Fender’s Diner grand opening; “icon” in community

Fenders Diner

“If these walls could talk, the stories they would tell.”

For over 100 years, the brick building where Fenders Diner currently resides has been serving the community. Today, locals gathered for a grand opening ceremony ribbon cutting.

Jay and Melissa Reeter, owners of Fenders Diner, have been looking forward to opening their restaurant to the community.

Fenders Diner has been around for 30 years and Jay said it took several months of renovations and “gutted” the building to restore it to the modern but 50s-themed diner. Fenders Diner is located on 631 Irvin St. in Cornelia.

One of the most important qualities about the diner, Jay said, is having a good chef that makes fresh, quality food.

Additionally, the Reeter family intend for Fenders to be a location where families go to “celebrate life” …whether it be birthdays, anniversaries or other.

“We wanted to create a place where people could go and have great food, an interesting environment and contribute to the new Cornelia downtown area,” Jay said.

Jay said the biggest challenge in getting Fenders open again was finding a chef that wanted to work. Due to COVID-19, it made it difficult on businesses – especially locally – and Jay accepted the challenge of building a quality team of workers to bring the diner to life.

Melissa said what she loves as an owner and a people-person, is the diner gives both her and Jay the opportunity to serve the community in several ways.

“We get the opportunity to change the environment and the atmosphere for the people that work here and make sure that they come to work, and they love being here. It’s important,” Melissa said.

Additionally, Melissa has enjoyed connecting with her staff and being able to build a family inside of Fenders. As a family business, they love to help and serve people.

“Everyone has a story and everyone’s here for a reason. I love these people,” Melissa said. “God has put us in the position to allow us to help people and that’s my favorite part.”

Fenders has several live bands and musicians coming up on their schedule, including a benefit concert on December 19.