Wander just half a mile from the Deep River Rail Trail and the historic Faith Rock in Randolph County, and you’ll find a sweet reward: grilled vanilla pound cake at Franklinville Diner. At the family-owned restaurant on Main Street, each thick wedge is prepared to order, grilled in butter on the flat-top until a crispy golden crust forms.

The batter is made in a 1972 avocado green Sunbeam mixer — an essential part of the process, diner owner Andrea Priddy says jokingly. “It’s my great-grandmother’s recipe,” Andrea adds. “My mom makes it. My dad manages the sugar, vanilla, and flour. You can’t talk around the oven. You can’t move around the oven. If it’s raining, my mom won’t make it — it affects the rising.”

On her handwritten recipe, Andrea Priddy’s great-grandmother Selma noted that her pound cake is “very good.” photograph by Stacey Van Berkel

Since 2018, Andrea and her husband, Cliff, have served the cake at Franklinville Diner. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel

In addition to the grilled pound cake, Andrea and her husband, Cliff, treat diners to homemade delights and family recipes like chili, chicken salad, and pimento cheese. The Priddys purchased Franklinville Diner in 2018, making them one of a handful of owners since it first opened as a soda shop in the 1950s. After a few incognito visits to the town from their Pleasant Garden home — to see what they were getting into — the Priddys were ready to move forward. “We walked in as strangers,” Andrea says. “But they were very nice and accepting. The community is amazing here.”

Most mornings, Perry Conner, a former mayor of Franklinville, walks to the diner from his home. He takes a seat at a four-top overlooking Main Street, or a stool at the counter. Andrea brings him his usual — grits and wheat toast with a veggie omelet. On days she serves meatloaf, one of Conner’s favorites, she texts him, offering to save a piece for him before it sells out.

In 2016, a few years before the Priddys began this venture, the couple decided to make a change; they wanted more time together and with their two children, Haylen and Jacob. Cliff left his career in automotive manufacturing and joined Andrea, who had 23 years of corporate restaurant experience, in operating a food truck in Guilford County. Purchasing Franklinville Diner was the next step in creating the life they wanted to live as a family. “On Saturdays, Cliff and I really get to work together,” Andrea says. “We have more time [to be with each other]. Time is what we really wanted.”

Running the diner has become a family affair. Haylen’s been busing tables and washing dishes since she was 10. Now, at 15, she waits tables and helps where she’s needed. Her younger brother, Jacob, wants to jump right into cooking, but at 12, he’s still too young.

Former Franklinville mayor Perry Conner visits the diner most days. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel

Franklinville Diner’s location in the center of town — steps away from the John W. Clark Public Library and next to the Hanks Masonic Lodge No. 128 — makes it the ideal gathering place for groups like the men’s Monday morning Bible fellowship, firefighters from the local station, birthday parties, and special events. “The town needs this place,” Andrea says, “whether Cliff and I are here or not.”

Andrea begins her day at 6 a.m., baking oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies, preparing home-cooked dishes, and starting the coffee and tea. By the time the early lunch crowd arrives, she’s freshening up drinks and clearing and cleaning tables — all while chatting with regulars about their upcoming celebrations. It’s the relationship that the Priddys had hoped for — the kind of connection you get when you cook at home. But with even more people.

Franklinville Diner
159 West Main Street
Franklinville, NC 27248
(336) 824-2117
facebook.com/franklinvilledinernc