T-R PHOTO BY NICK BAUR — Shane, left, and Carrie, right, Merry inside their newly opened breakfast eatery The Sloppy Egg Cafe at 520 N. Adams St. in Wellsburg.

WELLSBURG — It was a family affair this past week as brother-sister pair Shane and Carrie Merry celebrated the grand opening of their new breakfast eatery in Wellsburg, The Sloppy Egg Cafe.

The breakfast cafe is located in downtown Wellsburg at 520 N Adams St., occupying the former space of previously closed Town House restaurant.

The idea and namesake for the establishment came from a compromise between the two siblings.

“We started talking. I said I have this idea for a food truck, it’s called the Sloppy Egg and it’s bright purple with an egg on it,” Carrie Merry said, mentioning how she wanted to sell her famous sloppy egg sandwiches in the truck. “Then he’s like, ‘But I want a restaurant.’ So we kind of did our own thing, and then this popped up.”

Since officially acquiring the building back in October, the two have been hard at work cleaning, renovating, and altering the interior of the restaurant in preparation for this past week’s grand opening.

The menu boasts homemade novelties like stuffed pancakes and waffles, classics like french toast and cinnamon puffs, and naturally, sloppy egg sandwiches.

So far, as Shane Merry says, local patrons have been responding positively to the new establishment in its opening week, with one restaurant goer even leaving a $200 tip for the duo.

“They’ve been amazing. They’ve been absolutely great support,” Shane Merry said about the local community. “Huge support from everyone. Everyone is just like, they don’t want us to go.”

Having lived in the Wellsburg area for more than a decade, Shane Merry was excited to bring a restaurant to the place he has called home for the past several years.

“I think the community has been thriving [and] begging for a restaurant,” he said. “The food will speak for itself and the people are happy with it. There’s enough small towns around here to sustain it. So we’ve just got to do it right.”

As for working together everyday, Carrie and Shane Merry both laughed and indicated that no matter how much they may bicker or fight, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s never gonna be easy, who you’re working with,” Carrie Merry said. “You start a new business and you have our passion, our emotions, and this dream is real. So we’re very passionate about it.”

Carry Merry noted that she doesn’t have to walk on eggshells or beat around the bush with her brother, to which he agreed, saying, “I’d rather work with my sister than a random stranger.”

This comfortable family mood is something the two are hoping to cultivate and build upon as they continue down the road of restaurant ownership together.

“We want you to come in and feel the family atmosphere of it and the homemade recipes that we’ve been making since we were kids,” Carrie Merry said. “Give everybody that little taste of some of our ideas that we’re growing from too.”

The Sloppy Egg Cafe serves breakfast from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday with to-go orders or in house dining available. The breakfast cafe will also be expanding to pop-up dinner and lunch specials in the future. For more information and up to date specials, see their Facebook page.

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Contact Nick Baur at 641-753-6611 or nbaur@timesrepublican.com.