Retro Diner in Muncie featured in 'Restaurant Impossible' episode

MUNCIE, Ind. —The hours were brutal, the pay, dismal, and the stress was killing her so, Melissa Buckler quit her job as general manager of Retro Diner on Muncie’s south side.

Two years later, after a phone call from her mother, she found herself back in the 50s-style eatery.

“It was one of those things… when you know mom is really asking you to do something you do it no matter what.” Buckler said.

But what her mother, part-owner of the diner Rita Watkins was asking Buckler to do, was truly daunting.

“It was all about damage control when I came back,” Buckler said. “There were times I told mom I wasn’t sure if we’d make it through the month.”

Before Restaurant Impossible filming, Retro Diner pulls in family

During her two-year hiatus, Retro Diner had suffered significant theft and, burdened by what Buckler described as a toxic staff, had lost many of its regular customers.

To restore the business, she replaced former employees with people she knew she could trust - her family. In its seventh year of operation, Buckler’s husband, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, mom and dad have all worked at the diner.

“We have a good crew now,” Buckler said. “But it’s a slow process restoring faith with the customers we had before.”

With the entire family’s financial stability on the line, Buckler said the margin for error was razor thin.

“I’ve seen restaurants close over two bad months,” Buckler said. “I just kept hoping as long as nothing drastic happens we would still be here.”

And there, with Buckler clinging precariously to hope for her family’s future, the impossible happened.

Restaurant Impossible, to be precise.

48 hours to revitalize a Muncie restaurant

Retro Diner was chosen, out of thousands of applicants, to be featured on the popular Food Network reality tv series. The show chronicles celebrity chef, talk show host and fitness guru Robert Irvine as he travels the country, revitalizing struggling restaurants in 48 hours with a budget of $10,000.

The diner’s episode, titled “A Daughter Finds Her Groove" airs this Saturday on the Food Network at 9 p.m.

In addition to one-on-one coaching from Irvine on cooking, customer service and marketing, featured restaurants receive a complete makeover from celebrity interior designer Taniya Nayak.

The two-day shooting process for Retro Diner started on July 23 when camera crews transformed the Madison Street restaurant’s parking lot into a closed film set. A call out for local volunteers was issued by the show’s producers prior to the arrival of Restaurant Impossible’s crew.

The Muncie-based episode will be the 173rd for the series and the fifteenth season’s finale.

Jordan Kartholl is a photojournalist at The Star Press. Contact him at 317-217-8681, jkartholl@muncie.gannett.com or @kartholl

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Restaurant Impossible: Retro Diner replaced 'toxic' staff with family