Mom Ward’s Sub Shop, a Brooklyn Park landmark, was founded more than 60 years ago. But t’s faced tough times recently and nearly had to close. That is, until a Facebook post pleading for customers went viral. An hour later the restaurant was packed.

Business at the shop on Ritchie Highway had been slow because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the renovation of the car wash next door, which often brought in business. Combined with rapidly increasing costs for everything from food to electricity to gas, the restaurant was in trouble.

The owners tried to evolve. They began accepting credit cards for the first time, and also joined DoorDash, but it was not enough.

Nancy Ward, an employee at the shop and daughter of the original owners, made the post last week when she came in for her shift and saw the restaurant was empty.

“I took the picture and said, ‘We need customers, we’re struggling,'” Ward said. “[The post] blew up. … I never dreamed that it would do that, but I’m glad I did it, because we’ve been non-stop since then.”

The restaurant was originally a billiards club before it was purchased by Kay and Dick Ward in 1962. They operated a snack bar inside, which continued to grow as billiards went out of style. Eventually, the snack bar took over the whole club and became Mom Ward’s, named for Kay.

The couple’s daughter, Christine Ward, purchased the business from her parents in 1985, and later passed it on to her daughter-in-law, Wendy Principio in 2008. According to Christine, Principio began working at the store when she was just 14. To this day, Christine still helps out at the restaurant from time to time.

Nancy Ward described the atmosphere of the restaurant as something like the 1980s sitcom “Cheers.”Everybody knows each other, and when regulars move away, they often stop by when they come back to Maryland.

Even with the recent upswing in business, success isn’t guaranteed. The shop still closes around 4 p.m., and though Ward acknowledged that this cuts off the after-work crowd, she said it wasn’t worth it to keep it staffed from afternoon to evening, when the restaurant was often empty.

After going viral, Principio hopes to continue to use social media in the future.

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