Now with a change in ownership comes the new challenges, howdo you keep a legendary business and the iconic brand like John’s Lunch the same? Well, the answer was simple, “If it isn’t broken don’t fix it.” The only thing that has changed is the ownership. Kathy and Irene both state their continued commitment to the quality and value of the food from the diner. They continue to use the same recipes and cooking methods that John used when he opened the place back in 1969.
Irene started at John’s Lunch when she was 19 years old. She tells us that she had just started working for the Department of Justice and her uncle approached her about working part-time for the restaurant. Irene has always been a hard worker with more than one job on the go even when she was young and had a paper route plus would babysit for families in the neighborhood. So, as she says, “I was always open to a side hustle and just ended up falling in love with the place.” As for Kathy, she had worked for thirty-five dif - ferent restaurants before finding her place at John’s Lunch twenty-two years ago. Kathy told us that it was not long after she started working here, maybe a year, that she knew that she would retire from this place, but don’t get any ideas she is not going anywhere soon. She like Irene fell in love with the restaurant, the fun family atmo- sphere and the customers. “When you are crazy busy and getting slammed with orders and still can have fun and joke with others working around you and your customers you know you are in the right place,” said Kathy. “When you are crazy busy and getting slammed with orders and still can have fun and joke with others working around you and your custom- ers you know you are in the right place,” As mentioned, the restaurant was opened by John Sarganis and then a few years later he was looking to retire, and he sold the business to Stratos Baltas and his business partner. Then in 2015 Stratos, then in his 70’s, was looking to retire and was setting up the plan to get out of the industry, as he had worked in restaurants all his life and was ready to step away from the business and the industry. He had a plan in place and unfortunately his partner at the time changed the plan that would see Stratos transition out of the business. So, with these changes Stratos was left with the choice to either close the iconic restaurant or save the legendary diner and sell
“If it isn’t broken don’t fix it.”
to a new owner. Thankfully, Stratos approached Kathy and Irene about purchasing the restaurant. Both said that it was a simple decision, “Do you save a legend or do you shut it down, we wanted to save a legend,” said Kathy with Irene quickly agreeing. Kathy went on to say, we were both up to the challenge, we both knew we could do this and more or less looked at each other and said, “Let’s do this,” and their transition from long time employee to owners took place in the Summer of 2016.
Now back then he was hoping to sell twenty orders of fish and chips a day, which today would be a very slow lunch for the diner. As you can image the kitchen was not set up for the volume of business the diner does today, ‘They make it work because that is the John’s Lunch way’, said Irene. Kathy adds, “Do you know how many times you have to wash a melamine counter to take the finish off them? Neither do I but it is a lot.” Kathy and Irene are sourcing from the same suppliers to make sure they are serving custom- ers food that is made from the freshest local ingredients in the same friendly atmosphere and offering the same value which has always been at the heart of the business.
“Do you save a legend or do you shut it down, we wanted to save a legend,”
“They make it work because that is the John’s Lunch way”
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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021
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