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Miami University students as well as local Oxford residents now have another option for breakfast dining.

The College View Restaurant opened its doors to a new breakfast diner on High Street Aug. 16. Though the restaurant itself is new, owners Lori Hoelle, Joshua Francis and Mary Higgins are in no way new to the breakfast business.

Lori Hoelle owned Uptown Café, the popular breakfast diner located just down the street from College View Restaurant, before she sold it seven years ago.

"Mary, Josh and I use to all work at Uptown Café and that's how we met," said Hoelle. "Mary is an amazing cook. She came here from Phoenix, Ariz., and did her internship with me at the café. She has also worked at Jungle Jim's and Bon Bonnerie in Cincinnati. Baking is my and Mary's forte."

Francis hadn't always planned on owning his own restaurant. He graduated from Miami University in 2004 with a degree in finance before he decided to get into the breakfast business.

"I bought the Oxford Doughnut Shop right out of college," Francis said. "I needed something to do. Then, the idea for this restaurant came to Lori and me, and when the opportunity came about and the building opened up we went with it."

"We decided to do another breakfast place because uptown Oxford doesn't need any more lunch places, and Uptown Café is always packed," Hoelle said.

But what makes College View Restaurant different from other breakfast diners in the area is its cereal bar. The cereal bar is set up similar to an ice-cream bar. Several different cereals such as Honey Nut Cheerios and Lucky Charms fill plastic dispensing containers that line the front wall of the restaurant.

Customers can create their own combinations of cereals and toppings or they can choose from the Create-a-Bowl list of pre-tested combinations such as the Gimme S'more made up of Golden Grahams, Cocoa Puffs, Mini Marshmallows, Mini Chocolate Chips, and Chocolate milk.

"I always liked the whole cereal bar gig," said Francis. "The cereal bar is an up and coming thing in all college towns. It has been excellent. We've had nothing but positive feedback."

On Miami University students' first Saturday back at school, the restaurant had already proved to be extremely popular. A steady stream of students, as well as Oxford residents, kept the waiters and cooks busy between the diners 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. hours.

Ben Schreiber, a senior at Miami University, is a waiter at the restaurant. Schreiber often wears a blue ball cap that says 'SPAM' in yellow across the top to promote the restaurant's unique spam dishes such as the 'Spam-It-Up' sandwich and the 'Maui Spam Muffin.'

"The Spam Breakfast Burrito is really good. It's my favorite," Schreiber said.

Schreiber rides on his Heelys, shoes with wheels on their heels, to move quickly through the restaurant.

"It's the whole waiter on wheels idea," Schreiber said.

"We really just wanted something fun," said Hoelle. "And for people to get involved. We passed out mini-boxes of cereal with coupons on them during the Pig Roast on Thursday night."

And the owners are already planning other ways to draw customers into the restaurant.

In honor of the Sasquatch Sausage Double Stack Sandwich the restaurant plans on sending someone out to different community events dressed up in a sasquatch outfit. If a person spots the sasquatch, they can take a picture of him with their cell phone and bring it into the restaurant for some sort of free baked good or discount.