LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — It's been a year-and-a-half since a fire ripped through a popular Lancaster County restaurant.
Hershey Farm Resort in Strasburg Township is just days away from reopening its doors to the public.
“When do you have a chance, with all the years of experience that we do, to start over?” said Deryl Stoltzfus, owner and partner of Hershey Farm Resort, formerly known as Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn.
On Friday, July 26, the public will be welcomed back to the new Hershey Farm Resort.
“It’s been a year and a half journey," said Stoltzfus. "We’ve had a lot of great partners along the way, I think a lot of our staff are super excited.”
FOX43 got a sneak peek on Wednesday, as final touches were being made before the grand reopening.
It comes 18 months after a fire destroyed the resort's restaurant in January of 2023.
“All of the contractors and subcontractors who worked on it, our employees that were here throughout, I think we’ve felt the support of the community the entire time," said Stoltzfus.
The owners made lemonade out of lemons, completely reimagining the smorgasbord buffet.
“There’s no real start or stop point," said Stoltzfus. "It’s really so people can kind of meander and get the food where they want so there’s no real lines.”
A large streetscape lobby now connects the restaurant with the rest of the hotel.
“We know often times there’s a lot of people coming in [to the lobby] at one time and we wanted to disperse that so it didn’t feel like everyone was on top of each other," Stoltzfus explained.
The other side is where the hotel rooms are, along with a new banquet room and a new café
“If you look at our logo, it has the phoenix on top," said Stoltzfus, explaining the name of the café. "That came from the fire being in 2023, and from that fire, out of the ashes, came Café 23 because we didn't have a café before."
It's a symbolic message for a family that is more than ready for a fresh start.
“Frankly, we can’t wait just to have everyone experience what the new Hershey Farm Resort is," said Stoltzfus.
The restaurant and café are both open to the public. The buffet restaurant will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and on Sundays for brunch.
The café will be open seven days a week. Operating hours can be found on the Hershey Farm Resort website.
Hershey Farm also has future plans to expand the hotel by adding more guest rooms and an indoor pool. Stoltzfus hopes to get that project underway in 2025.