06/16/2026
Here's a fun story about the good side of social media. 😉
Kory shared a post about Nu-Way's cheeseburgers, Friday night Don said let's go get a cheeseburger, it was actually Fish Friday so we had that instead, Don was so impressed he told me to take a photo of our food so I made a post about the diner, and now all three businesses have gained new customers, future customers, and social media followers. 🥰
So here's your reminder to share good things while you're out and about. If you're scrolling and see something that interests you or makes you smile hit the "LIKE" button......it really makes a difference to small businesses. And if you're a small business, you'll be surprised at what will happen when you share another small business post......take our word for it. 😊
First of all, WOW.
Over the last few weeks we’ve seen a lot of new faces come through the doors at Nu-Way Deli & Diner, and we just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU.
Whether you found us through our friend Kory at Shug Smoke Shack showing off one of our burgers, the good folks at PocahontasMercantile & Sweet Shoppe sharing their Fish Friday dinner, the Coffeen & Fillmore SXS/Jeep Ride, or through one of our wonderful customers liking, commenting, sharing, and recommending us to their friends, we are incredibly grateful.
For a small business, word of mouth is everything. If you’ve ever wondered how to help a local business, it’s simple: like their posts, leave a comment, share something that catches your eye, and leave a review when you can. Those things help more than most people realize.
Since we’ve welcomed so many new folks lately, we thought we’d share a little bit about how this little diner operates.
Now, if you’re one of our longtime customers who’s been with us forever, you can probably stop reading right here and just know how much we love and appreciate you. ❤️
For everyone else, here’s the “How Nu-Way Works” guide…
Nu-Way Deli & Diner isn’t a big restaurant with a large staff. It’s mostly just Amy and Sue, along with the adult kids who have “real jobs” of their own and help when they can. We also have two very dear family friends who aren’t blood relatives but are family just the same, although one of them is currently enjoying maternity leave.
Because we’re family-run, life occasionally gets in the way. Medical appointments happen. Family obligations happen. Sometimes emergencies happen. While our regular hours are posted on Facebook and Google, there may be times when we need to close for a day, close early, or open late. When that happens, we always post it on Facebook as soon as possible.
So if you’re planning a special trip over, please check our page first or even better, give us a call. The last thing we’d ever want is for someone to make the drive and find a locked door.
One thing our regular customers have learned is that if you see a daily special that sounds good, don’t wait too long!
We’re closed on Mondays, but that’s also when we typically post the week’s specials on Facebook. We try to give everyone a preview of what’s coming up so you can plan ahead.
Most of our daily specials are prepared in limited quantities—usually around 30 servings or so. We’re a little diner in a town of about 350 people, so we simply don’t cook on the same scale as larger restaurants.
Nothing makes us happier than selling out of a special. Nothing makes us sadder than someone showing up later in the day and hearing, “Sorry, the last one sold hours ago.”
If there’s something you really want, don’t be shy about calling ahead. We’ll gladly set it aside for you whenever possible.
Fridays are a little different. We keep plenty of fish on hand, but if you’re planning to come later in the day and have your heart set on cod or catfish, it never hurts to call ahead and reserve it.
And then there’s Sunday…
Sunday is what we lovingly call “Fried Chicken Frenzy!”
Our regular menu is not available on Sundays. Instead, we focus on our famous fried chicken dinners, country fried steak dinners, chef salads, and dinner salads.
That’s it.
No burgers. No tenderloins. No lunch meat. No clubs. No pizza burgers. No daily debate over what sounds good.
Just chicken, country fried steak, and salads flying out of the kitchen as fast as we can make them.
We begin taking orders at 10:00 AM and serve from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM. Some diehard customers even call on Friday or Saturday to reserve their Sunday chicken dinners! We aren’t kidding when we say people take their chicken seriously around here!
The reason for all of this is simple: we’re small, and we want to do a few things really well rather than a lot of things poorly.
➡️ Most importantly, we never want anyone to be disappointed.
Thank you again for finding us, supporting us, sharing our posts, recommending us to your friends, and helping our little diner in Panama, Illinois continue to grow. We appreciate every single one of you and look forward to seeing both familiar faces and new ones for years to come.
— Amy, Sue, and the Nu-Way family
