The Blue Willow Inn, which has drawn travelers to its buffet for decades, is facing severe financial difficulties. But Billie Van Dyke wants her customers to know the Social Circle restaurant about 45 miles east of Atlanta is still open for business.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under which the restaurant labors has spooked diners. But Van Dyke, who has helped run the restaurant since she bought it with her husband, Louis, in 1991, hopes she can coax them back. She plans a news conference for Friday afternoon to rally fans of Blue Willow's fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, and sweet potatoes.
"We're here and doing business," said Van Dyke, 73. But "we are desperate. We're having trouble keeping the wolves away from the door."
Donations, she added, would be welcome.
The main problem is the failure of a shopping center, Blue Willow Village, that opened near the restaurant in 2007. When the center opened, it was nearly full with tenants, Van Dyke said. But the recession took its toll, and the center is 95 percent empty now. The parent business -- including the restaurant and shopping center -- was foreclosed on. The Van Dykes petitioned for bankruptcy protection in July. Louis Van Dyke died in November.
Now, Billie Van Dyke's catering and events facility in Social Circle called Magnolia Hall, as well as the shopping center, are in the process of being put up for sale. For now, the restaurant, which used to be a church and was a favorite of columnist Lewis Grizzard, is not on the auction block.
"People just stopped coming because they thought we were closed," Van Dyke said. She said she hopes to work with creditors to restructure her debt if customers come in at the rate they once did.
"I think they would rather have us open and making money than closed," she said of creditors.
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