North Augusta Today

Mary Lou Grimaud has a few memories of the SNO-CAP Drive-In.

One that stands out is how hard her parents, Grant and Virginia Hoyer, worked to build the restaurant that they first began Aiken.

"They stayed there round the clock, basically," Grimaud said.

Grimaud said she remembers when her father first managed an A&W Root Beer stand in Kansas, around 1960 when she was child.

About the same time, he saw an ad in the newspaper that a SNO-CAP Drive-In root beer stand in Aiken was for sale.

"He decided he wanted to move to Aiken and run that one," Grimaud said.

SNO-CAP was a limited franchise that began in Hoyer's home state of Wisconsin. It had possibly six restaurants in operation in several states. In 1964, Hoyer built the drive-in on the corner of West and Jackson avenues, where it has operated continually ever since. Then he moved his family to North Augusta.

"He was looking for a town that had growth potential like Aiken did," said Glen Hoyer, Grimaud's brother.

North Augusta had sit-down restaurants, "but no drive-ins that were all the rage at that time," he said.

The original franchise had a logo that included two mountain peaks with snow on them. The restaurant took it's name from those snow caps.

Many people around North Augusta assumed the name came from his father's snowy locks, Glen said. Hoyer returned from World War II, where he participated in D-Day, with stark white hair.

"A lot of people thought (the restaurant's name) was because my dad had snow white hair," Glen said. "It's not."

In 1968, Hoyer sold the Aiken restaurant and moved his family to North Augusta. His children were either too young or had no interest in managing the Aiken location, and it was too far away for him to manage himself.

"He was an extremely detailed person," Glen said.

Each evening, Glen said, Hoyer would clean up the restaurant because he didn't trust anyone else to do it. He would sweep and mop the floors himself, and once a month he stripped the wax off the floors. He prided himself on the A restaurant rating he consistently maintained.

"He was just incredibly particular about how things were," Glen said.

The SNO-CAP became a favorite North Augusta hangout in the day of the hot-rod, Glen said. Teenagers would drive their cars through the parking lot to check out other cars or to see who was hanging out.

Glen, who spent enough time at the restaurant, said he didn't care to "Lap the Cap" with his high school buddies.

When he was there, he helped his dad make the root beer, which was a more complicated process than it is today.

It came in concentrated form and was mixed in a vat with sugar and water at the restaurant. Hoyer made the mixture in 75-gallon batches about once a week.

Grimaud said she didn't get to help with the root beer making because her father was the only one who knew the recipe. But Glen remembers that it took about an hour to stir the concoction because it had to be thoroughly mixed before it was carbonated and chilled.

Root beer and atmosphere aside, the restaurant became notable for its cole slaw. It was sold by the gallon and half-gallon, and many customers enjoyed it on their hot dogs, Grimaud said.

"Daddy made a real good cole slaw," she said. "Everybody just loved it."

In 1972, Hoyer sold the restaurant to Charles Terry, who operated it until Rachel and Kenny Franklin bought it in 1996. It is now owned by Joe Montalvo, who bought it from the Franklins in August.

Hoyer semi-retired and went to work as a security guard for a department store in Augusta.

"He had had all the fun he wanted," Glen said.

Reach Lisa Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.