It was out with the old and in with the new two weeks ago when Perkins closed for three days to completely remodel the interior.
The restaurant closed the afternoon of Sept. 12 and had everything done in time to reopen bright and early at 6 a.m. Sept. 16.
Jesse Zwak, manager, said the remodel went really well considering the short window of time they had to get everything done.
"Hats are off to the contractors that were involved in it," Zwak said. "They did a really great job."
A lot got accomplished in those three short days. The carpet was torn out, wall coverings taken down, booths, tables and chairs were all replaced, and the entryway and lobby were retiled.
"And we hung new wood paneling throughout the main dining room, too," Zwak said. "Which is pretty good for three days."
Zwak loves how everything turned out and said customer feedback on the new look has been very good.
"Everything that we've heard has been positive," he said. "People have been really happy with it."
He said the employees are also happy with the changes, although he noted with a wry grin they were also happy about the three days off they had during the remodel.
The remodel has been in the works for about a year, and Zwak said they did it because they felt the restaurant needed some updating, not because they were forced to by the Perkins corporation.
"It isn't anything that we're contractually obligated to do through Perkins. Sometimes a lot of people have that misconception that because we are a franchisee of Perkins that they require us to do them (remodels) at certain dates and that's not the case," Zwak said. "We just take it upon ourselves to freshen up our look and bring in a new look for the restaurant, new feel."
The carpet in particular was in rough shape, according to Zwak. He said it had been about seven years since the last remodel and time had taken its toll. Although the carpet is professionally cleaned on a quarterly basis, the time had come to replace it.
"We've been in business here for 28 years, locally owned and operated, so we know," he said. "It's kind of old hat for us, we know when it's getting to be time to start looking at doing it (remodel) again."
Having the restaurant locally owned and operated is a great source of pride for Zwak. His parents, Wayne and Val Zwak, had owned and operated Perkins for the first 25 years and he has taken over that role from them for the last few years.
"My mom and dad are proud to be able to make that transition, to be able to hand it down to keep it in the family and I'm also of course proud to carry on the tradition, too," he said.
Although the remodel was less than a week old when Zwak spoke with The Minot Daily News about it, he had a hard time remembering what the old color scheme was. He said before the remodel there were a lot of purple colors that were popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The new look boasts more earth tones such as dark browns, tans and greens.
"It's comical because we were talking about that amongst us after we had finished that Wednesday night when we were standing here about midnight and we had finally gotten everything put back together, and the three of us were looking at each other like, I can barely remember what it looked like four days ago," Zwak said. "And you really can't. It's funny how the mind just kind of washes itself of the old look and embraces the new look."