There is a new restaurant open in the building that housed Johnny’s in Rockwell for years. The owners are hoping that they can similarly become a regular stop for town residents and visitors alike.
Owners Cruz Macedo and Jaime Duarte just opened Sunshine Family Restaurant in Rockwell, expanding the brand into the eastern part of Rowan County.
“The first we started in Kannapolis,” Macedo said. “The second is in Concord, so this is our third one.”
The country-style restaurant is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“I was really sold on this place,” Macedo said of the Rockwell location on Hwy. 52 near the center of town. “It came up on Facebook. I told my partner, you know what, I think that would be a good spot. We came and looked at it and said, ‘let’s do it.’”
Sunshine is not the only restaurant name in their portfolio, owning Los Arcos in Salisbury and Kannapolis as well.
The pair of owners work well together, with Macedo managing the front of the house and customer engagement, and Duarte is behind the scenes handling food preparation and procurement.
“He is the front face, and I am back in the kitchen,” Duarte said.
Like Macedo, Duarte has worked in restaurants for most of his life, logging untold hours amounting to decades in food service. He cut his teeth in the kitchen but wanted to get into ownership and went into business with Macedo, opening the first Sunshine restaurant in 2021.
After finding success at their first location, they expanded to Concord. With no signs of slowing down, they opened their third. However, their opening was pushed back as the new owners sought to get everything ready for their first Rockwell customers.
“We really had to do a lot of work on this place,” Macedo said of the restaurant and building. “It was in bad shape. We were supposed to open a month before now, but it took forever to make this place nice and clean.”
Macedo indicated that they really made an effort with decorations to create a welcoming atmosphere.
“We want them to come into a nice and clean place,” Macedo said.
So far, so good.
“We have had a lot of reactions of people being happy to have us in town,” Macedo said. “When they come in and start looking around the building, they say, ‘You have really done a great job.’”
One thing that the owners have found is a desire for them to open for evening hours. Comments on Facebook from around Rockwell have suggested as much as well as personal feedback.
While Macedo and Duarte acknowledged that that could be in their future, they are focusing on breakfast and lunch for the time being.
“We are thinking about opening for dinner,” Macedo said. “Just not right now. We have set it down for a little bit while we get settled.”
Macedo knows that they are in the customer service business, so they are going to remain vigilant in keeping the new customer base satisfied.
“We are going to try to do the best we can to make Rockwell people happy,” Macedo said.
