You’re told from an early age that you need college. That your goal is to get into a good school, and from there you can make all your dreams come true.

But it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes, your dreams are right there, and when the chance to fulfill them means taking a leap of faith, maybe that’s what you have to do.

Eighteen-year-old Samantha Frye did just that. Saying goodbye to college before it even really started, she used her school funds to put a down payment on a restaurant. Rosalie’s Restaurant in Strasburg, Ohio, had been her employer since she was 16. 

Frye had planned on studying environmental engineering at Ohio State University. But when she came home on break after her first semester, she found out that the owners of Rosalie’s were wanting to sell the restaurant.

That was all she needed to hear. Frye, who had spent her teen years working as a dishwasher at Rosalie’s, would take on a new role: Owner.

She had saved up a big chunk of funding for college, which she then used for a down payment. In April, she became the official new owner.

I started working when I was 14 and then when I was 16, I got two jobs, one of them being here,” Frye said. “I eventually had three jobs at one point. And then I worked with my dad. So, basically, I just worked a lot.”

Samantha Frye took a huge chance and left college to keep open a local restaurant. Photo by Andrew Dolph

After realizing she had enough money saved up, she couldn’t stop herself from buying the restaurant. “I was thinking that maybe this was something I wanted to do,” Frye said. “I had savings because I was saving for college, so I had quite a bit of money saved away. And I was like, I could possibly do this.”

Her mother couldn’t be prouder. “Sam just has me in awe! I think back to when I was her age, and there is no way I would have had the knowledge or the courage or even be able to wrap my mind around the enormity of owning a restaurant,” Brandi Beitzel said.

“Right now, this is so new; this is my priority,” Frye said. “Five days of the week, I’m in here. If not in here, I’m back there doing prep. I’m in the office the other two days doing meetings with the sales reps.”

She said that while most things at the restaurant will stay the same, there are plans to implement composting to help eliminate food waste.

Samantha Frye works in the kitchen of her restaurant, Rosalie’s. Photo by Andrew Dolph

But for everything else, it will remain the same.

“It’s working,” Frye said. “Why change it?”

She said she understood how much the restaurant means to the community. Rosalie’s opens its doors at 7 a.m. and soon after the regulars come streaming in throughout the day. A place to chat, have company and be with friends, the restaurant is too much of a fixture to ever really change.

A few of them come twice a day,” Frye said. “There are some characters. It is a little community here.”

She also had a message for those who think they have to go to college to find their dream job.

“You don’t need college to make a decent living, and I think that’s what many people think nowadays. Follow your instinct, honestly. If it feels right, do it.”

Sources: My Positive Outlooks | People | USA Today