BARBOURSVILLE — With its uniquely Appalachian spin on fast food, The Big Loafer has been part of the Huntington Mall almost as long as the mall itself has existed.
The restaurant — most famous for its signature sandwiches served up on a unique yeast bread — first opened its doors in 1981. The Big Loafer also offers hot dogs, pepperoni rolls and chili served up with a great deal of country charm.
It is owned by Sydney Mae, whose son, Len Eplin, serves as the vice president of the company.
“My father, Burgess Eplin, and his friend Ronnie Taylor opened the first Big Loafer in the Crossroads Mall in Beckley. Burgess later bought a franchise from Ronnie and opened a second here. We opened on November 1st, 1981. Chick-Fil-A was already open when we came in and I think it and us are the only stores from that era that are still here under their original name. My family has owned the restaurant ever since then,” Len Eplin explained.
“By fall 2019 this place was showing its age so we did some remodeling,” Eplin continued. “We had previously done some work in 1995. We were in the slow process of the renovation when the pandemic hit, so we used the downtime as a chance to finish the project. We had two public restrooms that had become redundant because there were public restrooms right across the hall, so we took them out to add additional seating.”
The Big Loafer’s signature item, appropriately called “The Big Loafer” ($6.75), is a meatloaf sandwich filled with mustard, onions and coleslaw. There’s also an Italian Loaf ($6.75) made with ham, provolone, and banana peppers. Other specialties include Pepperoni Rolls ($6.50), the Cheeseburger Roll ($6) and Pigs in a Blanket ($3.50). You can also enjoy hot dogs ($3) topped with mustard, onions, house-made sauce and slaw. If you are looking to warm up, there’s Chili ($4.25) and in the winter months Vegetable Soup ($4.25) available in beef and vegetarian varieties.
“We start every morning making fresh dough for our bread every day. The sandwiches are made inside that dough and baked inside of it. I think that is what makes it unique. Pretty much everything is homemade. West Virginia is famous for our pepperoni rolls, and of our large sandwiches, that’s our biggest seller. We probably sell even more of our pigs-in-blankets, which is a smaller sandwich,” Eplin said. “We have a new item, which is a fried bologna. We fry it ourselves and bake it right in the bread with American cheese.”
“It’s the lord’s blessing that has kept this place in business all these years is something my mom would point out, and I think there’s a lot of truth in that,” Eplin said. “We’ve seen a lot of places come and go, and this place has always been blessed by God Almighty.”
The Big Loafer is located at 660 Huntington Mall next to Sbarro. It is currently open from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Sunday hours are from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Cash and all major credit cards are accepted. Apple Pay and checks are not taken at this time. Delivery is available via DoorDash and GrubHub. For carryout orders, call 304-733-0424. You can follow them online at https://www.facebook.com/thebigloafer/.
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