Meals at Roman Nose State Park – and six other state parks – are in for a drastic change. That’s because the state will no longer run the restaurants, instead bringing in Swadley’s Bar-B-Que as a vendor. But even that will be different, according to Chad Breuklander, vice president of operations for Swadley’s.
Breuklander said Colton Swadley, a graduate of culinary school, had worked on the menus, recipes, additions and concepts to help create the Foggy Bottom Kitchen.
“This is a total about-face,” Breuklander said. “Anybody who has been here before won’t recognize it. .”
The space, he said, will be separate from the lobby at Roman Nose State Lodge, with an urban-cabin farm look. The food, too, will be a departure from the regular fare at Swadley’s, with a familiar feel.
“We will have a full service sit-down menu, with food cooked to order. There will be some signature Swadley’s items, some from Jim’s Chicken, just good Southern comfort food. And new items as well,” Breuklander said. One of those new menu items is sweet tea glazed chicken.
While the walls are coming down and going up at the park, the existing staff – who were all offered positions at the restaurant – will be retrained to the new format, or transitioned to other areas of the park if they chose not to stay with the restaurant.
“These are all hardworking people, a great group of ladies,” Breuklander said of the six or so employees in place. “But it is part of our plan to grow the business.”
To do that, the restaurant will hire cooks and servers, and each park restaurant will have its own general manager. “We will be adding people for sure,” he said.
“We are going to do a lot of cool, progressive things that make it easy for guests to get good food at the parks. We want people to eat there even if they aren’t staying at the park.”
Breuklander credited Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, head of state tourism, with the idea of changing to vendors. “The whole effort is their idea, to let people who know how to run restaurants run the restaurants.”
In addition to the regular sit down menu, which could also include blue plate lunch specials each weekday, a chopped brisket sandwich with sausage link topper, a catfish dinner and ribs, Breuklander said there will be an online ordering portal where guests can preorder their meals, even days in advance of their arrival at the park. This will allow them to stop at the lodge, pay for their accommodations and pick up supper as they head to their campsite or cabin.
The company is also considering picnic style items – like hobo style meals to cook on the campfire – that are available on a take-out basis.
Breuklander said the renovations were expected to take about three weeks, meaning the restaurant could open in late March. How the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will affect the schedule is unclear.
The restaurant will eventually seat about 55, with overflow seating in the former conference room to hold some 40 more diners. The balcony will have outdoor heaters installed.
“We are excited to bring the quality of Swadley’s food and our staff to the park. We want people to come out for good food but come more of the for the great service. With the best service, fresh food, best ingredients at affordable prices, it will be a place people want to come and eat,” Breuklander said
“Obviously, God is the reason for our success,” he continued. “But right behind Him is our people. We’re going to be involved in this community, in the churches and schools because we are members of the community.”
Connie Burcham can be reached at Editor@WatongaRepublican.com