DANVILLE — It’s often called the best-smelling corner on Illinois 1 in town.
On the northeast side of the intersection with Williams Street sits a Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken; next door is the aroma of pizza at Jocko’s.
The two restaurants have a long history in the community, with several generations of customers.
Owner Steve Diveley and daughter Natalie, vice president of Diveley Development Corp., appreciate how great the community has been to their family and the restaurants.
Jocko’s is named after Steve’s father and Natalie’s grandfather. Lowell “Jocko” Diveley started Jocko’s Drive-In Root Beer Stand in the late 1950s on Georgetown Road, where the southeast loop is to get on Interstate 74.
In 1967, he built Famous Recipe Chicken, and he and wife Shirley bought the old New York Central freight house at Gilbert and Williams streets as its new home.
Steve said his father operated Famous Recipe until 1970. He remembers trips to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where they’d see the hundreds of thousands of geese that would stop there.
“We went to a place called Pizza Inn, and he really liked the pizza,” Steve said. “So he came back, and long story short, he contacted the company and built Pizza Inn” in 1972.
“We were Pizza Inn for 20-some years, probably,” he said. “We weren’t really a Pizza Inn. We were kind of his version of it.”
While they used probably 20 percent of the chain’s products, Steve said, their restaurant didn’t have the customary buffet. And when it came to appetizers, sandwiches and pastas, Jocko found his own recipes from places he visited. The family got out of the franchise in the 1990s.
“It was just a flawless transition,” Steve said. “It went from Pizza Inn, we changed the sign, (and) Jocko’s was a natural name because everyone called it Jocko’s to begin with.”
Jocko died in 2010, while Shirley passed in 2014.
Steve is the owner of Diveley Development Corp., which owns the restaurants and is also involved in other real estate and some rentals. His sisters also have stakes in the business.
Natalie works in the office and has taken over Jocko’s. She helps out during lunch rush every weekday and makes sure things run smoothly.
Lee’s has about 30 employees. General Manager Stacey Gooch has been there about 40 years.
Jocko’s has about 80 full- and part-time employees. It has also had a lot of long-serving employees, some with tenures of 10, 20 and 30 years.
“They’ve been amazing,” Natalie said, adding that the employees are like family. “We’re very close.”
Steve said they hope the newer employees, including some high school students, learn from the example of the experienced employees.
Thirty-year employee Beth Haurez said the Diveleys are the reason she’s stayed so long.
“They’ve been great to us,” she said, adding that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, they took care of their employees.
She said she worked for Jocko when she first started and he was just as great.
Haurez said the job also has been convenient for her and her kids, as she doesn’t have to miss any of their sports activities. She said some people can’t believe she’s worked at Jocko’s all these years, but she’ll never regret it.
She said she loves seeing generations of families come in. With some customers, it seems like she had just seen them pregnant, and their kids are driving.
Sheryl Johnson, who was getting the soup and salad bar ready for lunch recently, said she’d been working there for 13 years. She most enjoys her fellow employees and the customers. She also said everyone is like family.
Regular remodels
The properties have changed some during the years but continue to highlight the history of trains at that corner.
Steve said they try to do a complete remodel about every 10 years. Lee’s last saw an update about five years ago; it had a complete exterior face-lift and a little bit done in the lobby with tile and wall coverings. A digital reader board was installed a few years ago.
Jocko’s has railroad signs throughout and two model trains can be activated by putting a quarter in a machine. They travel on a track that runs above customers’ heads along the perimeter of the main dining area.
Steve said the idea for the trains came when he saw them operating at another place — possibly Galena, where his mom was from — and thought it’d be cool to put them in at Jocko’s.
They didn’t want them to run the the entire 12 hours a day the restaurant was open, so they installed the quarter machine so kids could send them on a journey whenever they wanted.
Natalie said it’s very popular, with kids running up to activate the trains, which run in opposite directions. She said the heartwarming part is seeing generations of families enjoy it.
The main dining area was the original Pizza Inn, with the back area added on around 1980.
“We’ve done a lot of remodels and changes as the time goes on,” Steve said.
That included a couple windows, and the model trains were added about 15-20 years ago. They also changed out the booths, carpets and color scheme, as well as the servers’ station.
“We’ve been through a couple salad bars, which is our number-one selling item,” Steve said.
They revamped the salad bar area about five years ago, and the restaurant sees continuous basic upkeep.
Gathering place
The back rooms constantly see use for parties and reunions.
In addition to the salad bar, Jocko’s special pizza is popular.
The restaurant has some unique variations, with managers coming up with a pizza of the month, including one to celebrate Thanksgiving, and dessert pizzas, such as a s’mores pizza.
“You run out of ideas on pizzas, so you just get creative and look in trade magazines,” Steve said.
Recipes Jocko found at various places are still being used today, such as for the spaghetti sauce and lasagna. The pizza dough is made fresh daily.
They accept catering orders for both restaurants. Weddings and some events will request chicken and lasagna or spaghetti and pizza.
One of the challenges through the history of the restaurants was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve said.
Lee’s stayed open because it was carry-out, but “it was crazy,” Steve said. Jocko’s instituted curbside and carry-out to keep some people working, but Steve said they were losing quite of bit of money every month.
A couple weeks before Christmas 2020, the state ordered them to close or face a fine, and they refused and were fined through the state liquor commission, Steve said.
As for the future, Steve said of his three daughters, Natalie has expressed interest in keeping the family businesses going.
“As long as she has an interest, we’ll keep it going,” Steve said.
Natalie said it’s important to her to continue the restaurants in the community.
Steve said there are a lot of restaurants in Danville, and “we’re just lucky that we’re one of” people’s favorites.
“The little mom-and-pop restaurants are a thing of the past,” he said. “It’s kind of cool to keep that going.”
“Not only the employees become family, so do the customers,” Natalie said.
She said customers celebrate employees’ birthdays and exchange cards.
“Everybody gets really close,” she added.
Danville proud
The Diveleys said Danville has been very good to the family. Steve said the city is different than when he was growing up, but it’s been an amazing place for an independent restaurant.
“I don’t know if we could do this in another city,” he said. “It’s just been a really, really good town for us. We’re really fortunate. My dad had a vision, and we’re doing our best to carry it on.”
Natalie added that Danville is home, and she’s lucky to have met so many wonderful people.
The restaurants remain successful; one sign of this is recent expansions of the parking areas.
“We just got a tremendous crew in here and they share our vision of serving the best food we can,” Steve said. “And taking care of our customers has always been number one on our list, and they do that so well.
“Danville’s been really good to us, and we’re fortunate to be here,” he said.
