The Banana Peel was a small, local, and community -based sandwich and desert restaurant in small town New Concord, Ohio. It was built in the early 2000’s and had been serving loyal community members and visitors of the area until it was closed down in October of 2015 due to a heartbreaking lack of business.

The Banana Peel gave me my first job. I was just 16 years old coming into a new reality of working for myself and my high-maintenance lifestyle. I was offered a position as a server nearly immediately. We served lunch, dinner, and a full-blown Velvet ice cream selection. Our unique little restaurant had just 8 black tables and an 8 seat bar. The floors were a diner inspired black and white tile. The walls were painted a calming cream and covered in college pendants from around Ohio, John Glenn school artifacts such as old jerseys and helmets, and Ohio State memorabilia. It is safe to say that my beloved bosses truly appreciated and honored our community, while implementing it into their restaurant.

The Banana Peel is worth saving because it is where our community came together. It was the only eat-in restaurant in New Concord. Just in my short time serving there I met members of my community that I became so extremely close with. For instance, The Banana Peel proudly served Ron Vessles, a highly respected New Concord resident of nearly 80 years, on a regular basis. Mr. Vessles and I acquired a once-in-a-lifetime relationship. Being a cheerleader for John Glenn for many years gave me a responsibility of doing a senior athlete scrapbook for every season. While I enjoyed doing this for my peers as they moved on to the next stage in their life, it became a quit time consuming task. Mr. Vessles helped me with that! He would personally bring in newspaper articles from all of the surrounding newspapers into the high school office in a Ziploc bag with my name on it every Wednesday. He knew who my assigned athlete was and would cut out the articles that would fit appropriately. That’s just one example of the community we have in New Concord. I also met so many other respected community members through my serving job at The Banana Peel.

Funding The Banana Peel would be easy with proper advertisement and communication throughout the area due to New Concord’s high support within the community. A highly influential factor in The Banana Peel closing was its location. It was just a mile off the interstate on Route 93. If travelers knew about the relaxing restaurant, chances are they would stop for a quick lunch and desert. If The Banana Peel could raise money for a spot on the closest billboard, I am positive that business would have been booming. To raise money for a billboard, I would suggest a Buffalo Wild Wings or Chipotle fundraisers where 25%-50% of sales goes towards to the organization. A spot on a billboard through Barnes Advertising ranges from $190-$300. That’s only 150 sales! Also for funding, I would suggest reaching out to community members for donations and offering a spot for their family name or business on a sign inside the restaurant. Our community is really heavy in supporting by means of donation. For instance, our basketball and cheerleading Disney tournament trip was completely funded by our community… within less than a week! If efforts like these mentioned were made sooner, I’m positive The Banana Peel would still be living in New Concord.

*Pictures will not upload*