For nearly 60 years, the phrase, “Meet me at the ‘Cap,” has sent Augustans to a 60s-era diner right across the bridge into North Augusta.
Sno-Cap Drive-in is located as 618 West Ave. in North Augusta and features a classic menu of burgers, hot dogs, desserts and their famous Smiley Fries.
The restaurant is now a part of the Fat Man’s Hospitality Group, a collective run by Augusta’s Usry family. The group also includes Fatman’s Mill Café, the Southern Salad and The Fourth At the Plaza, an events space near the new Columbia County Performing Arts Theatre.
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Havird Usry said that his grandfather opened Fat Man’s Café in 1948. Though the location has bounced around, the restaurant has never had a day with the doors closed, Usry said.
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Sno-Cap was established in 1964, and the Usry family has been operating it for nearly four years now.
“It’s been a really good move,” Usry said. “It’s been a fun project, and it was an establishment that we saw things to improve on while also falling into our wheelhouse as a sort of nostalgic brand. I live in North Augusta, so I know we were in need of some casual dining. I knew it was a good opportunity for my dad and I to renovate and bring some life to the area.”
Usry said there was a three-fold approach to revitalizing the business.
The first was to fully renovate the building, restoring it to the burger, fries and shake joint it was first imagined as. Usry said bringing back the black-and-white checker floors, boomerang design on the tables and bright red, leather banquettes was crucial to that feel.
Secondly, Usry said the drive-in aspect had been lost.
“Before we took over, you’d drive up and then call a phone number to place your order. It was multi-step and not a true drive-in. We wanted to get back to that as well, so we technologically-improved the drive-in boxes and brought that back.”
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Usry said restoring the drive-in aspect was a “God-send” during the pandemic.
“Sno-Cap was probably our best performer of our operations throughout the pandemic,” Usry said. “That ended up being a great mechanism for us.”
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The final step was focusing on food and service. Usry said he wanted something hand-made and hand-crafted. They wanted to bring high-quality product like real cheddar cheese, bacon that was cooked properly and a higher-quality ice cream machine.
“I just left from a team meeting because we also want our service to stay on-point,” Usry said. “We are very much sticklers on service.”
Usry said that catering, preparing box lunches of burgers and fries for events across the CSRA, has boosted the bottom line as well. Improvements to the restaurant itself are also in the works.
“Pending some permitting from the city, we have plans for a large patio face-lift that would add additional seating, a retractable awning and some heaters,” Usry said.
More immediately, Sno-Cap is offering a Thanksgiving special for the season. Visit the ‘Cap to try their Thanksgiving burger, a turkey patty adorned with stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy.
Editor’s note: It’s delicious.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
