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An institution of the Greater Valley Area has reached a milestone recently by meeting the 75th anniversary since its opening.

Daniel’s Drive Inn, which was originally founded in Lanett, in 1950 was started by Ethel Daniel and her brother Dub Waldrep. Since then, the business has been passed down from generation to generation.

The current owner, Becky Nelson, is the granddaughter of Daniel and hopes to continue the tradition by passing it down to her son and daughter-in-law.

“Here we are 75, years later, the third generation, and my son’s wife works here. Now, my daughter has worked for me, so they are both fourth generation,” Nelson recounted. “And then at some point, my son and his wife will most likely take over the business.”

In 1967, they moved to a building in the mill town community of Langdale in the Valley. Daniel’s Drive In only remained there for five years.

“But it’s probably our most notorious or famous location because of the structure of the building, because it was shaped exactly like a little brown jug,” Nelson said.

In 1972, the restaurant moved into its current location on Highway 29 and business has remained as good as ever.

“Thankfully, we’ve had such great customers and good food to top it off. And I believe that’s the key to staying in business,” Nelson said. “Treat your customers good and serve good food.”

With so many years of serving the community as a family, it’s important to Nelson that the next generation keeps the business alive.

“It is important just to keep the tradition going, just to keep everything rolling along like it’s been doing for the last 75 years, and to keep the Valley and Lanett, Chambers County, Lee County, and the surrounding areas, happy with good Daniel burgers,” Nelson said.

The restaurant hosted a celebration on Friday, inviting locals out to join in the fun. Nelson said that the community support was great.

“It is just amazing the turnout we’ve had today,” she said. “We did a big celebration 50 years ago, but this might possibly beat the 50-year as far as the turnout so far so but it’s been great.”

Nelson said the secret recipe to standing the test of time actually only has a few key ingredients. First, she said she needed good help.

“I couldn’t do it without my girls here, Marie Jones, who’s worked for us for 34 years now,” Nelson said.

Before her, Jones’ mother worked at Daniel’s Drive Inn for around 40 years as well before retiring.

Giving back to the community is another key ingredient that Nelson said is essential to any long lasting business.

“It’s just having good help and and just treating your customers right, and having good food, and just giving back to the community,” she added.