When Bill sat down one summer night in 1995 to detail the restaurant concept, he had years of experience on both the railroad and in restaurants. Both granddads were engineers; his father a diesel supervisor at Norfolk Southern's Norris Yard in Irondale Alabama. Bill became an engineer and then a railroad supervisor. With all the years on the railroad and then the family restaurant business, the table was set.

(Bill, above left, 1984 Norfolk Southern official assigned to Amtrak during New Orleans World Fair - above right Bill's Mom, 1978 out front of Cafe)

His concept of a family restaurant serving down home and delicious food in a small town cafe setting with railroad memorabilia in a building reminiscent of railroad depots was pretty much inevitable. Like most men, he has fond memories of Christmas morning playing with a new model train set with his dad helping to put the rails together. His travels as a child and adult took him through hundreds of towns, large and small, where he had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time around railroad depots and stations as well as the local Mom & Pop's. Architectural drawing classes made him keenly aware of the fabulous old depots and their strong esthetic designs, which are a big part of the concept facade.

Always a part his family's restaurant, Bill began working on the grocery food products business. He first looked at providing nutritious "down home cooking" type frozen, entrees under the WhistleStop Cafe name, but found that it was too costly an investment Thanks to a suggestion by a regular cafe customer who owned a local seasoning company the first 4 batter mixes made it to the grocery store shelves in 1993. Today we ship 9 food items and 3 cookbooks to over 3000 stores in 48 States. We have more food products and cookbooks on the way. We also look forward to selling the WhistleStop Cafe® Family Dining Concept, layouts, theme and Restaurant services Marks to a quality restaurant company that will make this fabulous concept a reality.

This is a strong exciting concept and trademarked name. We look forward to speaking with you about this opportunity.

All a board!