Idle Isle Cafe goes through changes yet keeps small-town feel

By Kristin Bishop

August 4, 2005 | The Idle Isle Cafe, established in May 1921 in downtown Brigham City, is the third oldest restaurant in Utah. The Idle Isle is a small, family-owned restaurant and offers unique decor, a comfortable setting, and traditional home cooking. Over the past several decades the restaurant has thrived, creating a friendly atmosphere.

The Idle Isle's initial owners, P.C. Knudson and his wife Verabel, started by opening a small candy and ice cream shop in 1921. After partnering with Verabel's brother, the Knudsons were able to transform their candy shop into the full-service restaurant it is today. The shop is on Main Street in Brigham City and still features the original handcrafted wooden booths, marble fountain, old fashioned piano and grandfather clock.

The founders passed the establishment on to later generations. Although the goal to provide consistent and quality service remained strong, additional changes were ahead. In 1994, owner Richard VanDyke sold the restaurant portion of the Idle Isle to Kim and Ann Jeppsen. For the past decade the two businesses have remained separate, and until recently shared the same building. In 2004, the candy shop moved directly across the street to provide more room for its continually growing business. This separation also provided the restaurant with the option to expand.

As the new owners of Idle Isle cafe, Kim and Ann Jeppsen made the decision to expand the restaurant and to add some ideas of their own. In June 2003, they added a small soup and salad shop to the back of the cafe to provide their regular customers the opportunity to dine in a different setting. With the space from the vacant candy area, another dining area was opened to provide room for even more seating. With the constant growth of the dining areas, a few behind the scenes changes were also necessary. After a few kitchen changes and remodeling, the restaurant is now bigger and better than ever.

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