Sheila Gregory, a full-time employee at Elgin's C-Zers Drive-In, prepares a sandwich on Thursday, March 9, 2023. In addition to Gregory, new owner Leah Gifford also has four part-time employees. All employees are Elgin residents.

ELGIN — One of Elgin’s most historic and enduring businesses, C-Zers Drive-In, 1390 Division St., has a new owner, Leah Gifford.

Its former owner, Andy Campo, sold the business in January to 4 Gifford Girls doing business as C-Zers Drive-In. Gifford will retain the C-Zers Drive-In business name for its historical value and branding.

Many people recognize Gifford as a familiar face at C-Zers.

“I worked there 15 years ago, and then I came to fill in for a weekend last March and ended up coming back to work full time in June for Andy,” Gifford said. “He was getting ready to move to Texas, and he had an employee quit so I came in to help. He didn’t want to sell until January, so he trained me how to do it all.”

Although she felt a little overwhelmed to take the helm, Gifford said the transition is going better than she expected due, in large part, to her work history at C-Zers. She was ready for this change and to follow her dream of owning her own business.

“I spent the last few years cutting meat at Valley Meat Services in Wallowa, and I was ready for a change and get out of the cold,” she said.

She has been in the food industry for the past 25 years. She worked as a line cook at Mo’s in Lincoln City for three years and in the grocery business after that. She is a native of Elgin and a 1997 Elgin High School graduate. She has a family of three girls, and the younger two are still attending Elgin schools.

“I’ve always loved working in food service, and I always wanted to have my own business,” she said. “C-Zers has its own history, and it’s kind of fun being part of that and keeping it going.”

This coming June, the drive-in will mark its 66th year in business, and Gifford represents its seventh owner on record.

It was founded by Tom and Flossie Sager, who opened it as “Tom’s-n-Out” in 1957. They sold it to Jack Eckstein, who sold it to Dale Hargett, the football coach at Elgin High School. Then it was purchased by Jim Stroup and operated under the name “Jim’s-n-Out” for nine years. Stroup then sold it to Cecil and Becky Churchill on Sept. 1, 1979, and they ran it for 27 years as “C-Zers Drive-In.” The Churchills sold the business to Andy Campo on June 1, 2006, and 16-1/2 years later, he sold it to Gifford.

Gifford has one full-time employee and four part-time employees, all residents of Elgin.

Gifford has some new ideas she wants to try regarding the business.

“We’re going to run some specials this summer and see how that works. We’ve also got a different burger patty from a new supplier that we think you’ll like,” she said. “As for the building, we’re going to give it a facelift and paint the exterior.”

The menu will continue to offer 21 flavors of ice cream shakes, ice cream cones, fried food baskets, clam strips, chicken strips, finger strips and several different burger choices.

“My top seller is the Logger cheeseburger with onion rings,” she said. “We sell all the Pepsi products too.”

Gifford hopes people will continue to support the business.

“I’m glad to continue the tradition of having C-Zers, and I hope everyone will come through and try out our new burger this summer and say hi,” she said.