The Marquette Beef-A-Roo, located at 1090 S. Front St., was sold on Monday. The Iron River and Negaunee locations will remain open until those properties are sold. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

By TRINITY CAREY

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — Beef-A-Roo, the beloved fast food restaurant located at 1090 S. Front St. in Marquette, was closed after being sold on Monday.

After 49 years of business, the Frailing family decided to put the Marquette, Negaunee and Iron River locations on the market, said Cami LaFayette, who owns the business with her three siblings, Kathy Gravel, Ron Frailing and Jill Carriere.

“We just decided we wanted to start the process three years ago because we are all wanting to move on to different careers,” LaFayette said.

Beef-A-Roo has been an iconic stop for locals throughout the years and LaFayette is grateful for the consistent support the community has showed her.

“I enjoyed getting to know people,” LaFayette said. “My customers — I had so many wonderful customers over the years, many wonderful employees that I will miss and they have moved on to better careers. A lot of them were in high school and/or NMU students and this was a stepping stone for them.”

But she and her siblings are most grateful for their parents Don and Nancy Frailing, who made the decision to purchase the restaurant all those years ago. Without them and the restaurant, LaFayette and her siblings would not have had the opportunities they did throughout their lives, she said.

Watching her parents put their heart and soul into making the restaurant successful made Beef-A-Roo such an influential and important aspect of LaFayette’s life, and she hopes it was special to the loyal patrons, too.

She looks back fondly upon her childhood spent alongside her dad every day as he worked in the restaurant.

“I’m so grateful, we’re all so grateful, to our parents Don and Nancy Frailing,” LaFayette said. “To the lives that they have given us and we’re also very thankful to our patrons, especially the loyal patrons. A lot of them I saw six days a week. A big thank you to them; they will be greatly missed on a personal note also, because I have made relationships with so many of them and they will be missed dearly.”

The Iron River and Negaunee locations will remain open until the properties are sold.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.