Local fans of the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery chain will be getting a new chance to chow down on the food that made the chain famous.
A new Perkins is now under construction at Eastview Plaza, across the street from the Nittany Mall. It’s going up right in front of the JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts store.
The old Perkins Restaurant, located at the intersection of South Atherton Street and East Branch Road, closed its doors more than a year ago.
“We did not want to close the previous site but we knew we needed a better location,” says Russ Berner vice president of restaurant operations for JDK Management. “This is the best of both worlds, a better location and a new building.
Berner explains that the lease on the old Perkins restaurant had run out and the company wanted to do something different, “Something fresher, newer and easier to get to — State College has sort of shifted over the years. This one is easier to get to, right off Shiloh Road is very convenient.”
In short, it’s location, location, location. “It’s centrally located in the market. Being close to I-99 & I-80 is attractive,” Berner says.
The restaurant business is very competitive in State College especially for eateries that built reputations for serving breakfast food. Perkins started out in 1958 with a single pancake house in Ohio. Today, the chain has 440 outlets located in 34 states and Canada.
Berner says his company is the largest Perkins franchisee, operating more than 30 Perkins restaurants in Pennsylvania and Ohio. JDK Management will also operate the new Quaker Steak & Lube that’s also under construction in Eastview Plaza.
The company is spending $1.5 million on the new Perkins restaurant which will seat about 150 guests. They’ll be hiring about 75 people to run the place including cooks and waitstaff.
The new Perkins will offer some modern touches. “It’s a fresh new look, and it will be visually different,” says Berner. “It has some additional things — wifi and television. We have a really exciting new menu that not only is a terrific value but a wider selection.
“Our core products are unchanged. Our pancakes are the best around. I think our lunch and dinner is better. We have more healthy and contemporary items. We have ‘fit items’; entrees under 600 calories that taste great.”
For example, the menu includes “Spinach and Baby Bella Scramble”, scrambled eggs with spinach and portobello mushrooms. It’s served with chicken apple sausage, which is supposed to be a healthier choice than pork sausage. Berner says the restaurant will also offer “Brioche French Toast” which he describes as “incredible homemade fresh-baked french toast.”
The plan calls for the new Perkins to open around Christmas but that might get pushed back until January.
Berner expects the restaurant to be very successful, “State College has always treated us well, he says. “The brand is well established. I think people will like the new look. I have very high hopes for it.”
