NJ diner boldly reopening after being closed for years

The list feels like the somber reading of victim names at a tribute.

The Cherry Hill Diner. The Penn Queen. The Country Club Diner. The Galaxy Diner. Marlton Diner. The Bendix.

The New Jersey diner model is not exactly an endangered species, but it’s being watched by the restaurant industry.

Read More: Miss America Diner closes after 85 years. End of an era?

Too many are going away too fast

Running any restaurant is hard, and you’re playing with narrow profit margins. Those margins are even tighter when you can’t get away with charging $22 for an omelette. The people who still regularly go to diners would never have it.

Who still goes is part of the issue. It’s a greying customer base. Younger people no longer pour into diners like they used to. And it’s not just because there are hardly any 24-hour diners left to accommodate the bar closing crowd.

In the middle of all this uncertainty, there’s a beloved diner that closed two years ago, looking to reopen under a new name next year. The Malaga Diner in the Malaga section of Franklin Township went dark late in 2023. It was sold to a new owner, Yilmaz Kangal, but the property has sat there unused.

The Jersey Diner

Kangal recently announced the hope is to reopen the diner as The Jersey Diner in early 2026. A message on Facebook read:

“Hello everyone, we are starting to update a septic system at the Jersey Diner. The estimated time is four to five weeks. After that, we will need a couple weeks to clean up and get ready to open. Thank you for your patience.”

Kangal is no stranger to the diner industry. Kangal owns Millville Queen Diner in Millville and the Queen 2 Restaurant in Vineland. Yet some comments to the post ran negative and skeptical, such as one reading, “That's what you said last January. That you needed a new septic system. It's been almost a year. We'll see what really happens!”

But most were positive and longing to see a diner return there. Everything from “Great” to “Outstanding!” to “Can’t wait for opening day.”

I’m going to be positive and wish Yilmaz Kangal great success with the new diner. Maybe it will even go 24 hours.