Freedom and family brought Morgan Newkirk and her husband Dana Tota to Excelsior Springs from Colorado. Seeking to escape the corporate restaurant industry and closeness to home after her father’s death, Morgan and Dan took over Ray’s Diner, a local institution in Excelsior Springs, the town where her father had lived and an hour from her mother in Kansas.

After spending the pandemic thanklessly keeping the chain restaurant she managed afloat, Morgan and Dan were ready to create their own destiny and run their own business. With Ray’s Diner, they have found themselves at the center of a town hub, providing hospitality and comfort to a rotation of regulars who make the diner a second home.

Six days a week, they open their doors before dawn, serving locals coming off the night shift and the early birds on their way to work. The menu, mostly unchanged from the classic diner fare longtime guests have come to expect, features regular specials that allow them to try slightly more exotic dishes, occasionally renamed to appeal to those hesitant to try something new.