Fat Toney’s To Open Restaurant in Rogers; Fuzzy’s to Deliver Cookies

Jim and Vergean Ward of Siloam Springs plan to open a franchise of Fat Toney’s Bar-B-Que in Rogers by mid-February. They have applied for a conditional use permit from the Rogers Planning Commission to open the eatery at 807 N. 24th St. The 1,500-SF restaurant will seat 48 people, says Ward.

Toney Goucher, owner of two Fat Toney’s restaurants in Fayetteville, is the franchisor for four others. The Rogers restaurant will be the company’s seventh in the area. Besides two in Fayetteville and the new one in Rogers, there are also Fat Toney’s eateries in Springdale, Siloam Springs, Huntsville and Farmington.

Goucher had a larger, full-service restaurant in Rogers that he closed last June. The new Rogers location will be strictly barbecue, and no liquor will be served there, Goucher says.

Kaylor to run new restaurant

Coy Kaylor, who ran Coys Place in Fayetteville for 17 years, took over the restaurant at the Bentonville Ramada Inn on Jan. 1.

After closing Coy’s Place on Sept. 6, Kaylor said he might eventually return to the restaurant business. He is leasing the Ramada Inn restaurant.

Kaylor says he will oversee the food operation for the restaurant, banquets and catering. The Ramada restaurant was primarily a “buffet place,” he says.

Kaylor says he plans to serve a breakfast buffet and Sunday brunch buffet. During lunch and dinner, the old menu from Coys Place will be in place. Kaylor says the restaurant will specialize in smoked prime rib, steaks and seafood.

“It looked like a good opportunity,” Kaylor says, noting that the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, which will be located nearby, is scheduled to open later this year.

Fuzzy’s to begin cookie delivery

Got a late night cookie craving? Late Night Cookie, a business that will deliver freshly baked cookies nightly from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., is scheduled to open as soon as a delivery truck driver is hired.

The business will be operated out of Fuzzy’s Restaurant & Bar in Fayetteville. Mike Hopkins, the owner of Fuzzy’s, will also run the cookie delivery service. He says the service should be in operation by mid-January.

“My kids have both gone off to different schools, and they offered this in other areas, so it’s something new [for us],” Hopkins says.

In addition to cookies, the business will provide milk and Ben N’ Jerry’s Ice Cream. The telephone number is 443-7241.

Hog City Diner plans opening

Hog City Diner, the new restaurant planned for Fayetteville’s Old Post Office building, should be open sometime in March, says Michael Watkins, who owns the business along with Michael O’Brien, both of Tulsa.

The Old Post Office restaurant, officially known as One Center Square, a limited liability company, was sold in August by Jimmy Rapert to Hog City Diner Co. Watkins and O’Brien own The Cafe Co. of Tulsa, a company that purchases historic buildings in the South and converts them into restaurants.

Rapert had owned the business since 1995. It had been a fine-dining mainstay on the downtown Fayetteville square since 1979. The Old Post Office building, which was constructed in 1909, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The building is owned by Dr. D.E. and Edna Bumpass.

Watkins and O’Brien had originally planned to open Hog City Diner, an American grill, in the Old P.O. last fall, but renovations have taken longer than expected.

Rapert officially closed the fine-dining restaurant August 5, but the bar in the basement, The Gathering Place, and Stogie’s, a cigar shop in the building, have remained open. Rapert also owns The Gathering Place, which will be sold along with the restaurant. n