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Family is meant for everyone at Copan Truck Stop & Restaurant.

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Copan Truck Stop & Restaurant – owned by John Chaney and his late wife Donna – has been serving up smiles and classic foods since 1993.

The family business will be celebrating 30 years on Saturday, April 15. The Cheney’s 25-year-old granddaughter, Morgan Woody, has been the manager for half a decade.

Woody runs the restaurant just as her grandmother would want. Woody says her style may not be as forward as her grandmother’s way of bringing joy to people was, but she does her best to make everyone happy anyway.

Pictured left: Woody shares childhood stories in the famous kitchen that made those tales possible. She vividly remembered the time she wore a hat with "Boss" embroidered on the front when she was four-years-old and told the cook to make her a corn dog or she'd have them fired.

Woody says being a manager had always been on the back of her mind after she graduated from Copan High School in 2016. Woody says she returned home from college to help manage the restaurant. She says her grandma Donna – who went through five back surgeries – trained her until she passed away suddenly in 2019, cutting their instruction time short.

Approximately 40 people work at Copan Truck Stop & Restaurant. Woody says they've all helped her manage the business these past five years, all while she worked toward getting her degree from Southwestern University out of Weatherford. She says she has an incredible staff.

Margaret Medlen is one of those hard working individuals that have poured their heart out for others at Copan Restaurant for 23 years. Recently dubbed “Pie Princess” by B Monthly Magazine, Medlen has baked roughly 1,000 pies since the start of the 2023. Medlen cooked up 305 pies during one not-so-distant Thanksgiving Day. Contributing to Medlen’s hard work are a couple cooks who have been worked for the family business for over 15 years each. There is an individual that has worked there for 25 year, too.

Jaden Burch, Woody's cousin, has served as a waitress at Copan Restaurant for a little over five years. Burch says it is nice coming to work where everyone knows who you are. She says she wouldn't want to do anything else, especially if she gets to bother her cousin for as long as she can.

Pictured right: Burch surveys the restaurant through the pie display near the register. She says the job can be stressful at times when guests from afar visit and don't realize they might have to wait for their food for quite some time. However, being a part of the family history at Copan Restaurant is rewarding to Burch.

Copan Truck Stop & Restaurant was built by Bob Chaney (John Chaney's brother) in 1988. Woody says the restaurant her uncle built really started out as just a truck stop. That was until her grandma Donna helped make it a family restaurant, too. On top of running a restaurant and a "no pay at the pump" gas station, the Chaney's own a cattle operation with 600 head of pure bred Angus cattle.

Business has been booming ever since. They've had customers from California clear to the Carolina's. Woody says they've even hosted guests from Oregon that stay at Copan Lake on occasion. She says their patrons from Tulsa to Wichita frequent the restaurant, too.

Then there are those that live next door in communities such as Bartlesville, Copan, and Dewey in Oklahoma, or Caney and Independence in Kansas. Hans and Darlene Chew of Dewey have eaten at Copan Restaurant for many years. Hans says the food is great and the servers are out of this world. Darlene says they love the family atmosphere and the food. She says she can't make food at home like they do at Copan Restaurant.

There are events in the area that keep the team at Copan Restaurant on their toes. The 100 Mile Garage Sale comes to mind, as people from all over Kansas and Oklahoma come to see them. Woody says they work from dawn to dusk during this annual sale in September. She says they are always welcome to see smiling faces work through their doors.

They were even busier during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Woody says they retained a full staff during the global lockdown because they were receiving so many order. She says one group got so restless at home that they drove up to Copan Restaurant with a flat-bed trailer with two picnic tables on the back. 10 to 15 people were served that day (the waitress wearing a mask, of course).They were just happy to serve other in-person again, no matter how unconventional the method.

Nothing can beat being inside a longstanding establishment like Copan Restaurant, whether it be for the first time or the hundredth. Woody says the "Liar's Table" at the front of the joint has it's normal morning crew spouting the occasional raunchy story or a slew of political statements. In contrast, Woody says the restaurant can be quiet sometimes as one or two individuals dine alone. She says one thing is certain though: they hope the next 30 years are just as productive as the last.

Copan Restaurant is offering a 15-percent discount on all orders on Saturday, April 15, to celebrate 30 years of service with their loyal customers and friends.