An Inspired Chat with Ms KIMBERLY WHITE of Downtown

Ms KIMBERLY WHITE shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

KIMBERLY , we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What is a normal day like for you right now?
I wake up around 6:00 surrounded by my two kitty cats, Carly and Jossland. I jump into my yoga room and do a 20-minute yoga tape before I’m allowed to have any coffee or breakfast. Then I feed my inside cats and my two outside cats. Lyla and Morgan, I named my cats after general hospital characters. I’m trying to get the two outside cats to trust me enough to get them fixed and give them flea meds and then we’ll decide later whether they’re going to be backyard cats or if I’m going to adopt them out cuz they can’t come in the house. Two cats in my house is plenty. I’ve had multiple cats over the years and learned my lesson. Then I pull my tarot cards three tarot cards each morning while I’m eating a power bar and drinking, usually a Keurig pod Sumatra. I start getting ready for work at 7:30 a.m. and I’m at work by 8:00 a.m. to open we open at 8ish. I am the cook and the manager of the front of the house and the back of the house and I’m also the owner so everything falls on me ultimately which is fine. That’s the way I like it. I cook all day and keep the restaurant going with my fantastic crew and then probably 3 days out of the week I come home and make homemade jam for the restaurant, take an hour walk, pay my bills, watch soap operas and go to sleep.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Kimberly white. I’m 57 years old. I’ve owned this Cafe for 31 years. I bought it in 1994 when I was 26 from a couple who ran it for 28 years Lee and Birtie Flury. Flury’s Cafe is coming up on its 60th anniversary being in business as Fury’s Cafe. I’ve lived in Cuyahoga Falls where my restaurant is located since 1976 graduated from Cuyahoga Falls high School. Went to Kent State University. Graduated from Kent State University with a degree in fashion design. Chose to go into the restaurant business instead. I worked as a server at Country Manor which was a family restaurant on a main drag in Cuyahoga Falls, State road for 7 years. That’s where I got the experience in the restaurant business specifically breakfast restaurant. I’ve always loved to cook and eat out at fancy restaurants and diners, etc. I learned how to cook and bake from my family. My mother and father specifically. My family is full of wonderful cooks and people who love to eat good food. Flury’s Cafe started out as a sandwich shop with burgers fries as their main courses. I added the breakfast menu because of my experience in the breakfast restaurant. So now we have a full breakfast and lunch menu. One of the reasons why I switched to a breakfast and lunch menu instead of a lunch and early dinner menu was because the original location of the cafe did not have air conditioning when I first got there. So around mid-july I decided to change our hours completely starting the next day. I couldn’t go through one more hot afternoon so we started opening at 7:00 a.m. and closing at 3:00 p.m.. I’m so happy that I switched it to breakfast and lunch because I’ve come to find that people love breakfast food all day! Of course we still have burgers and fries and a variety of different sandwiches and a couple of salads but our best seller is BACON 😹😹😹

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who taught you the most about work?
My entire family consists of hard-working people. We show up. We do a good job. We have integrity. We have morals standards. We’re consistent and persistent and we don’t give up.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There were two times I almost gave up. One was when I first got married and the man I married insisted that I sell the business even though down deep I knew that was not what I wanted to do. I agreed. Thank goodness no one wanted to buy it so that just went away. I didn’t try very hard to sell it and I didn’t try very hard to get another job. Then another time I almost gave up was at the end of my marriage 10 years later when my ex-husband told me he wanted a divorce and I spun out and wanted to close up the restaurant because I was spinning out and I literally had just paid my health food license which was like $500 and I literally called. Or actually I think I went down there and I said hey. I just sent you this $500 for my food license but I’m closing this restaurant and I need my money back and they told me no so I was like okay. I guess I’ll just keep going. Thank goodness I did 😂

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Well, I do have a degree in fashion design. So we talked a lot about fads versus classics. I’m a classics person. I see no reason not to invest in classics I generally stay away from fads because they’re short-lived and there’s really no reason to dedicate any time to them only for fun. Just like fashion. In the food industry there are lots of fads and I’ve been taught to steer clear, a lot of times It’s just a waste of time, energy and money.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
The Goodwill we’ve built the relationships that we have with our customers The consistency that we try to deliver everyday. The hope that when they enter our Cafe they feel better when they leave than they did when they arrived.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fluryscafe.com
• Instagram: FLURYSCAFE
• Facebook: FLURYS CAFE