Family restaurant rebrands

PERKINS TWP. — A decades-old family-owned restaurant recently received a remodeling to match its rebranding. The former restaurant in Perkins Township, on Milan Road in front of Meijer, reopened Thursday as the Sandusky Bay Pancake House. Steve Schuster's family has operated the restaurant since his parents started the business in 1966. He decided on the rebranding to modernize the company and pay homage to the area. "We wanted it to be broader than just Sandusky and when you think of Green Bay, Tampa Bay or the Bay Area in San Francisco," Schuster said. "The Sandusky Bay encompasses the entire area: Port Clinton, the islands, Vermilion, Huron, Milan, Berlin Heights and Norwalk. We wanted to be more than just Sandusky." With the recent forced closure of dine-in services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Schuster decided to use the opportunity to go forward with his planned revamp. "About three days into carrying-out only, I figured this would be the time to do it and get the ball rolling," Schuster said. Schuster said it was a team effort to complete the remodel with his sister doing designing, his daughter handling social media and his wife doing the landscaping. "To know that my family is so engaged is what will make this successful," Schuster said. The menu has also changed with a sharper focus on pancakes, breakfast, and brunch, with its hours being 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. Whenever he could, Schuster chose to use local companies for construction work and local vendors for food. "It's all about keeping this local feel and have those tie-ins," Schuster said. Schuster said the public's reception to the rebranding has been overwhelmingly positive on social media. "We created a Facebook page on Monday, and it already has 20,000 views," Schuster said. "People keep liking it and sharing it. The community seems excited about the change."