.
With the Frosty Inn being such a legend in the community, it has been hard for many people to fathom why the Robinsons would make the decision to close or sell the business, but Ramona Robinson said there were several reasons why they felt that was the best option for them.
“The main reason at this point is Jeff’s health,” she said. “He has had two back surgeries and he’s not bouncing back from this last one like he did before. People don’t realize what a physically taxing job this can be. You’re on your feet constantly and that’s just harder than it used to be.”
She said the economy, of course, has played a part too.
“It’s no shock to anyone that the economy is bad and that it affects restaurants,” she said. “With things like they are, people don’t eat out as much and you start to feel the effects of that after a while.”
Robinson also recently retired from working with the Russellville City School System for more than 33 years, and she said she has taken on a new job working with the state department of education’s federal programs division that will take up a good bit of her time.
“There were five of us who worked in the federal programs division that retired here recently that were asked to come in and monitor how other schools are managing their federal programs,” Robinson said. “The job involves a good bit of travel and I didn’t want Jeff to be left doing everything on his own, so that was a factor in our decision as well.”
And the decision wasn’t something they made lightly.
“This has literally been our life,” Robinson said. “Day in and day out, this is where we’ve been – where we’ve spent our time. We’ve literally gone to bed at night asking ourselves what we’ll do every day when we don’t have to go up to the Frosty.
“Whether we closed the Frosty or sold it, we just couldn’t wrap our minds around the fact that it wouldn’t be ours anymore. It’s literally all my kids and I have ever known.”
When Robinson says it’s all she’s ever known, she means it quite literally.
Her father, Raymond Grissom, and her uncle, Homer Grissom, started the Frosty Inn in 1960 when Robinson was only four years old.
“I can remember when I was very young my daddy would stand me on a milk crate by the cash register so I could reach it and I could count pennies,” she said. “I learned a good work ethic from an early age because of this place and the years I spent here.”
Her parents owned Frosty Inn until 10 years ago when she and Jeff took over ownership.
Robinson said her parents were the first people she and Jeff told once the decision was made.
“We all just cried and cried. This has been such an emotional process for us,” Robinson said. “I grew up here but my girls also grew up here and now I have grandchildren who love coming here. To know the Frosty won’t be in our family anymore is almost like having a death in the family. It’s just been hard on all of us.”
Robinson’s daughter, Carrie Dover, works at the Frosty and she said it will be hard once the business changes hands.
“I think the hardest part for me is having my youngest children, my twin boys, not getting to grow up here and have the memories that my older boys had or that my sister, Kathryn, and I had,” Dover said. “I have so many memories here I can’t even count them all.”
Robinson agreed that she could never recall all the good memories from over the past 52 years because there are too many to count.
“What’s made this so special, and what I will miss the most, are the people of this community I’ve gotten to know personally because of this place,” she said. “Those people who I know exactly what they want to order as soon as they pull up and the ones that come at the same time every single week. When they wouldn’t come by, we’d worry about them and call to check on them – not because we were worried about them coming in and buying food but because we genuinely cared about them and how they were.
“It’s been a family businesses all these years, but the ‘family’ has expanded to include so many people who have loved and supported the Frosty Inn. I can’t tell you how much I’ll miss seeing those people each day.”
Turning over ownership of the business will be hard but Robinson said it would have been even harder to have to completely close the restaurant and see it standing empty day after day.
“I was hoping it would stay open because I don’t know where in the world I would get my hamburger every day if it didn’t,” Robinson joked. “But in all seriousness, we just want to see this place continue to grow and prosper and I am optimistic that we’ll find someone who can make that a reality.”