TEMPLE, Texas — Bella Blue Cafe has been proudly serving and supporting the local community for nearly four years. Located at 1323 South 57 street in Temple, the mission of the cafe is to provide a unique dining experience that blends hometown hospitality and quality ingredients.
"We want people to feel like when they come and eat here, they’re eating at their mothers' house or grandmothers' house.,” Owner Penny Irwin said. “They feel comfortable. It's home cooking food. It's fresh. It's not frozen.”
6 News was invited to the kitchen by line cook Boomer Rogers who was preparing to make one of their popular breakfast items: the Bella omelet. The omelet is filled with mushrooms, onions, green bell peppers, tomatoes, ground sausage, bacon and ham! It’s paired with hashbrowns and biscuits.
Pro tip: Ask for their house salsa.
Watch Boomer Rogers make the Bella Omelet below! :
The story behind the creation of the name ‘Bella Blue’ is symbolic of the values the cafe holds dear: being a friendly and supportive family environment.
“I have a granddaughter; her name is Annabelle. My mother’s name is Ella, which we have a picture on our wall,” Irwin said.
In honor of her mother, a picture of her back in the day is proudly displayed on one of the walls. Irwin’s mother used to work in a diner in Pennsylvania and was known to be a good cook. It was her mother's dream to own her own restaurant and now Penny can share that victory.
“We get the ‘blue’ because my husband is a police officer for the city of Belton,” Irwin continued.
The support for local law enforcement is palpable with a poster of a sponsored officer featured by the registers. Every year Bella Blue donates a $100 sponsorship to an officer from the Temple Police Department. Similarly, the cafe participates in Temple PD’s annual Blue Santa Toy Drive and annually hosts ‘coffee with a cop’ which will take place November 15.
Owner Penny Irwin tells 6 News that operating the cafe has been a dream come true.
“I just like to take care of people, so it’s just something I’ve always wanted to do,’ Irwin said.
Watch an extended version of this story below! :
One key ingredient to Penny’s success is the friendly no-stress work environment and as a result, roughly 75 percent of the staff that helped open the cafe are with her to this day. Penny believes most of this is attributed to how she treats her staff.
"I’m very accommodating to them. I understand life, I understand situations,” Irwin said. “I don’t treat them any differently than I would want to be treated myself.
The employees are just as passionate about serving the community as Penny is. As you make your way inside the rustic, homestyle cafe, you’re greeted by friendly faces who just finished casually speaking to a guest or hugging them goodbye.
“We’re all very giving. Very quickly, if you’re here for longer than a month you’re like family,” Irwin said. “It’s not all about me, it’s everybody that works together.”
In her 25 years of being in the restaurant business, Penny has always been this way with not only employees but with guests and as a result she’s garnered a loyal following.
"It makes me feel really good that they followed me. It makes me feel good that I have the employees that I do, that are caring, and they work hard, and they acknowledge that and see that they’re not just out here to make a dollar. That they genuinely care about the people and getting to know them.”
Bella Blue Cafe is open Monday-Thursday 5am-6pm, Friday-Saturday 5am-8pm and Sunday 5am-2pm.
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