By Stephen Smoot
A year before John F. Kennedy’s election to the presidency, under the headline “Bear Hunter Decides to Stay,” an article described the entrepreneurial efforts of Fairmont contractor Wilbert L. Wilson in Brandywine.
Wilson’s “flagstone and frame construction” building featured a motel on the oft traveled US 33 with eight rooms and adjoining a restaurant that seated 40.
“When I learned that the Navy was building the world’s largest radio telescope in Pendleton County, I decided that this would be a good time to come up here and do business,” Wilson said at the time.
Fast forward three decades from its opening. Pendleton County ended up hosting two nearby federal installations, though Pocahontas County received the astronomical facility.
In 1992, Ronnie and Betty Kimble took over the restaurant. Two years later, they purchased both the eatery and motel outright. This month, they will hand the reigns over to the next generation, their son, Darren, and daughter-in-law, Heidi, who are ready to step up and continue the family business for decades to come.
“Through the 32 years we’ve had good and bad days, as any business does,” shared Betty Kimble, adding that “my biggest fear when we opened was that we would have no business on opening day.”
She had no reason to worry, however. Her first customer would show soon enough. “Gary Smith,” she remembers of the legendary Franklin and Pendleton County High coach recently inducted into the West Virginia University Tech Sports Hall of Fame, “was my first customer.”
Kimble said, “I can still see ‘Big Ole Gary’ standing in Fox’s the night before opening and saying, ‘I want to be your first customer and you’ll be fine.’ He handed me a dollar bill and bought a bottle of Pepsi.”
The opening of the Brandywine Fox’s by the Kimbles did not come without huge risk for the family. Darren Kimble, said, “She opened the door with $500 to her name.”
Betty Kimble knew the business. She had worked at a Fox’s in Franklin, near where T&K Markets stands today, and understood both its company processes and also its food’s local appeal. “I knew the business would be here because of the Navy Base,” she remembered.
They first looked at a smaller location, but she said, “I never would have made it in that small building.”
“I came over here on a whim and a prayer,” Betty Kimble shared. In a time before federal regulations strangled much of a local bank’s latitude to operate, the Kimbles could go to the local bank, even without collateral, and obtain a small business loan.
Banks used to take the measure of an individual or group’s reputation almost as much as other metrics, such as credit score or income. They would often make a decision to loan based on the certainty that the applicant was “good for it.”
“Back then, you could go to a bank and borrow money easily,” she remembers.
Like a number of other chain restaurants, including McDonald’s, Fox’s operates on the franchise model, Franchisees are actually local small business owners using the branding and products of the larger corporation. They must adhere to the standards of the company, both in their food and their branding, but sometimes can forge a bit of leeway.
Brandywine’s Fox’s offers a couple of menu items not found in other franchise locations. For those with a big love of pizza, but a smaller appetite, they offer a “bambino.” From the Italian word for little boy, it’s what other chains call a personal pizza.
Betty Kimble remained so dedicated to keeping the item on the menu, one of the corporate representatives gave her the nickname “Bambino Betty.”
The Kimble family not only sells the smallest pizza in the Fox’s chain, but also the largest. Called merely, “The Big One,” their 30 inch pizza with 54 slices only clears the front door by a few inches.
Be sure to bring a vehicle large enough to drive it home, the Kimbles joked.
What is the secret for success over 30 years? “Always have love and concern for your customer,” Betty Kimble said. “You have to care that anything you’re making for your customer is done right. You have to treat your customer right. You always have to be willing to serve your community.”
That included her husband, Ronnie, “meeting everyone at the window or at the cash register.” Betty Kimble smiled warmly and explained, “He was the greeter!”
Underlying values also help to build a business on the most solid foundation. Betty Kimble said that “we’ve always been honest in everything we’ve done. We put our trust in God knowing that he will provide.”
That faith even held when the Sugar Grove Navy Base shut down almost a decade ago. She stated that “it didn’t impact me much at all. It did some, but we were still busy.”
Heidi Kimble explained why the Navy Base closure did not bring a serious shock to the business, saying that “people kept coming back for the service and the food.”
The impact of COVID nationally produced trends that boosted business for Fox’s. Urban dwellers “started exploring the area more,” said Darren Kimble. The outdoor tourism boom that enveloped most of the state during COVID, and continues to grow, increased traffic considerably on U.S. 33.
The incoming owners have plans to continue to develop the restaurant. Darren Kimble shared that “I’d like to make a nicer outdoor seating area.” Staffing and space issues have forced the closure of the inside dining room for the time being.
“There are times that we’re making 20 pizzas out here on the tables on Friday and Saturday nights,” he added, also saying “my major concern is staffing.”
Long term, they want to reopen the dining room, if possible. Said Heidi Kimble, “we’ll gladly open inside if we get enough people to serve the customers. We don’t want to get them inside and not be able to take care of them.”
Betty Kimble said, “The kids are excited about the new changes. The parents are not.” She said later, however, that “I didn’t want to see it go out of our hands, but it needed younger blood to take it over. It’s hard to see changes, but I wanted it to work.”
Over the years, many of the former staff remain customers, friends, and almost family. Betty Kimble explained that “a lot of people said this was their best work experience. It’s been good to see teenagers come in here and you see them become good and responsible adults. Even my own kids thanked us for the work experience.”
“We’re looking forward to keeping it in the family,” Heidi Kimble stated. “We couldn’t imagine it in someone else’s hands. Our kids, they encouraged us to do it. They wanted Fox’s to continue in the family.” And also to continue the legacy started in 1959 and continued by their parents, following the example of the elder Kimbles’ American Dream realized.
As Betty Kimble put it, “Our biggest reward for operating Fox’s was that we have been able to provide for our family. We never had the intent to become wealthy, just make an honest living.”
