French fries, chicken fingers and onion rings, among other fried favourites, were enjoyed by many a customer in her retro-style diner over the years. Bryson lifers, visitors, and rave-goers alike sat down in her diner to enjoy classic pub-style fare.

But eventually the deep fryers also came to represent some drawbacks of the job.

There were the long hours spent toiling away in the firing line of that spluttering, singing oil.

Especially in the summertime when the kitchen would get unbearably hot, working the fryer was a thankless task nobody wanted to do.

And then there was the rising cost of the oil she puts in the fryer, and of the food she cooks in it.

The pandemic saw food prices explode, and so did the pressure to increase her menu prices. Other restaurants in the Pontiac raised prices to maintain their already-thin margins, but Romain-Pullen kept hers the same.

She knew her customers, and she knew many of them wouldn’t be able to afford an increase.

“People will notice if you raise prices by even a quarter,” she said.

She wanted to offer affordable food for residents of Bryson, the community where she grew up, so she kept menu prices more or less the same over the years.

But ingredients got more expensive, and it started to make less and less business sense to own a restaurant. Earlier this month, she decided to close her doors for good.

Romain-Pullen didn’t imagine the place would be a diner when she bought it in 2014.

The building that became Suzie’s was supposed to be her home, and the building that used to stand next-door was going to be her business.

It was a 1950s diner that she wanted to turn into a cabaret with a dance floor and spaces people could rent for parties and events.

“That was my vision — use the theatre as a community space to bring people in, host parties, stuff like that,” she said.

She renovated the place, putting in a dance floor and making space for a small restaurant inside.

But in 2014, a fire engulfed the building and burned it to the ground. She never got to see her vision come to life.

The building that survived the fire became Suzie’s Diner.

As the only restaurant in town, her diner doubled as a community gathering place, where she got to know many of her customers over the years.

Christina Cameron, who lives in Bryson, has been a regular customer since the doors first opened in 2015.

“The food was always good, but what brought us back was that Sue was always there with a smile [ . . .]

She will be missed,” Cameron said.

Romain-Pullen is going to miss the customers, as well.

“The coming in, the talking, the smiles, the compliments, some criticism,” she said, listing some aspects of the business she’ll miss.

She took pride in her customer service, and knowing her customers’ orders off by heart.

“I had a gentleman and his wife on Calumet Island, and when he would phone, he would giggle because I had his order already written down before he’d even spit it out of his mouth.”

She is going to miss answering the phone with her usual greeting.

“Suzie’s!” she would say.

As much as she is sad to leave behind the community hub she spent a decade building , Romain-Pullen is looking forward to life after restaurant ownership, particularly some newfound free time.

She recently went camping with her grandchildren – the first vacation she’s taken in some time.

“We watched a movie outside on the sheets and we had popcorn and s’mores,” she said. “I needed that.”

Romain-Pullen has a new job lined up for the near future. She’s keeping her cards close to the vest about specifics, but she will be working with food.

“I’m just changing aprons,” she said.

She might be moving the deep-fryers into a new kitchen, but she said the spirit of Suzie’s is going to live on in that Bryson building.

She still owns the building and plans on paying the bills by hosting community suppers featuring barbecued chicken, hot turkey sandwiches, or sea pies, a Bryson specialty.

Her grandchildren have even pitched the idea of turning it into an ice cream parlour.

Whatever shape it takes, Suzie is going to make sure the institution that is Suzie’s Diner is there for Bryson.

“I’m gonna be doing other things for the community.”

Deep fryers or not.

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