COLORADO SPRINGS — Juniper Valley Ranch, family owned and operated since its inception in 1951, is open and settling into its 70th season of home-style meals and family oriented interactions.
The restaurant, located about 20 minutes south of Colorado Springs proper, has been dishing up "simple, home-cooked" meals for seven decades. The majority of the recipes on the menu, such as their famous skillet fried chicken, haven't changed in all that time.
While many establishments can boast "family ownership," not quite as many have the track record of Juniper Valley, where five generations of the family have worked over the establishment's long history.
The current owner of 37 years, Greg Dickey, works alongside both his grown children, Preston and Olivia, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (although, once summer rolls around, the restaurant will also be open on Thursdays).
Dickey took over operations in 1983, with the help of his wife, from his grandparents and great-aunt, who founded the dining hall.
Since that point, the restaurant has been dishing out old-fashioned family meals.
Over the past year, the restaurant faced the hurdles of not only dealing with limited capacity, but navigating take out for the very first time.
Although skeptical of the venture's success at first, Dickey reports that customers bought into the take out in a big way, helping support the family owned business through the shutdowns (and then, of course, filling seats when restrictions lessened).
As is always the case, the family business closed down in December, waiting for warmer weather.
Now, as of the beginning of April, the doors are back open and the family owned business is excitedly operating their 70th season.
Dickey reports that each day (the restaurant is open) Juniper Valley is filling up with reservations, seemingly the only people more excited for this landmark year than Dickey and his family, are the Coloradans who missed the good food and family atmosphere.
While the business is adhering to safety protocols, including reduced seating availability, placing the safety of their family and those families that visit at the top of the priority list, they are also hoping for a summer with less restrictions and a more bustling atmosphere.
For more information on Juniper Valley Ranch and how they navigated 2020, CLICK HERE.
To visit the Juniper Valley Ranch website, CLICK HERE.
