Babes Country Kitchen Unveils Stunning New Renovation

Babes Country Kitchen is open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. They are located at 174 E Main St. in Harrison. Follow them on Facebook at Babes Country Kitchen.

Babe's Country Kitchen

174 W. Main St
Harrison, MI 48625

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

Babes Country Kitchen officially opened on Saturday, June 20 in a surprise soft opening. They passed inspections just days before and decided to open ahead of their Friday, June 26 ribbon-cutting and grand opening.

The opening was highly anticipated, and the word spread very quickly. By the afternoon and the next day, a line was formed outside to dine at Babes. On Sunday, they had to close early at 2 p.m. as they were running out of stock.

A few things are the same at the newly renovated Babes; homey feel, great food at reasonable prices, and most importantly Shannon Ridge. Ridge worked at the restaurant on Main Street since she was 15 years old and has worked for three owners including the original Babe, Verna “Babe” Thornsberry, and her husband Claude.

Ridge has memories of sleeping behind the waitress station when the restaurant closed at 4 a.m. and reopened at 7 a.m. Not only did Ridge work at Babe’s all of her life, but many significant events also took place at the restaurant for her and her family, including Christmases without power at home, weddings and baby showers. She raised three children as a single mother while working at the restaurant.

“I came here when I was 15 and I started out doing dishes,” Ridge said. “And then I went to cook and then I went to waitress and then I did it all. This has been my love. This has been my life.”

Babes Country Kitchen shut down in March of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened. Ridge found employment at the Airport Restaurant in Harrison and was grateful to be there for the last five years.

Babes Country Kitchen sat for sale until Ridge’s son Nate Shelton and daughter-in-law Amanda convinced Ridge that her dream of owning the restaurant was a project they could tackle together. The restaurant is also a special place for them. Nate was practically raised there, and they were married there in 2015.

The Sheltons moved from Grand Rapids back home to Harrison to begin work on a recently purchased future home which they dubbed “The Auction House.” They have been living in a camper with their two school-aged boys while working on both the house and the restaurant.

The Sheltons also have a large social media presence on multiple platforms as amandaandnatediy. Nate is a licensed contractor and together they fearlessly run Shelton and Sons Construction LLC. They document everyday life with a family as they work on renovation and construction projects large and small. They have over 226,000 followers on Facebook, almost 8,000 on YouTube, over 100,000 on TikTok, and 156,000 on Instagram. Local residents and those viewing from across the country and around the world followed along as they documented the work on Babes on Main Street in Harrison.

While the Sheltons didn’t necessarily have restaurant entrepreneurship in their life plan, they consider this a happy detour.

“From the day Amanda and I said, ‘Hey let’s explore this as an opportunity’ and got my mother on board…from that day we talked about it with her, she was all hands on deck immediately,” Nate said. “There was no holding back.”

Ridge didn’t know how to do the construction part, but she painted, cleaned, and did anything else that needed done. She also painted a flowered mural on the east side of the building.

“This is something that we want for Harrison,” Nate said. “We want nice things and we want to give back to the community. Let’s take this restaurant where we have a lot of history; my mother has more. Let’s take this and give back to the community.”

“None of us could do this without each other.” said Amanda Shelton. “Between managing businesses, social media, and the rehab part of it for him and I. We aren’t restauranters but this is her big dream, and we can pick it up along the way.”

“She [Shannon] is the reason we did this,” Nate said. “My mother, a single mother, she put everything she had into raising my sisters and I. We try to do the same. She still takes care of us. We wanted to give back to her. She was the big driving factor behind this. And besides, we can eat lunch here every day.”

“We love her a lot.” Amanda said.

The most challenging part of the renovation was keeping the cove-shaped ceiling. The building is made of Portland Cement and plaster, and it was very heavy and hard to work with according to the Sheltons. They learned a lot along the way as they completed the work.

The entire family considers the restaurant their second home and wants their customers to feel the same way.  

Menu favorites from the original Babes menu were kept, like biscuits and gravy and the Boss Hog (Ham, Bacon, American Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato and Mayo on a Sub Bun). Ridge promises the real magic will be in the daily specials which they plan to be very out of the ordinary. Ridge is also incorporating a family specialty: her father’s hushpuppies which she deems “out of this world.”

“We tried to keep a well-rounded menu without the menu being too crowded,” Nate said.

Not only is breakfast served all day, but their entire menu is also available throughout the day. They welcome those working second and third shifts and wanted to cater to them.

The part Ridge is most looking forward to is welcoming back customers. Welcome back, Babe.

Babes Country Kitchen is open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. They are located at 174 E Main St. in Harrison. Follow them on Facebook at Babes Country Kitchen.