Lance Stewart will run day-to-day operations at The Station Subs and Event Center, located at 1020 N. Mian St., Lapel.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
The Station Subs and Event Center offers dine-in and carry-out service.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
The decor at The Stateion Subs and Event Center, largely unchanged since it operated as a restaurant by the previous owner, pays homage to Charlie Teeters, who ran a service station at the site.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
A multiphoto frame shows Charlie Teeters, who used to operate a service station on the property.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
The Station Subs and Event Center offers dine-in and carry-out service.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Noah Bozell serves a customer at The Station on Saturday, Jan. 28, during a two-day soft opening in preparation for the official opening on Friday, Feb. 3. Co-owner Todd Bozell is pictured in the background.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Event business now also home to a new sub restaurant set to open on Friday
LAPEL — Kelly and Rick Champney, residents of Lapel for 26 years, said they like to frequent local restaurants.
In fact, they rotate where they dine among about half a dozen places to ensure they’re supporting all the establishments in town, they said.
“We did that all through the pandemic,” Kelly said. “We were afraid that everyone would have to go under.”
On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Champneys worked the newest place in town — The Station Subs and Event Center — into their rotation, with Kelly ordering a Black Forest Ham sub while Rick had a meatball sub.
“It was wonderful,” Kelly said.
“It was very good,” Rick said. “It was plentiful.”
It was also the first day of a two-day soft opening — or informal dry run — for the sub shop, located at 1020 N. Main St. The restaurant’s official first day of business is Friday, Feb. 3.
“There’s going to be a need for this,” co-owner Noah Bozell said, citing growth in the South Madison County area, including the upcoming 50-home Tuscany development in Lapel. “There’s a need for food.”
Bozell, who also is president of Lapel Town Council, said he’s also confident there will be a demand in town for sub sandwiches in particular, because he and his business partners spoke extensively with residents, and they indicated they wanted a sub shop.
There used to be a Subway in town, but it closed.
The Station name is carried over from a gourmet restaurant once operated in the building by the previous owner, Bozell said. “Subs and Event Center” was added to point to the type of fare served up now: subs, paninis, wraps and salads, with choices of vegetables, cheeses, meats and sauces, along with drinks, desserts and sides.
It’s walk-up service, where orders are placed and paid for at a counter, and then taken as dine-in or carry-out.
There are about a dozen tables in the dining room and an outdoor patio with seating that will be open in nice weather.
Bozell’s business partners in The Station are his dad, Todd Bozell — with whom he already works at Hersberger-Bozell Funeral Home next door — and Lance Stewart, who with fiancée Lena Bobbitt owns and operates The Lapel Bulldog restaurant just down the street.
The Bozells own The Station building, which they have run as an event center for several years. The building will continue to be available to rent, and the set-up allows the restaurant to remain open even while the event space is rented, Noah Bozell said.
Stewart will manage day-to-day operations at The Station, which will be open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Stewart said he joined the Bozells in The Station venture “to be more involved in town.”
The Station sub shop is the culmination of years of discussion, and months of planning and work, Noah Bozell said.
The Bozells bought The Station building (along with the funeral home) in 2019 from Scott Hersberger, who had previously operated a restaurant and catering business in the spot.
The Bozells knew early on that they wanted to open a restaurant in the space, but then the pandemic hit, and that idea was put on hold, Noah Bozell said.
The name of the business and the décor pay homage to Charlie Teeters, who used to run a service station at the location, Todd Bozell said.
There are automotive parts and license plates mounted on the walls in the public areas, gas pumps nozzles that serve as faucets in the restrooms, and a multi-photo picture frame featuring black-and-white photos of Teeters at work at his service station. That service station closed decades ago, the Bozells said.
Kelly Champney said she thinks the new restaurant at The Station “will fill in a niche” with a food option people want.
Husband Rick agreed.
“Variety is good,” he said. “It seemed for years all we had was pizza.”