Over the past 35 years Mary and Andy Sloan crafted a true family restaurant along M-139 in Benton Harbor. Not only did they labor side by side for those three and a half decades at their Country Kitchen Restaurant, their son and daughter joined the team over the course of the years and they seemingly knew everyone’s name who came to dine. 
Now, after briefly converting to curbside service during the pandemic like many other local restaurants across the land, the Sloans, who have been a part of the Benton Harbor community dating back to 1978, have posted on the menu board of their roadside pylon sign, “Closed, Thanks for 35 Good Years.”
They have owned and operated the restaurant at 2487 M-139 across from Carpet Mart since 1985. Five years ago in 2015 they were the first Country Kitchen Restaurant in the nation to convert to the concept called Cafe by Country Kitchen, which as Mary said, “Allowed us to still focus on what we were already great at — breakfast all day — but with a fresh twist.”
At that time the restaurant changed operations to a 7-day a week schedule, from 6am until 2:30pm, discontinuing their dinner service completely. It was a concept that helped keep the restaurant alive and thriving, with positive Trip Advisor reviews keeping them rated at 4.5-stars or higher the entire time they were in business.
The Sloans were very generous to the community over the years, donating pancakes to the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast fundraiser twice a year for many years.
Now, though, the run is over, and if you call the restaurant you get a recorded message that says that they are officially closed for good…headed into retirement. A well-earned rest is in the books for the Sloan family, but one of the hot breakfast spots is now gone from the menu in Michigan’s Great Southwest.
