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Floyd’s Diner helps long-time worker take over its Sidney location

It could be called giving something back, with a side of homefries. The owners of Floyd’s Diner, which has three locations in Greater Victoria, have given a serious boost to a long-term staff member by giving her one of their restaurants.
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Sarah Matchett, who worked her way up from server to manager at Floyd's Diners, is taking over restaurant's Sidney location in April and renaming it the Five and Dime.

It could be called giving something back, with a side of homefries.

The owners of Floyd’s Diner, which has three locations in Greater Victoria, have given a serious boost to a long-term staff member by giving her one of their restaurants.

Sarah Matchett, who has worked with Floyd’s for more than eight years and helped open two of the locations, will be the new owner of what is now Floyd’s in Sidney as of April 1.

“I guess we’re sort of paying it forward for her. We really want to see her succeed,” said Floyd’s owner Petr Prusa. “She’s been with us for years and wanted to go out on her own.”

Prusa said rather than see a friend take a huge risk, he preferred to give away one location.

“We thought if we don’t do something with her, she will go off and do something else, so we said why not take this one,” he said. “So Floyd’s will no longer be in Sidney, but not because the business wasn’t good, but because she’s a great woman, she’s put in her time and we thought it would be a good thing for her to do.”

In return for the restaurant, Matchett will pay off what remains of the startup costs Floyd’s incurred when it opened the Sidney location. Prusa estimates there’s about $41,000 left owing.

For Matchett, 28, it’s almost too-good-to-be-true.

“This is a golden opportunity, one not to be passed up regardless of where it takes me,” she said.

“Opening a restaurant, especially a breakfast restaurant in downtown Victoria, is almost suicide — there are so many great restaurants.

“Even this is huge and scary, but being in Sidney is good. It gives us room to grow.”

Matchett, who worked her way from server at the downtown location of Floyd’s to manager of the Langford location and then to helping open Sidney, has been running the Floyd’s on Beacon Avenue since it opened a year ago.

Customers in Sidney will see only subtle changes and an evolution in the restaurant. The location and personnel remain the same.

The name, however, will change.

Matchett, who has been working in restaurants since she was 14, will call her joint the Five and Dime.

“We want to do some things that are different, but we want to maintain our clientele,” she said.

“The personality of the restaurant will change over time. ... We will journey to find our own kind of thing.”

What won’t change is the commitment to what Matchett calls breakfast soul food and comfort food, on which Floyd’s made its reputation.

Prusa said he expects the Five and Dime to be a success.

“It’s the smallest of the Floyd’s, but it’s been successful since opening the door, ” he said.

And both Floyd’s and the Five and Dime will continue to benefit from economies of scale when it comes to supplies as they will remain as one buying group.

“Our numbers were great with all three locations, our numbers got better with three spots as our pricing dropped,” he said. “Because we still have the buying group, all the companies get that rebate.”

Matchett, though a little leery of being the face of a business, seems eager to get started on the next phase of her life.

“It’s the next step. I’ve been running restaurants for so long that to own one is as far as you can really take that career,” she said. “Whether it’s something I do forever, or if it is just the next chapter, we’ll see.

“But I live [in Sidney]. I love it here and I’m looking forward to being a big part of the community,” she said.

aduffy@timescolonist.com