It’s 1 p.m. at the Sumter, South Carolina, Shoney’s and getting to the lunch buffet requires you to run a gauntlet of book club gatherings, family lunches and on-break construction workers, all of whom seem to be politely squeezing past each other in the antechamber or at the salad bar, “thank you, sir-ing” and “yes, ma’am-ing” to beat the band.
It’s tricky to plan lunch here. It’s usually packed. Sometimes the yams are a...
