Lemoore's Fosters Freeze's Ray Moore bids adieu to long-time popular restaurant

By Ed Martin, Editor
After 30 years and six days, Lemoore Fosters Freeze owner Ray Moore has decided to retire. He recently sold the business and plans to spend time with family.
After 30 years and six days, Lemoore Fosters Freeze owner Ray Moore has decided to retire. He recently sold the business and plans to spend time with family.

Ray Moore can afford to take a break. Personable and hard-working, Moore, 69, owned and managed Lemoore’s Fosters’ Freeze restaurant for the past 30 years, and at an age well past Social Security requirements, he’s decided now that maybe it’s time for retirement, and maybe a vacation.

So, after exactly 30 years and six days in business – sometimes putting in upwards of 16-hour days – Moore recently sold his beloved Foster’s Freeze intending to spend plenty of quality time with his wife Sonya, his three kids, and four grandchildren.

The former United States Marine (1967-70) was working in sales management and seeking business opportunities when he heard that Foster’s corporate office owned a vacant restaurant in Lemoore that felt to Moore just ripe for the taking. He jumped at the chance, leaving a comfortable job and home in Ventura County to take over the once vacant former corporate Fosters’ Freeze in Lemoore.

It was a match made in fast-food heaven. “I had always wanted to open a Fosters Freeze franchise since 1969,” said Moore. Well, he got his wish and then made a move from Ventura to Lemoore where he quickly went about re-opening the once-shuttered restaurant.

Originally built in 1985, the Lemoore restaurant was one of three corporate stores in the valley at the time. Corporate honchos closed the Lemoore restaurant’s doors in 1986, and it remained vacant until Moore arrived in Lemoore, re-opening it on October 25, 1988.

The rest is history as they say. The store opened and eventually succeeded, but it took work, and lots of it.

For many years Moore invested himself in the process, putting in long work weeks to ensure the store’s success. “It was a very hard start,” he remembered. “For the first five years, I worked well over 100 hours a week. I was in the store at 7:30 a.m. and would leave about 11:30 p.m.”

Moore wasn’t a silent owner, directing things while others did all the work. “I was a working owner and manager,” he said. He worked every day, did the hiring, managed the store, did the payroll. “I was kind of a one-man band.”

He found a home, the right business, the right community, and quickly fell in love with Lemoore. “I’m drawn to the military and agriculture. They’re the best people in the world, and they work hard,” said Moore. “I’ve never lived in a place where I’ve felt more comfortable than in Lemoore. I have so many friends here.”

After re-opening the franchise in 1988, he purchased the property in 1994, lock, stock and barrel.

Over the years he’s had many loyal employees. “The biggest asset I have are my employees. Employees are ambassadors to the public,” he said. “I appreciate my employees for all the hard work they do. The first thing you do is take care of your people.”

Fosters was famous for a long time for its twice-monthly car shows in its parking lots where auto enthusiasts could see vintage cars while at the same time enjoy a Big Boss hamburger and fries. He was also part of the community, serving with the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Lemoore Christian Aid Board.

Like many Californians, Ray and wife son Sonya are contemplating a move to Texas. Having family members and grandchildren in the Lone Star State tends to beckon far-removed grandparents. Wherever they go, whatever they do, they will no doubt be fondly remembered for their work ethic, their excellent food, and their warmth for this community.   

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