DRUMMOND—The new owners of Drummond’s The Brake Room invite folks to drive on out and feed not only their stomachs but their souls too with the food and fellowship at the restaurant and adjoining corner store.
Kelly Conroy along with her ex-husband and best friend Ed Conroy, three children Ruben Daniels, Madelin Conroy, and Ethan Conroy, and cousin Justin Kelly are happy to be of service to Drummond residents and surrounding communities.
Last summer she was playing cards with then-owner Ernie Slater, who casually mentioned he was looking to sell the place and had another potential buyer from out of the area who was looking to possibly turn it into a smoke shop or a grocery store. Kelly told him give her a week to find financing and he agreed.
“I called Ed and asked, ‘Can you buy it?’” Kelly said.
The T-6 instructor at Vance Air Force Base didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“She’s a good cook and a good businesswoman,” Ed said, smiling. He had been looking for something different to do and said it felt like a good fit.
He had been stationed at Vance AFB on active duty from 2004 to 2007 as an instructor pilot for T-37s when Kelly and her son Ruben in tow met him on base.
“I picked him up at the commissary,” she said, laughing. They wed in 2008 but found they were better as friends rather than spouses, so they “happily divorced.”
At the time, their family of five which now included the two younger kids Madelin and Ethan, were living in Colorado.
Ed moved back to the Enid area in 2023 and began working as a civilian contractor at Vance AFB. Not long after, she did too.
Ironically, he had already purchased a house on six acres outside of Drummond long before Kelly called him about the business proposal.
Together the Conroy family believed they had much to offer to the small Northwest Oklahoma town of less than 500 residents along Oklahoma 132.
Feeding the community
Founded in 2010 by Ernie and Ladonna Slater, the restaurant then-called Henry’s Brake Room opened three nights a week with a full menu alongside the convenience store which had been serving the typical fare of burgers and pizza since 2007 and selling fuel. The Slaters transformed the Brake Room into a Saturday night steakhouse in 2015 and eventually phased out the gas station pumps after the coronavirus pandemic.
After the Slaters agreed to sell to the Conroys, Kelly began training alongside Ernie last fall to learn about the restaurant business and get to know the regular customers. The deal became official in November 2025.
Ed and Ruben are listed as the owners of the property, which on paper has two new businesses: The Brake Room as the restaurant and Henry’s Corner Store as the convenience store. Kelly is the manager of both and the chief cook.
Justin oversees Henry’s Corner Store as the assistant manager and Madelin oversees The Brake Room as the assistant manager. Ethan helps out his mother as kitchen manager.
“I get to hang out with my kids,” Kelly kidded.
Just as the Slaters did before them, the Conroys employ students from Drummond and Hennessey as staff on the weekends in the restaurant; for many of them, this is their first real job.
It’s hard work, but they all agree it is worth it.
“I knew I could feed these people,” Kelly chimed in. She has been cooking for as long as she could remember, and her background story in the kitchen is uniquely her own.
“I learned to cook in a Mexican prison,” she said, explaining that she was 19 when she went in there and 25 when she left. “Cooking has always been my love.”
Between cooking for family and catering too, she also used to volunteer in the kitchen at Christmastime at the homeless shelter.
When Ed and Ruben bought the Drummond property, she saw plenty of potential.
The restaurant side remained open during the transition, but the corner store side didn’t re-open to the public until February of this year.
“There was work to be done,” Kelly said. They had to do a complete overhaul of the store with only the grill and hood vents remaining intact.
“It probably hadn’t been cleaned in 15 years,” Ruben commented, as Kelly mentioned she cleaned the place with a steamer. Together the Conroy family polished the floors, built or refurbished the shelves, re-painted, installed new equipment, and had the drain lines replaced.
Ed ensured a soda fountain with Coke products was added as well and they signed a contract with Hunt Brothers Pizza too for pizza and wings.
But what drives the most traffic into Henry’s Corner Store are the homemade meals.
Kelly makes breakfast burritos, burger baskets, daily lunch specials, sandwiches in the summer, and casseroles and comfort foods in the winter to name a few of the items. And her cinnamon rolls the size of a plate sell out within minutes.
Folks can dine-in or carry out right now; the plan is to get a golf cart and eventually be able to make deliveries to those who are unable to leave home.
The homemade food aspect also drives traffic from around the region to The Brake Room too, which boasts a bevy of choices for Saturday steak night: ribeyes, New York strips, filets, lamb, king crab, lobster tails, and shrimp. With the entrees comes the fresh-cut salad bar, the legendary Three Towers Restaurant salad dressing, and Kelly’s cheesecake.
Dreaming of the future
The Conroys, who just hosted Drummond’s Fourth of July bash, have big dreams for the property.
Eventually, Ed said, they plan to restore the gas pumps to make it a full-fledged filling station again.
Someday Kelly will get her own kitchen to cook in rather than out in the open in the convenience store.
Ruben intends to open up restaurant space to include a sports bar with pool tables and TVs.
But first things first, they plan to erect new signage soon and focus on how else they can give back to the community.
Their patrons to both the corner store and the restaurant are primarily Drummond residents, industry workers, truckers and highway travelers, local farmers, and other nearby communities.
“We love it here,” Kelly said. “They really look out for us. It has taken a village (to get up and running) and I know God brought us here.”
The Brake Room, 220 Kansas (Oklahoma 132), Drummond, is open Friday from 5-9 p.m. for chicken fried steaks night with the bar open until midnight and Saturday from 4:30-9 p.m. for steak night.
Next door at Henry’s Corner Store, daily specials for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as pizza through Hunt Brothers Pizza are available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. Call (580) 493-2797. Follow them at Facebook.com/p/Henrys-Corner-Store-The-Brake-Room-61586855506434.