‘We’re like family now’

It has been a rough year for Frontier Family Restaurant in Washington.

On top of taking a financial hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant's owner, Steve Akgul, was diagnosed with cancer this spring and turned the operation over to his son, Victor.

'It's the same family,” Victor said. 'Everything is the same. It's just that he just can't do it any more.”

Victor has been pulling double duty, running the restaurant and taking care of his father.

'I've been taking him back and forth to the hospital and taking care of business at the same time,” he said. 'I'm staying pretty busy basically.”

He said that his father is 'not doing so good.”

'We can only do so much and keep praying,” he said. 'There's nothing much more that we can do.”

Victor previously ran the Frontier Family Restaurant - now Your Choice Family Restaurant - before coming to Washington to take over for his father in May.

'We had a location in Wayland,” he said. 'I was there, but when my dad started feeling bad, I had to come over here.”

For a short time, Victor tried to run both restaurants.

'We sold that place,” he said. 'I couldn't be in both places. For a while, I tried running both of them, but I had to quit one of them unfortunately.”

He does not anticipate making major changes to the Washington restaurant.

'You don't want to mess with something that is on the right track, unless the customers require something different,” Victor said. 'Otherwise, everything stays the same. If our customers are happy, we're happy.”

One change, though, is that he no longer cooks regularly, which was his favorite part of the business.

'I have been cooking almost all my life,” he said. 'I just now quit cooking after I came here. I don't do much cooking any more.”

He does, however, occasionally put together a special dish or soup.

Victor said he appreciates the support from his customers, both through the pandemic and Steve's cancer.

'I am so glad that we're here,” he said. 'Really, I feel lucky because everybody here is like family. We really do appreciate everything, not just the support but all the prayers for my dad.

'We really do appreciate everything what they have done. We'll do the best that we can to keep them happy.”

He said that most of his customers are regulars.

'They come here every day,” he said. 'I really appreciate that they try hard to support us to stay in business. They aren't just customers. We're like family now.”