Lakeview Drive In Opens Saturday Under New, but Familiar Ownership

New Owner Amy Mack Continues 35-year Family Legacy

by Loni Rahm

For the past 35 years, operating the Lakeview Drive In has been a family thing. The Mack family to be exact.

Mike and Debbie Mack spent 20 years as owners/operators of the iconic waterside eatery. Their son, Michael and his wife Jamie, kept the business in the family when they bought it 15 years ago. Recently, Mike and Debbie’s daughter and Michael’s sister — Amy Mack — has become the third family member to own the Lakeview Drive In.

Amy is no stranger to the Lakeview. After all, like hundreds of local teens, she spent summers working there before flexing her wings and flying the coop after high school.

A self-avowed vagabond, Amy spent three years in Germany working as a ski and snowboard instructor. In 2000, she took a summer job in Alaska that stretched into 19 years. “I loved Alaska,” Amy told me. “But I started noticing I was getting pulled back into Chelan more and more often.”

A significant pulling factor was her brother’s growing family. “I was really missing being part of my niece and nephews’ lives,” she said. “Every time I came for a visit, it was harder to go back to Alaska.”

Plain and simple, Amy was homesick.

Not so plain and simple was the process of coming home. What kind of job opportunities might she find? Where would she live? Pretty much the same quandary that faces so many individuals and families who want to live in the Lake Chelan Valley or return “home”.

She had always wanted to own her own business, and started giving serious thought to potential opportunities. Then one day, on a phone call with her brother, there was a semi-joking comment that she should just buy the Lakeview. “I got a tingly feeling just thinking about it,” said Amy.

Turns out, it wasn’t entirely a joke. After 15 years, Michael and Jamie were ready to devote more of the Lake Chelan summer to their family. In addition to a lifetime of working in and being exposed to first the Alpenhorn Drive In and then Lakeview Drive In, Amy had also spent nearly two decades running a full service restaurant in Anchorage. It seemed like the perfect solution.

After a cautious business analysis and purchase agreement, followed by a request to Chelan City Council for a transfer of the lease, Amy officially became the new owner of the Lakeview Drive In last month.

She thanked the City Council for the positive support she received. By matter of official council action, Amy has assumed the remaining 2 years of the current lease along with a 5-year extension which gives her a 7-year window under the new lease. “I needed the 7-years to implement a successful and sustainable business plan,’ she said.

Any changes planned?

“I don’t anticipate any disruption to the flow,” Amy stated. “Customers will still get the great burgers, fries and shakes they’ve come to expect. In fact, I doubt anyone will even know there’s a new owner,” she said with a laugh.

Spoiler alert – they know now!

Although she has spent the last several months actively recruiting and training employees, opening the building and preparing for the season, she sees her first “real” day of ownership as Saturday, March 30. That’s the day the Lakeview opens for the 2019 season. And no one could be more excited than new owner, and familiar face, Amy Mack.