Come Tuesday, there will be a new family at the helm of Family Place Restaurant.
Jenny Spring and Oliver Wolfe, of The Spring Farm fame, are excited to take over from Dino and Bessie Georgas, but, rest assured, customers can expect the same great food and great service they have received for the past 35 years.
“We plan to change nothing,” Jenny says, “because we think that Dino and Bessie have done a really good job setting things up here. We just plan to come and learn from them.”
Oliver is going to be Dino. “Four-a.m. Dino,” Jenny says. And Jenny is going to be Bessie; well, try to be Bessie. Both Oliver and Jenny speak very highly of Dino and Bessie and what they have achieved. “Dino and Bessie are the hardest workers,” Jenny points out. “We are going to learn everything from them. They are staying for the next four months. That’s how much they care about making this work.”
Not strangers to hard work themselves, Jenny and Oliver have been farming together in Huntsville for the past four years but say the seasonal work was hard to sustain financially. With the help of partners and staff they hope to keep the farm going while they focus on the restaurant.
Jenny says they came up with the idea of buying the Family Place Restaurant last winter. “We are both very interested in being in the food industry. It’s challenging running the farm in such a short season. So, we were looking for something that would allow us to stay in Huntsville because our family is here. We want to make a difference always. We want to give back to the community. But we had to figure out how to sustain our lifestyle. We really like how the Family Place serves the community, the people of Huntsville, and that they are able to employ people year around.”
Dino and Bessie seem very happy to be mentoring the young couple, who no doubt remind them a little of themselves. Dino was 22 years old when he arrived in Huntsville, from Greece, to join his sister in the restaurant business. He did not speak English and started out washing dishes before working his way into the kitchen.
Five years later he returned to Greece to marry Bessie. Bessie arrived in Huntsville in 1977 at the young age of 17. She, too, didn’t speak English but attended some classes at Huntsville High School and benefited from the kindness of a regular customer at the Sportsman – Ebby Pascal. “He took a liking to me,” Bessie said, “and we started communicating by writing down things and he would teach me words. It was a humble beginning.”
Bessie says Dino always knew that he wanted to own his own restaurant. In the early 1980s Mel Taylor offered to sell the Family Restaurant and Pizza, located at the time in Brendale Square, to Dino and Bessie. Bessie learned the secret recipe for the pizza dough, and how to make the pizzas, and could be found in the restaurant every Friday night making pizzas.
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- Bessie making pizzas in the early years.
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- Dino, always smiling.
Bessie admits it hasn’t all been easy. There have been many ups and downs, and never, ever did her 17-year-old self think that she would be this happy at this point of her life. She credits the community for her happiness and for the success she and Dino have had. “We feel like Huntsville is our home,” Bessie says. “We have met a lot of people through the business and that’s how we made our friends. We feel like we belong in Huntsville and we feel at home. That was the best part for us.”
Now, 35 years later, Dino and Bessie are ready to mentor a next generation to carry on the Family Place Restaurant. “I’m very happy,” says Dino, “because I see young people from here in town buying the place. I love it. I will help them as much as I can.”
Laughing, Bessie says, “I would like to stay home and clean my house and get bored.”
When the time comes to pass the baton for good it will no doubt be bitter sweet. Jenny describes a phone conversation she recently had with Bessie. “Bessie called me the other day after she told her staff and she was crying. She said, ‘I just wanted you to know that my family is now going to be your family.'”
Family and community mean everything to Jenny and Oliver. It’s what brought them to Huntsville and it’s what keeps them here. And they are up for the challenge. “The hardest industries out there are farming and food. So here we are. We’re doing them both now,” Jenny says with a sigh.
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Congratulations Jenny and Oliver…and Bessie and Dino! We will continue to support and patronize your wonderful restaurant. Good luck.
Congratulations Bessie and Dino on your forthcoming retirement and time to enjoy many new endeavors. I will miss Dino’s 4 am drive by my house to remind me it will soon be time to get up for work. You were the only one on the road at that hour. All the best to Jenny and Oliver on your new adventure and good luck. We will look forward to our favorite breakfasts and pizzas in the future.
Candice Thomson and Ticker Kittmer
Dino and Bessie,
Just found out about your great news while we are holidaying in Nova Scotia. Hopefully my special breakfast will be part of the learning curve for Jenny and Oliver. Congratulations and best of luck to Dino, Bessie, Jenny and Oliver.
Tim Green
Congratulations Bessie and Dino on your retirement! You will be greatly missed at Family Place. Thank you for everything you have done for our community. Your pizza, home cooked meals and friendly, prompt service have always been the best and we will miss you. It sounds like you have given a great deal of thought to the new owners. Good luck and welcome to Jenny and Oliver.
This is true sustainability; when you acquire an asset, and pass it on in the future with increased value. I know Bessie and Jenny fairly well and I am confident that their work ethic must be mirrored by their partners. So kudos to Bessie and Dino for paying it forward to a new generation: Jenny and Oliver.
Congratulations Dino & Bessie on your well deserved retirement, you will be missed. Wishing Jenny & Oliver the very best, you have very big shoes to fill.
THANK YOU Dino and Bessie for years of quality home cooking and friendly service. Your catering at Clyffe House always won praise from our guests.
Weddings, funerals, triathlon training weekends- whatever the event here, – we could rely on you 100 % .
I will always be grateful.
Dave Scott
Dino and Bessie we will miss you but we are so happy for you.
Enjoy
Connie and Al Dobson
For all of the years of great food, perfect ambiance, super service, and smiles, the people of Huntsville thank you both so very much. Now it is our turn to return all that and help you to adapt (yes, adapt) to retirement. Wishing Dino and Bessie the very best – come and visit us now instead of always the reverse. You have made many friends here who are not just customers!
To the new owners Oliver and Jenny, many new years of new friendships await, and all of the very best is wished to you both!
Six of us come every Thurs for lunch and you must be wonderful to work for for there is very little turn over in staff over the years, which speaks well for the owners. You are very generous around town, helpful to the food kitchen and many other things. Happy retirement you will be missed, welcome to the new owners, hope they follow in your large footsteps.
We’ve had many great meals and pizzas from the Family Place Restaurant thanks to Bessie and Dino. We wish you the best in Your next adventure.
Jenny and Oliver being mentored by Bessie and Dino ensures all will continue to enjoy an excellent experience.
The best of luck to all.
Dino and Bessie deserve a great retirement! They have been wonderful community members.
I wish Dino and Bessie all the best in their retirement. They have worked very hard throughout the years and deserve the opportunity to clean the house, relax and get bored. We will miss seeing them on Friday nights. We look forward to visiting the new owners and the staff we have grown to love. Wishing you all the best.
Well that is very nice to hear! I was at a wedding this past weekend and Dino delivered pizza around 11:30 and I thought, Oh why is he having to do that…he works so hard, it will be nice to see when he can retire…and now he is. That is just wonderful for both Dino and Bessie…I guess Westside Fish and Chips Family Restaurant is the now the last iconic Huntsville family restaurant…for the past 38 years…no plans for me to retire for many years to come. Congratulations to you both and enjoy being bored.
Congratulations to Dino and Bessie! Thanks for your unwavering generosity to Huntsville. You will be missed! Good luck to the new owners.
Congratulations Dino & Bessie! You have always been huge supporters of Huntsville, good friends, and very supportive of Ches and me, especially when he was taken ill. I will miss seeing you behind the counters when next in Huntsville. Don’t know Oliver, but knowing Jennie’s family, am sure you are turning your restaurant over to a fine caring couple. Happy retirement, Love and blessings, Betty.
From the loving hands of Dino and Bessie to the loving hands of Jenny and Oliver!
All the best, to all!
There are no two finer people anywhere, than Bessie and Dino Georgas…they have dedicated their adult lives to this community….for 35 years they have given back…They will be greatly missed, but now It’s time for them to enjoy retired life…. We wish them a life of happiness and contentment. Congratulations and well done you two, well done!!
Dan & Wendy McConnell
In the 70,s I used to go to the Family Place Restaurant and listen to the jukebox on a Friday night and have a pizza. Great place always great food and service. Good luck to the new owners.
What a great outcome. Well done Oliver and Jenny, I wish you the very best in the many years to come.
When we moved here from T.O., our friends John and Celia Finley told us that your pizza was the best in town, so we started to eat at Family Place Restaurant and have done so ever since. Tasty food, generous portions and the service: outstanding!! I will miss not having Bessie and Dino there but will look forward to the next generation of Family Place Restaurant! Enjoy a well deserved retirement Bessie and Dino!! You will be missed…..
Linda Minnis
I was worried when I saw that they were selling, but so happy for Jenny and Oliver, thank you for keeping a wonderful family tradition alive in Huntsville!
Congratulations to all of you! Jenny and Oliver, I look forward to seeing you at the Family Place!
Amazing times for both couples!! enjoy yourselves Bessie and Dino- All the best Jenny and Ollie!!!
It is with sadness that I say adios to Bessie and Dino. My family have been going to the restaurant for more years than I wish to say. They had the best food and all the waitresses were the best, never had a bad experience in there for all those years. When my husband died and I went in they told me that I could have any thing and it was on the house that is what they were all about their customers. I know it wont be the same but from what I read the new people are very nice too. God bless you two and have a great time in your retirement and we will probably see you around town. Thanks for all the memories nobody can take them away.
A well deserved retirement for Dino and Bessie – enjoy! Jenny and Oliver, your wonderful work ethic will keep you successful. Congratulations all!
Just enjoying a family place Pizza! No mater what we eat at the family place, or the time of day the food and staff/family are always the best. Thanks for passing on all your business secrets. Looking forward to…..no change. Thank you Dino and Bessie for all your community support (Fairvern) and for always being the BEST! John and Marlene Müller
I hope Dino and Bessie enjoy retirement and good luck in your new adventure Jenny and Oliver.
Dino and Bessie…two of the Beautiful People…Thanks for so many great meals for so many years. Good luck to Jenny and Oliver…happy for both of you.
Congratulations!
I’m so happy for Dino and Bessie, our family has been frequenting their restaurants almost as long as they’ve been here, awesome to see a couple born and raised right here taking over good luck Jenny and Oliver <3