Fairway Café remains open under new management

The Fairway Café has been in operation at the Ritzville Golf Course Clubhouse for numerous years, and during that time, the restaurant has been operated by various individuals.

Since the middle of October, Chris Peterson has been operating the Café. It happened to be the first time she had been in the restaurant since she moved to the area two years prior.

Originally from Spokane, Peterson has been living on the coast in Burlington where she has worked in various positions.

Peterson is not new to owning and operating a business on her own. She had a butcher shop for six years prior to having her children.

When she had to sell the shop she decided it was time to do a 180-degree turn in life and decided to attend beautician’s school.

After excelling through the program, she received her teaching certificate and taught other aspiring beauticians. She then took a position with Great Clips where she became the manager and traveled to new stores in Ferndale and Oak Harbor.

Peterson has three children and moved to the area mainly to be closer to her family. She also sought a school with smaller class sizes than what she had experienced on the coast.

Ritzville became her family’s new home for one year until she tired of renting and decided to move to a home in Lind. During this time, Peterson held positions at Starbucks, Rose Garden Estates and Circle K.

During these jobs she found one thing in common: she loved to cook and she desired to be her own boss. It was at this time she began asking the right questions and discovered the open managing position for the Fairway Café.

She was very excited for the opportunity to do what she wanted with the establishment and try and give back to the community she has enjoyed being a part of.

Peterson finds herself setting high expectations for those in her life, and this includes herself. She has many ideas she would like to put into gear in the café, but knows it will take time if she wants there to be a low overhead cost.

Recently, she has been creating a new menu, which will include a small number of breakfast items. These breakfast items she created mainly because of her “coffee crew”. This group of community members have coffee and breakfast each morning at the restaurant.

She had a few community members take it upon themselves to become some of her regular patrons. This has helped her to see what needs to change on the menu and what should remain.

These months leading up to the March 15 opening of the Ritzville Golf Course have been set as her transition months. When she began in October she was able to see the tail end of the customers she would see when golf season is in session.

The café has remained opened after the ending of golf season, which is a change to the past three years where it has closed during the winter. She would like to remain open yearround so as to give another dining option for residents in the area, as well as those traveling through.

Another interest of Peterson’s is catering and events. She recently hosted the City of Ritzville’s holiday party, which she found she really enjoyed.

She said it was a lot of work to decorate and prepare but once she saw everyone enjoying it she knew it was worth it. Peterson would like to hold more events at the restaurant in the future, such as graduations and birthday parties.

Peterson is also considering having a delivery service once she is settled into her daily routine and has an additional employee in the restaurant. She thinks this service would be a good fit in the community.

Her main goals in the last few months have been to get the word out about the new management in hopes to improve the reputation of the café. She knows the management has changed so often it is not seen as a consistent establishment.

She also would like to update the Facebook page frequently. In November she stayed open over the weekends but as the holidays approached she saw less of a need for it.

For the month of January she will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

In February she will reevaluate her hours and possibly reopen on the weekends, depending on whether she sees the need.

She recently moved back to Ritzville as of the first of the year. Peterson knew once she took over the business she would like to move back to town as her son will be attending high school next year.

Peterson looks forward to seeing what the year will hold for her new business. She hopes residents stop in to try out the new items on the menu so she can ensure it fits everyone’s needs.

Fairway Café is located at 104 East Tenth Avenue and can be reached via phone at 659-9868.