PARKERSBURG - A new restaurant in Parkersburg wants to appeal to families because it is family owned and was inspired by a family member.
The Root Beer Shack, at 1420 Staunton Ave. opened Nov. 16 at the former Tim's Old Fashioned Root Beer.
"We are a specialty hot dog shop," co-owner Amy Cochran said. "We sell hot dogs, hamburgers and deep fried desserts as well as old fashioned slushie root beer in a frozen mug."
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Photo by Brett Dunlap
Amy Cochran, Terri Woollard and Samantha Linthicum of the new Root Beer Shack at 1420 Staunton Ave., Parkersburg. The specialty hot dog shop opened in November and features hot dogs, hamburgers and deep fried desserts.
Cochran, who owns the business with her mother Terri Woollard, had worked as a waitress for eight years when she was younger and has always wanted to open a restaurant.
"We have tried to buy several different franchises and bring them to this area, but we couldn't get anyone to come here," she said.
Her grandfather, Jiles Woollard, who passed away in August 2008, loved hot dogs and told her she should open a hot dog shop.
"As inspiration from him, I left my job and my mother left her job and we went in this together," Cochran said. "We knew this used to be Tim's Old Fashioned Root Beer. I love old fashioned root beer. It just seemed like a perfect fit when we found out we could get this building."
The Root Beer Shack offers 11 varieties of hot dogs, including a Plain Hot Dog with ketchup or mustard; a Sauce Dog with a sweet or spicy sauce; a Sauce and Slaw Dog; a Gary Dog, which has peanut butter; a Danny Dog, which includes slaw and ketchup; a Fire Dog with jalapeno peppers and pepper jack cheese; a Bacon Dog, which includes bacon and nacho cheese; a Mexican Dog with the sweet or spicy sauce, salsa, nacho cheese, sour cream and jalapeno peppers; a Pizza Dog with pizza sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese; a Breakfast Dog with egg, American cheese and bacon; and a Corn Dog.
They have seven varieties of hamburgers, including a Plain Burger, Jalapeno Smokin Hot, Loaded Burger, Swiss Mushroom Burger, Bacon Cheeseburger, a Mackey Mountain (which is a cheeseburger sandwiched between two grilled cheeses) and a Pizza Burger.
They offer a variety of sides, including french fries, onion rings, chips cheese fries, and chili cheese fries.
"We consider ourselves a specialty shop because we toast our split-top buns," Cochran said. "All of our sauces are made daily and our hamburgers are patted out daily.
"We want to be known as fresh food, not fast food. With our sauces being made daily, we want to be that step up from a regular hot dog shop."
They have a variety of hand dipped ice creams for milkshakes, floats, sundaes and cones. They offer deep fried Twinkies, Oreos, Snickers, 3 Musketeers, brownie bites and cheese cake bites.
"Business has been really good," she said. "We have exceeded or met our goal every day. We have done exceptionally well."
They have had groups of 14 people are more come into their dining room. The drive-thru window is starting to see more business.
"We are going to have an official grand opening at the beginning of the year after Christmas and New Year's kind of settles down," Cochran said. "We just haven't set the date yet."
The business has the two owners and three employees.
The Root Beer Shack is open Monday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Cochran hopes to be able to expand the hours in the summer.
"We hope people stop by and will give us a chance," Cochran said. "We are clean, friendly and family oriented.
"We want it to be an enjoyable place to be, but we also want people to be able to have a good meal."
