Cove Establishment Celebrates 1-Year Anniversary

Lampasas Radio would like to wish a happy 1-year Anniversary to Herb & Earnie’s Diner! The restaurant, a quaint establishment nestled into downtown Copperas Cove, is owned by two long-time residents with “dual-citizenship” in Cove and Lampasas, Andy Remedies, LHS c/o ’98, and Betina Cash. As the story goes, Herb & Earnie’s was named in honor of two of their relatives - Batina’s dad, Herbert, and Andy’s grandfather, Earnie - both active members of the Killeen and Copperas Cove communities. Earnie was a member of the Exchange Club for 50 years, and delivered meals with Meals on Wheels as well. Andy says about his grandfather, “It was a long time before I even knew what he had been doing. He just didn’t need the recognition.”
Andy and Betina did not fall far from the tree of their paternal influences. Both are former CCISD employees and continue to give back to the district. Herb & Earnie’s employs many CCISD students, hosts booster nights and makes regular donations to CCISD groups, and hosts a trivia night the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month to give people an opportunity to enjoy a night out with each other. Copperas Cove does not have many long-standing restaurants, like Lampasas, due to the transient nature of the City’s large military population. Andy gave a warm shout-out to Lampasas for our thriving local commerce; he and Betina both hope Cove’s downtown continues to grow in kind.
Some of the challenges Andy admits to facing in the early days of their opening were getting the day-to-day processes down, creating consistent food quality, and dealing with “1-and-done” customers who were unwilling to extend grace to the fledgling business while they worked out the kinks. Andy’s parting advice to new entrepreneurs is this - “Know your market, do your research, be prepared before signing any contracts, hire good people, and stick with it!”
In our support of local enterprise, let’s not forget to “love thy neighbor” in the process. - MG