When Rod and Didi Torr bought the ABC Country Restaurant in South Surrey 27 years ago, it was supposed to be a temporary measure as the family got on its feet in a new country.
Having immigrated to the Lower Mainland from South Africa with their two young children, the Torrs were introduced to the owners of the restaurant chain and told they had a location up for grabs on the then-King George Highway.
“The idea was to buy the restaurant, try to build it up and go do something else with my life,” Rod said. “And we just stayed. We fell in love with White Rock, and the people were so good to us.”
The Ocean Park residents shared their memories of nearly three decades at the popular dining spot, after hanging up their aprons for good in September to enjoy retirement.
When they started in 1989, Rod told Peace Arch News, the restaurant scene on the Semiahmoo Peninsula was much different than it is now, with only a handful of dining establishments to choose from in the area.
As the community grew, the Torrs’ business remained successful, something the couple attributes to the loyalty of customers and the “tremendous” support from their staff, who they described as part of the family.
They also noted their penchant for consistency and sticking to what they know was a factor in staying competitive for all those years.
“We didn’t ever try to be something we weren’t,” Rod said, adding the familiar faces of long-term staff helped bring customers back.
Didi agreed, noting “people knew beforehand they were going to get a turkey dinner, they weren’t going to get a prawn tower.”
Running a busy restaurant while raising daughter Donné and son Rowan made for long, tiring days, the Torrs recalled. The youngsters would often be kept busy in the upstairs office while their parents tended to the business. Rod and Didi would also work staggered shifts at the restaurant while the other stayed home with the kids.
The Torrs said they were fortunate enough to have trusting and competent staff, which allowed them to travel, however, Didi admits there were often phone calls and text messages back to the restaurant while they were away.
And while they have plenty of great memories watching their staff grow, get married and have children of their own, there were also less-than-fond times, the Torrs said.
In 1999, an electrical fire that started in the woman’s washroom forced them to shut the restaurant down for two months.
“That was a very trying time,” Didi recalled.
When the Torrs were approached about selling the restaurant last spring, not long after the chain was bought by Ricky’s Country Restaurant, Rod said he wasn’t ready to throw in the spatula… at first.
“But then you start looking at people around you passing on and you realize you have to do it while you can,” he said.
The couple is now looking ahead to their retirement years, which they plan to fill with travelling, volunteering and “learning to relax,” although the Torrs admit that life away from the restaurant is “bittersweet.”
“We don’t have the constant worry and stress of the restaurant,” Didi, 58, said. “But I miss all the customers and the staff.”
