A door always open
The 48-seat restaurant was the first for the Millers. With a background in farming and carpentry, the Millers also had spent 10 years as missionaries in Mexico. When they returned to the States, Kathryn Miller continued to raise their five children while Milo Miller was ready to take on a new endeavor with the encouragement of his father-in-law, Emanuel Mullet.
By 1982 the restaurant would be expanded to seat 248. Milo and Kathryn Miller laughed as they recalled the early days at the Amish Door.
“It was hard work, but the customers kept coming,” Milo Miller said. “First they came to eat, then they came to enjoy the entertainment, eventually they wanted a place to spend the night.”
The Millers anticipated the popularity of the rural region as a tourist destination, and in 1992 they built a new two-story facility that would seat more than 400 with a gallery and gift shop located on the upper level. The old restaurant would become a deli, bulk food and gift shop. A few years later a banquet facility was added. To accommodate would-be overnight guests, a 52-room, Victorian-style hotel was constructed and later a banquet center and theater where guests can enjoy Christian entertainment, gospel music concerts, mystery and comedy shows, and dinner theater.
The Amish Door had become a village.
“We thought a lot about what we wanted and how we could best serve our visitors,” Kathryn Miller said. “The only thing we’ve really changed is the bakery, which we made bigger.”
While coffee is no longer 40 cents a cup like it was on the restaurant’s original menu, guests still savor the signature broasted chicken dinner, slow-roasted roast beef, Swiss steak and the ever-popular salad bar. Save room for a delicious piece of pie.
The 40th anniversary includes specials throughout the year including two-pieces of broasted chicken with real mashed potatoes for $6 every Wednesday in March. Other March specials include fry pies from the bakery for $1.77 each, 30 percent off Amish Door jams and jellies every Tuesday and from March 10-20, all candles at the Gallery Gift Shop are buy one get one 40 percent off.
Month after month similar specials will be offered to celebrate 40 years of making memories for guests and the staff who serve them.
“There are guests that come back year after year, and we look forward to seeing them,” Kathryn Miller said. “We’re the place people come to for a quiet getaway — a place that is away from their busy lives.”
Currently the Millers are improving walking trails near the village for guests to enjoy the outdoors under the canopy of mature trees.
Amish Door Village is located at 1210 Winesburg St. in Wilmot. It is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information call 888-264-7436 or visit www.AmishDoor.com. Online ordering for the market is available at www.AmishDoorMarketplace.com. Find Amish Door on Facebook at Amish Door.