HAMPDEN, N.L. - Lorraine Cave says she is always prepared.
That approach to her 26 years of cooking grub at White Bay Convenience was put to the test last Saturday night when the highway diner was flooded with unexpected customers.
Cave and Sharon Beaupre were the only two staff working at the convenience store and restaurant located on the Trans-Canada Highway at Hampden Junction when the road just to the west had to be shut down because of a washout.
For the next three hours, Cave has no idea how many meals she cooked. All she knows is it was non-stop as stranded travellers began coming in looking for a bite to eat.
The crowds included a hockey team on a road trip for a tournament.
She did all the meal preparation, cooking and serving, while Beaupre handled the duties on the cash.
“I just kept telling people we could serve them, but they might have to wait a while,” said Cave. “People understood and didn’t mind waiting.”
While she couldn’t put a number on how many people they served, Cave knows one thing: she never ran out of food and was able to cook up whatever anyone selected from the menu.
“Not once did I have to tell someone we didn’t have something,” she said proudly.
At one point, the two women got some help from a customer, Lorraine Boland Patey, who had asked if she could help and began washing dishes.
“We were grateful to have her help us because it would have been hard to keep the clean dishes coming,” said Cave.
The restaurant’s owners eventually came and helped out too after hearing what was happening.
Cave said she never looked at the clock to see what time the road opened back up, but said they had the restaurant all cleaned up for closing by around 10:30 p.m.
The restaurant normally closes at 8 p.m.
Her preparation wasn’t just limited to having enough supplies and cooking skills to feed the multitudes. She said her and Beaupre had committed earlier in the evening to being prepared to stay open and cook all night long if people needed them to.
“The way I look at it is, if my family was ever in this sort of situation, I would hope somebody would be there to help them out,” she said.
