The renaissance and reopening of the vintage, 76-year-old Roadside Diner in Wall Township stands in contrast to the Garden State’s ongoing diner downturn trend, as reported in Jersey Bites. It shows that, with willing partners and the needed business expertise, a vintage Jersey diner can be saved and continue as a viable business. The Roadside is a modular, prefabricated stainless steel 1949 Silk City Diner built in Paterson.
More than 30 beloved, landmark diners throughout the state have closed, been demolished, or relocated during the last 10 years. It’s a trend that continues to unfold in 2025. Many diners didn’t survive the COVID shutdown and hangover, and business costs continue to rise.
Three individual stories, three situations currently in play, can help bring the big picture of the diner downturn into focus. First, Dana Schaeffer, a journalist, pastry chef, and Little Falls resident, has led an effort since 2023 to save the abandoned Little Falls Diner (pictured at top). The eatery, built by Master Diners of Pequannock, suffered a fire in 1994 and has been shuttered ever since.
Schaeffer is exploring the possibilities of moving the structure and remains optimistic that the diner can be saved, but acknowledges that there are many challenges. She has created a website, https://www.savenjdiners.com/, which hopes to do just that, as an online hub to gather information.
“What started as a childhood dream to one day open the local diner became a reality in 2023, and it’s grown into something that now fuels my everyday,” Schaeffer said. “I had little experience restoring a 1940s building or launching a business, but I’ve learned so much through the process—from construction codes to community connection.”
“The diner isn’t open yet, but it’s already introduced me to so many people and stories, and that alone tells me it will be a success,” she continued. “Right now, we’re looking to relocate it—these diners were built to move—and a new location could be the key to its future. I’m looking locally for a land lease in hopes of placing the diner in a more permanent spot to help its potential grow to the next level, as a diner and as a community center. It’s a tough ask, but I’m feeling very hopeful.”
Second, family patriarch John Sakellaris, the long-time owner of the Lyndhurst Diner, died in early January 2019. The eatery later closed due to the COVID pandemic. Private family negotiations resulted in the decision to sell the diner and the site, located at the intersection of Riverside and Kingsland Avenues, adjacent to the Passaic River. The property sold for $2.9 million in October 2023 (https://re-nj.com/). A construction permit notice with a box marked “demolition” was posted on the front door in September 2024.
Joseph N. Cofone, an author and Lyndhurst historian, said the eatery opened on April 22, 1954, and was built by the Mountain View Dining Car Company of Singac/Little Falls. Sakellaris and several partners purchased the business in 1975, and 10 years later expanded the diner and remodeled the exterior.
Third, the iconic Bendix Diner, located on the northbound side of Route 17 in Hasbrouck Heights, has been shuttered for the last four months. Health officials ordered the diner closed on Jan. 10, according to reporting by NorthJersey.com. The specific cause for the closing involves the lack of a proper fire suppression system, a problem that owner John Diakakis said he’s been trying to address “since 2021.”
Real Estate NJ reported on March 30 that IPRG (located at 45 Broadway, New York) “has been tapped to sell the Route 17 property, providing an opportunity for a new operator or potential redevelopment of the site.” Considering these developments, the fate of the Bendix—also built by Master Diners—is uncertain, at best.
There have been other recent closings of Jersey diners, most notably the Americana Diner (formerly known as the Tory Corner Diner) in March. The Manno Dining Car Company built the eatery.
New Jersey diner lovers have been shaken by the many closings, but it’s not the first time that the Diner Capital of the World has suffered a significant downturn. During the last 130 years, beginning with lunch wagons—the ancestral precursor to today’s diner and food trucks—the business has evolved, shifted, and adapted.
For the first half of the 20th century, the diner business had a healthy upward trajectory. There was a vast collection of family-owned small and medium-sized diners throughout New Jersey. The New York Times, in a September 23, 1951, article, estimated that there were 6,000 diners in the United States (most east of the Mississippi River), serving over 2 million customers on a daily basis.
But there was a downturn in the mid-1950s as the diner market became saturated and NJ diner builders began to shutter operations due to slack demand. The Garden State diner business continued to gradually decline in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s due to the advent of fast-food restaurant chains and other economic pressures. This reporter wrote about the downturn in the Garden State’s diner business sector for Jersey Bites two years ago. A recent survey from the National Restaurant Association titled “Inflation is Straining Restaurant Operations” indicated that the basic costs of food and labor have risen 30 percent since 2020.
