One of Cape's oldest mom-and-pop restaurants opens in new location

In 1972, landing a day-a-week serving shift at Sands Pancake House was a godsend for Betty Collins.

"I didn't have a job," she explained. "So I was thrilled to death."

As it happened, she got a full-time job the following week at a different business, but kept the day-a-week shift just in case.

For 25 years.

"And then I bought [the restaurant] in 1997," she said.

Betty Collins, owner of Sands Pancake House, reflects Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 on moving the restaurant to 602 Morgan Oak St. in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

And now, two decades later, she's got her restaurant up and running in a new location on Morgan Oak Street, in what previously housed another restaurant, Brenda's Place.

She and her husband Richard, she said, didn't have to do much in terms of renovating the new place. That, she said, was a blessing since she made a point of keeping the old location at 1448 N. Kingshighway open up until last Sunday.

"We're glad to be here. Glad everything is moved," she said. "Just have to get used to where everything is."

The original Sands Pancake House became a local touchstone after it was built in 1953, success which Collins attributed to old-fashioned customer service.

"I think it's the atmosphere," Collins said. "It's a gathering place."

Sands Pancake House is seen Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 at its new location of 602 Morgan Oak St. in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

And a major part of cultivating that "mom-and-pop" atmosphere, she said, is having family on staff. Collins's mother Lorena Berghoff -- then a cook at Sands -- helped her get her job in 1972 and remained a cook long after that.

"She was still making dumplings for me in her 90s," Collins said with a laugh. "My daughter Taryn Berghoff has been with me since she was 16 years old ... and now my granddaughter Haylie as well. They've been with us forever."

Plus her husband, Richard.

"I don't know how I could have done it without him," she said.

Based on that family legacy, she said Sands Pancake House is among the oldest mom-and-pop restaurants in town.

"I think this is it," she said. "I can't think of any others."

And it's not just the immediate family Collins said makes the restaurant feel like her second home -- it's the customers as well, many of whom have made the move across town with the restaurant.

"It's been a very good feeling to see people come here [from the old location]," she said. "I've met a lot of good people over the years."

That kind of loyalty, Collins said, comes from generous portions and down-to-earth attitudes.

"You can get pretty well whatever you want here. At a chain restaurant, people don't really let you order off-the-menu. People come in here and ask for something, though, and you get what you want," she said. "And you can ask the waitress on that."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573)388-3627