SOUTH POINT - Even though the Snak Shak Restaurant Inc. has a new building and a new location, it still has the same home-cooking that customers have enjoyed for nearly 30 years.

The family-owned South Point eatery has been a staple of the community since the Huff family bought it in 1975 and reopened it under the Snak Shak name.

In December, the restaurant moved across the street to its new location at 305 Solida Road to a new building that residents hope will be around for another 30 years.

"It is the best place in town, no question about it," said C.R. Daniels, a South Point resident since 1936. "I eat 80 percent of my meals here."

Daniels could not say enough about the food and the owners.

"They have good food, country food. We are just blessed to have a nice little restaurant here like we have."

Owned and operated by June and Joseph Huff and their daughter Robin Ferguson, the family said the new location has added a lot to the restaurant including more space, a drive-thru, an expanded walk-up, larger dining rooms, a smoking and non-smoking section, a slowly expanding menu, parking and more.

"We didn't have room to turn around over there," Robin said of the old building.

Business has doubled since the move, with a pleasant mix of new and familiar faces coming in, the mother and daughter duo said.

"We have the cheapest prices in the whole Tri-State," June said. "You can check it with anyone. And it is all home-cooked meals."

Since the move, the restaurant has added about five employees to the staff that has grown to about 15 full and part-time employees including three who have been with the family for the duration.

Robin has worked at the family business since she graduated from Dawson-Bryant in 1979. Though she often arrives at 4:30 in the morning, she says it has been worth it for one reason.

"It is the customers," Robin said. "I like to see their faces every day."

The restaurant is open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed on Sundays.

"It is a lot of hard work but if you like the public, like people it is nice," June said. "You just get to know everyone in South Point."

They sure do get to know them, too. Many regulars eat three meals a day there. One customer eats at the restaurant so often that he sold his refrigerator, June said.

In some cases,

the family even calls to check on regulars that they have not seen in a few days.

South Point resident Tina Salyers used to work at the restaurant before the Huffs owned it. When asked what has kept her eating there for so many years, her answer is quick and simple.

"Just the food," she said as if it was a silly question. "My husband always has to have a footlong hot dog. Plus, June and her daughter are really nice people."