The Amish buggy out front still serves as a landmark. While inside the kitchen is still hopping, making the legendary pies. The Mennonite diner started by Mrs. Amanda Yoder in 1976 is still serving.
 
"We just made the food like we did at home," Mrs. Amanda Yoder told me in 2009. “We just made it from scratch. We didn't add things … just as I was taught."
 
Mrs. Yoder’s journey ended in the summer of 2012 at the age of 84. Today, her family continues the Sarasota icon, Yoder's Restaurant, still known for serving more than two dozen kinds of pie every day.
 
"So we have this one, it is the classic rhubarb. And then you have this one that is strawberry rhubarb. It makes it a little sweeter. It makes it not as tart,” explains granddaughter Chelsea Emrich.
 
Sitting in the same booth as I did with her grandmother, Chelsea shares that there was pie each night at dinner growing up. She recalls her grandmother being fond of the apple pie. And today, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
 
"I like the apple pie with the crust on top,” Chelsea admits. “We serve it both ways. Like the peach has the crust on top as well. The cherry is really good.  There is only one slice left."
 
Behind the scenes, the pies are made almost around the clock during the holiday season. This Thanksgiving, Yoder’s expects to sell more than 6,000 take home pies. Patrolmen had to direct traffic in the parking lot, while four windows sold the pies to eager fans.
 
"Mrs. Yoder started baking when she was nine or 10 years old,” explains Todd Emrich, who concedes Yoder didn’t get her start with pies, rather baking cakes.
 
Mrs. Yoder's son-in-law now runs the business. Todd joined the restaurant in 1984, when it moved from downtown Sarasota to the Amish and Mennonite community of Pinecraft.
 
Business was bustling on Bahia Vista Street. In fact, the restaurant just extended their hours on Friday and Saturday to allow folks who may be traveling from greater distances to visit.
 
"We've had a lot of people come after 8 p.m. and want to eat and we don't want to turn anybody away, because we are a destination and they may have driven from Orlando, or Tampa."
 
The new closing time at 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday is thanks to the Travel Channel program, “Man vs. Food,” as seen on Bright House Networks.
 
"You can always tell the 'Man vs. Food' customers because they always order the same thing,” Todd says.  “They order the fried chicken and peanut butter pie, because that is what was featured [on the television program].”
 
Todd said an increase in British guests visiting Florida is a current trend, since reruns of 'Man vs. Food' are currently airing on television in the United Kingdom.
 
With all the attention from television, sales are up 20 percent, according to Todd. The Farmer’s Market and Deli next door have allowed the business to grow even further.
 
"We're blessed with great customers, we're blessed with great employees. There is no secret to what we're doing.  It's just fundamentals,” Todd concludes.
 
Next door to the diner at Yoder's Farmers Market is the mark of the family's rising star. Chelsea’s name is now a factitious store name displayed on a mural, while her baby picture hangs on the wall at the exit of the diner.
 
"The shoofly is a molasses and brown sugar pie,” she quietly educates me.
 
Like any good Florida attraction, there's also gift shop. Chelsea has created a line of trendy T-shirts and bumper stickers. Yet, next to the handmade Amish dolls, you'll also find a lasting tribute to her grandmother. Christmas tree ornaments in the shape of pie slices dangle from pine branches and capture the light with a twinkle.
 
“We still have the 10-inch pies and we cut them in six -- six pieces,” Mrs. Yoder summed up in 2009.
 
Good thing some things never change.

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