Tiffany and Tricia Dreher walked through the doors of Central Lunch on Wednesday morning not as employees, but as owners. The sisters mark the third generation of their family to run a restaurant their grandmother has helmed for 58 years.

“The day went great, better than we expected. It was an incredible feeling walking in knowing that we’re taking this over after 58 years,” Tricia said.

With 10 to 14 stool seats clustered around a single bar counter, Central Lunch serves classic diner breakfast and lunch fare such as fresh home fries, thick-cut bacon, omelets, burgers and more.

The sisters are taking over from their grandmother, Geraldine Jones-Hough, who purchased the restaurant after leasing it for a trial year from the previous owner, Robert Leffler, who had accepted another job. Leffler urged Jones-Hough to buy the business despite her initial reluctance.

“He actually worked to convince her to take it — she didn’t want it initially because she was nervous what would happen if it didn’t work out,” Tricia said. “She leased it for one year, which I just read in an old newspaper. And then after that year, she took it, and that’s when it landed.”

Their mother, Marie Kresge, also worked in the restaurant from a very young age, continuing the family tradition.

Central Lunch has roots that stretch back well before the family’s ownership. The building, located near the old canal and railroad in Weissport, dates to around 1850. By at least 1918, it was already a gathering spot for local workers.

“The steel company workers would stop here before they headed to work, and all the mill ladies would order sandwiches,” Tricia said. “They always called it the Lunch Room.”

The restaurant is open Monday through Friday, 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Saturday, 5:30 a.m. to noon. Beginning this week, the restaurant is open Wednesdays; a change the sisters made on their first day.

The Drehrers plan to keep the menu focused on simple, homemade food while making cosmetic updates to the space over time.

“We want to redo the walls, make it more modern, fix the floor and things like that,” Tiffany said. “We’ll put our touch on it but still keep it true to our grandmother and who she is.”

Tiffany said local suppliers will remain a cornerstone of the operation. Thomson’s Meat Market and Heisler’s Egg Farm are among the vendors they plan to continue working with.

Jones-Hough was present on opening day to see her granddaughters take the reins. “Wonderful,” she said when asked what it meant to watch them step into ownership. “It means a lot.”

Tricia and Tiffany’s mother, Marie, began working at Central Lunch at age 13, and described the restaurant as central to family life growing up.

“My mom and dad were here from morning till midnight every day — with Bethlehem Steel, the railroad, the zinc company, this was like the meeting spot,” she said. “My dad was here early, then my mom and her friend came and worked during the day. I’m so proud of the girls for taking it over. It’s emotional.”

For both sisters, childhood memories of the restaurant are woven into their earliest recollections. Growing up, they were free to roam behind the counter, bring friends in and treat it like a second home.

Longtime customers also say the restaurant feels like a home.

“So many people say it’s like being in their grandmother’s kitchen,” Tricia said.

That loyalty now spans generations of diners. Cyclists stop in for breakfast before heading out on trail rides. Families who came in decades ago now bring their children, and those children are bringing their own. First-time visitors, the sisters say, sometimes feel intimidated walking in — until they don’t.

“Other people always say, even when they came in for the first time, they were a little scared,” Tiffany said. “You just sit down next to other people you don’t know, and then right away you’re a regular.”

Despite talking about taking over the Central Lunch for a few years, the weight of Wednesday was not lost on the sisters.

“It felt real today,” Tiffany said.