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Drifter’s restaurant has become a family affair

Jordan Beck | Daily Press From left, Drifter’s Family Restaurant co-owner Liza Plourde chats with customers Paula Wright, Judy Kwarciany and Linda Jerick while Heather Schram, the restaurant’s other co-owner, pours coffee.

Editor’s note: The Daily Press features a profile of an area business each week. This week’s featured business is Drifter’s Family Restaurant in Escanaba.

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By Jordan Beck

jbeck@dailypress.net

ESCANABA — For decades, Drifter’s Family Restaurant has served up many different dishes to Escanaba residents and visitors alike. Co-owners Heather Schram and Liza Plourde bought the restaurant in 2013.

According to Schram, the restaurant originally opened in May 1977. Plourde’s family got involved with it a few decades later.

“My family owned it, and they bought it in 1992,” Plourde said.

Schram said she and Plourde had known each other for many years before they went into business together.

“We had been friends since second grade,” she said.

Schram began working at Drifter’s when she was a teenager. She said Plourde’s father Wesley Peterson “offered” her a job at the restaurant.

“I was 18, and her dad called me and said I had to come to work that night … I didn’t even apply for the job,” she said.

Schram has been working at Drifter’s ever since. She noted she and Plourde have gotten their children involved with the business, as well.

“Now all of our kids work here,” she said.

Drifter’s has a wide variety of options for its patrons to choose from, Plourde said.

“We just have a large menu,” she said.

Some of the restaurant’s most popular items are its pancakes, hash browns, skillets and omelets.

“Breakfast is what we’re known for,” Plourde said.

Well-liked lunch and dinner items at Drifter’s include wraps, burgers and six-layer meatloaf.

Recently, Schram said Drifter’s received new windows and siding as part of an exterior remodeling project.

“That was something we wanted to do,” she said.

In the future, Plourde said she is hoping to remodel the restaurant’s interior.

“That would probably be our next project … giving the dining room a new look,” she said.

Aside from this, Plourde said she plans to continue offering the dishes and service Drifter’s is known for.

To learn more about Drifter’s, find the business on Facebook at “Drifter’s Restaurant.”

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