NIAGARA FALLS – A Niagara Falls restaurant is being thrown out by its landlord and may shut its doors for good.
Mom’s Family Restaurant in the Mil-Pine Plaza has been told by Benchmark Development of Amherst that its lease is being terminated at the end of the year.
Jim Catanese, whose family has owned the restaurant since 1955, said the move “blindsided” him. The 63-year old counts his small business as an exception to what he calls the corporate world of today.
“It’s a shame because the Mom-and-Pops of America are dying,” Catanese said in a rear booth of his restaurant Thursday afternoon.
Catanese said he found out his lease was being terminated by registered mail on the morning of Black Friday. The two-sentence letter, he said, told him he had to vacate the premises by 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31.
Catanese spent the early part of his Thanksgiving Day – before enjoying a meal with family – making up schedules for employees, because he was planning to reduce his own hours at the start of next year. A day later, the restaurant’s future was in doubt.
The business, which fluctuates between 17 and 20 employees, has been on a month-to-month lease with Benchmark since May, and there had been no real talks about the lease, Catanese said. He said he had always had a good relationship with his landlord up until this point. “I just figured eventually they were going to get here, because I’ve been here 40 years,” he said.
Catanese put up a message to customers in his restaurant Wednesday, and then the news spread quickly on Facebook. He said the support he’s received from customers has been heartwarming. “I’ve been fortunate,” he said.
Catanese said he was told his restaurant’s space was needed in order to amass 15,000 square feet with neighboring vacant space in the plaza for “an unspecified national chain.” A call to Benchmark was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.
The restaurant, which opens at 6:30 a.m. daily, has had many longtime employees. One of the cooks has been there 32 years, and that cook’s mother was a server for 51 years. Many of the servers have been working there “10 to 15 years easy,” Catanese said.
“There’s very little turnover,” he said. “We’re like a family here.”
Then there’s Sarah Fratello, Catanese’s aunt, who was a cook at the restaurant for 50 years. She retired six years ago at age 94. She would have turned 100 last month, but passed away in October. She was the closest thing to the “mom” of “Mom’s Family Restaurant,” Catanese said. The image of the woman on the restaurant’s menus was modeled after Aunt Sarah.
The name of the business was carried over when Catanese’s two uncles first bought it, he said. The restaurant was originally located across the street in the Pine Plaza.
Catanese, who worked at the restaurant in high school and college, and became a partner in the business 40 years ago, described himself as still being “in shock” at what’s transpired. He said he’s not ruling out trying to find another location for the restaurant but noted that his wife, Pat, wants him to retire from the 75- to 80-hour weeks. He acknowledged the long hours have kept him away from his loved ones, adding he might owe his wife “a nice vacation.”
“We’re going to sit down and analyze the situation and see what we want to do,” he said.
Catanese said he’s asked Benchmark officials if he’d be able to have another two weeks before he has to leave, and he’s waiting to hear back from them.
“My heart’s breaking for him,” said Claudia Miklejn, Catanese’s sister who has worked the register at the restaurant for about 13 years.
Myra Kaiser, of Grand Island, has been coming to the restaurant, usually for breakfast, for 30 years.
“It’s a shame,” Kaiser said Thursday, describing it as an identifiable part of the Falls.
email: abesecker@buffnews.com
Mom’s Family Restaurant in the Mil-Pine Plaza has been told by Benchmark Development of Amherst that its lease is being terminated at the end of the year.
Jim Catanese, whose family has owned the restaurant since 1955, said the move “blindsided” him. The 63-year old counts his small business as an exception to what he calls the corporate world of today.
“It’s a shame because the Mom-and-Pops of America are dying,” Catanese said in a rear booth of his restaurant Thursday afternoon.
Catanese said he found out his lease was being terminated by registered mail on the morning of Black Friday. The two-sentence letter, he said, told him he had to vacate the premises by 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31.
Catanese spent the early part of his Thanksgiving Day – before enjoying a meal with family – making up schedules for employees, because he was planning to reduce his own hours at the start of next year. A day later, the restaurant’s future was in doubt.
The business, which fluctuates between 17 and 20 employees, has been on a month-to-month lease with Benchmark since May, and there had been no real talks about the lease, Catanese said. He said he had always had a good relationship with his landlord up until this point. “I just figured eventually they were going to get here, because I’ve been here 40 years,” he said.
Catanese put up a message to customers in his restaurant Wednesday, and then the news spread quickly on Facebook. He said the support he’s received from customers has been heartwarming. “I’ve been fortunate,” he said.
Catanese said he was told his restaurant’s space was needed in order to amass 15,000 square feet with neighboring vacant space in the plaza for “an unspecified national chain.” A call to Benchmark was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.
The restaurant, which opens at 6:30 a.m. daily, has had many longtime employees. One of the cooks has been there 32 years, and that cook’s mother was a server for 51 years. Many of the servers have been working there “10 to 15 years easy,” Catanese said.
“There’s very little turnover,” he said. “We’re like a family here.”
Then there’s Sarah Fratello, Catanese’s aunt, who was a cook at the restaurant for 50 years. She retired six years ago at age 94. She would have turned 100 last month, but passed away in October. She was the closest thing to the “mom” of “Mom’s Family Restaurant,” Catanese said. The image of the woman on the restaurant’s menus was modeled after Aunt Sarah.
The name of the business was carried over when Catanese’s two uncles first bought it, he said. The restaurant was originally located across the street in the Pine Plaza.
Catanese, who worked at the restaurant in high school and college, and became a partner in the business 40 years ago, described himself as still being “in shock” at what’s transpired. He said he’s not ruling out trying to find another location for the restaurant but noted that his wife, Pat, wants him to retire from the 75- to 80-hour weeks. He acknowledged the long hours have kept him away from his loved ones, adding he might owe his wife “a nice vacation.”
“We’re going to sit down and analyze the situation and see what we want to do,” he said.
Catanese said he’s asked Benchmark officials if he’d be able to have another two weeks before he has to leave, and he’s waiting to hear back from them.
“My heart’s breaking for him,” said Claudia Miklejn, Catanese’s sister who has worked the register at the restaurant for about 13 years.
Myra Kaiser, of Grand Island, has been coming to the restaurant, usually for breakfast, for 30 years.
“It’s a shame,” Kaiser said Thursday, describing it as an identifiable part of the Falls.
email: abesecker@buffnews.com