Grab a Burger, Then Buy a Car

Cari and Jim Perkins eat at Mustang Sally's Diner in Henderson three or four times a week, in large part simply because they feel comfortable there.

"It has a real down-home feeling" Cari said.

"They treat us like family," her husband added. "We know everybody in here."

The "everybody knows your name" appeal of some diners is an age-old part of American culture. What's different about Mustang Sally's is that it's in the sort of place most of us avoid until absolutely necessary: a car dealership.

Restaurants have long added to the amenities in department stores. While the practice has faded with the rise of the mall food court, Neiman Marcus' Las Vegas store has two restaurants and Nordstrom has one; both are in the Fashion Show mall. But plenty of eat-where-you-shop convenience also exists in businesses such as a car dealership, electronics store or antiques mall.

The traditional "I'd-rather-have-a-root-canal" relationship with would-be customers was something that Ford Country owner Gary Ackerman was trying to mend when he opened Mustang Sally's with his dealership at 280 N. Gibson Road in the Valley Auto Mall 12 years ago.

Ackerman said he wasn't initially committed to the idea of a diner; he just wanted to "address all the things about shopping for a car that our customers don't like." That included moving oil changes to the driveway so that customers could watch, because insurance regulations bar them from the mechanics' shop floor, and an observation balcony in the service department for the same reason.

And the ideas soon included a restaurant, where they could take a break. Ackerman acknowledged that buying a vehicle is a "long, frightening process" for most people. Sometimes, he said, customers just want to step back and think about what they're doing. The problem is that the idea of them leaving the dealership while they do that thinking can have an equally frightening effect on the salesman, resulting, Ackerman said, in "two terrified people."

The diner, he said, provides a nonthreatening place for consumers to relax. If a customer seems to be hesitating, the sales staff is trained to suggest lunch on the dealership.

"People's mouths fall open," Ackerman said.

It was just such an encounter that brought the Perkinses into the diner for the first time several years ago. They've bought four vehicles from the dealership since then. And now they stop in regularly for meals, sometimes bringing their four children. Mustang Sally's -- which looks like a regular, full-fledged diner -- serves breakfast, lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays, including egg platters, pancakes, soups, sandwiches, appetizers, burgers, entrees, malts, desserts and other items.

The restaurant at Walker Furniture at 301 S. Martin Luther King Blvd. is smaller in scope but almost as ambitious, serving cold and hot sandwiches, wraps, soups, salads, breakfast items, coffee drinks, smoothies, juices and soft drinks from 9 a.m. to about 7 p.m. While Mustang Sally's staff members are Ford Country employees, Randy and Deanne Peck have been leasing their spot at Walker Furniture for four years.

The couple had a cafe in an office building owned by Walker owners the Alterwitz family, Deanne Peck said, and when the furniture complex was being expanded, Larry Alterwitz asked them if they'd like to have a similar operation there.

According to director of marketing Patti Gerace, Alterwitz's motivation was similar to Ackerman's.

"When they're making a decision, it's kind of nice to sit down and talk about it," she said of customers. The cafe and nearby fountain also give customers' antsy kids something to occupy them.

"It keeps them here a little longer," she said. "We try to keep our customers here."

Employees, too -- at least sometimes. While customers fill the cafe on weekends, most of the cafe diners during the week are employees, Peck said.

"If we can't get out to lunch, it really helps the employees, too," Gerace said.

Last week, Bonnie Lowe, an employee of Walker division Custom Office Furniture, stopped in for a break. Lowe said she frequents the cafe about three times a week, both because of convenience and the quality of the food.

And the comfort factor, of course.

"I walk up and it's like, 'Good morning, sunshine,' " Lowe said. "That's what you want to hear."

Mustang Sally's also is a draw for employees of Ford Country, surrounding dealerships and other local businesses. Debbie Biscardi, who's Ackerman's assistant, and accounting-office employees Oma Anderson and Deanie Isenhour eat lunch there an average of three times a week. The reason, Biscardi said, is threefold: convenience, good food and the family atmosphere.

"They treat us really well," Anderson said.

"And if you go hungry here," Isenhour said, "it's your fault."

Employees sometimes stop by the coffee bar at Fletcher Jones Imports on Sahara Avenue, said business-development manager Krista Alshouse, although coffee service is provided for them in another part of the dealership.

Mainly, she said, "it's an amenity for our customers." Starbucks coffee is free and upgraded coffee drinks and muffins and similar foods are available "for people who are in a hurry or on the go."

A few, she said, stop in even when their vehicles don't need to.

"It's very convenient," Alshouse said, "to just pull in, jump out, grab a cup of coffee and head out."

Ackerman acknowledged that Mustang Sally's is not a moneymaker, at least on paper.

"It's a huge investment," he said. "Frankly, it's a loser."

On the other hand: "It's the best advertising investment I've ever made."

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0474.