NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah — Janet's Sunshine Cafe in North Salt Lake is a place to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and share some laughs. However, owner Janet Barmore is at the center and makes it all happen.
“I would say probably 30 to 40 percent of my customers come in at least once a week. Some come daily," said Barmore. "We treat you like you're at home too sometimes.”
Barmore has had customers that have been with her since she first opened her doors in 2005.
“We have pictures of my boys with Jay Leno up on her little wall up there when they were nine years old, and they're now 32," said longtime customer Chris Beckrest.
“We had the earthquake. Most of us came here. We're kind of family, and she had 'I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet' by Carole King playing," shared other longtime customer Colleen Bean.
“When we lost our dog, we came here afterwards because we knew there would just be love and support here," added Katy Paulson.
For a time, it seemed like this safe haven for customers could never be taken away, or so they thought.
“I had decided to expand next door… things didn't really pan out very well, and economy slowed, and the price of eggs went through the roof," Barmore said. "Just kept thinking I can do this myself. I don't need help, and I just kind of dug the hole.”
Eventually, Barmore was served with an eviction notice.
“It's been a great place of refuge for them. And the same thing for my employees," Barmore said, "I just thought it's not fair to them that this was happening because of something I did.”
Once her customers learned of the eviction, they made it their mission to keep Janet's Sunshine Cafe open for business.
“I just said it absolutely cannot happen," Bean said, "Janet deserves this. I mean, she feels bad. She says I've made some mistakes, and I said to her, 'Haven't we all?'"
To help out, customers created a GoFundMe page to help raise funds to keep the doors open.
“Janet doesn't raise her prices. She's probably one of the cheapest places still," Beckrest said. "We'll go to a breakfast place or a lunch place, and it's like it's good, but it's not Sunshine.”
In a world full of chain restaurants, everyone seems to want to keep the one place they call home.
“Save Janet's!" Markus said. "Don't let me starve!”
