By David Eck
Enquirer contributor

Manager Gina Courtney's son Alex, 11, looks at a fire-damaged cash register Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of the Sunshine Family Restaurant in Middletown. The Enquirer/GLENN HARTONG

MIDDLETOWN - Sometimes a restaurant becomes more than a business.

For some, it becomes a second home, and customers and employees grow into a family. That was the Sunshine Cafe.

And that's why Lee Thacker of Middletown rushed to the restaurant Thursday morning when she heard that the place she had visited several times a week for nearly 30 years had been destroyed by a fire. She wanted to be with her friends - her second family.

"This place has so many memories," said Thacker. "It was a place you could come and they treated you just like you were family. You weren't just a customer."

Firefighters were called to the popular Middletown landmark at 640 N. University Blvd. about 1:40 a.m. Thursday. They found smoke and fire coming from the building, fire officials said. Two employees were in the restaurant when the fire broke out, and they got out safely. There were no injuries.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but officials think it started in a fryer, Middletown Fire Marshal Steve Ludwig said. The fire is not considered suspicious. The damage estimate is $500,000.

As fire investigators combed through the rubble, Thacker tightly hugged Gina Courtney, the restaurant's general manager. Courtney started working there as a hostess before she was old enough to drive.

"This has been the only job I've had," said Courtney. "I put my life into this place. It was really hard watching it burn."

Throughout the morning, customers and employees drifted into the restaurant's parking lot.

"We're really close with each other," Courtney said. "We have some people who would come in two or three times a day, every day. We all depend on this place."

Kenny Cooper, who owns the business but not the property, said he would like to rebuild on the same spot.

Firefighters emerged with mementos. A sign. A menu, wet but otherwise undamaged.

Courtney's young sons, holding their mom's hands, looked at the mess.

"I couldn't believe it," said Lori Barnett, Courtney's sister and an assistant manager. "This is my sister's life. When it burned down, we just felt like our house was burning down."

E-mail daveck@fuse.net