DANBURY — A relatives-owned cafe that bought its start out selling two incredibly hot pet dogs and a cup of coffee for 25 cents and became just one of the city’s famous eateries is for sale so the entrepreneurs can “enjoy daily life a tiny.”
“In this company, you have to set 100 per cent into it and we usually put 100 p.c into it,” claimed Peter Koukos, whose grandfather and grand uncle begun JK’s Unique Texas Sizzling Weiners on White Road in 1924. “We are not retiring due to the fact we are burned out — the business enterprise is heading strong, but it’s time to delight in lifetime a little.”
Koukos, 62, is referring to a family-operate company which survived the Great Melancholy, World War II, the flood of 1955 and the coronavirus pandemic by serving quintessential spouse and children fare at truthful selling prices. The menu at JK’s restaurant, which has been on South Avenue for 48 years, functions cheeseburgers, club sandwiches and grinders — all for beneath $12.
“The pandemic did not influence us at all,” explained Koukos shortly ahead of the lunch hurry on Tuesday, referring to the COVID-19 epidemic that shut down scores of restaurants throughout Connecticut and the nation all through its two-12 months scourge. “We just adjusted the way we did organization.”
Koukos and his older brother George hope the new owners choose up in which the household custom has remaining off — preferring high quality around all the things else.
A real estate listing for the cafe states as much.
“Many enterprises, in particular in the course of pandemic occasions, did not make it this unique small business thrived in the course of the shut down and still continues to develop and could grow to even a lot more,” stated a listing by Coldwell Banker Realty. “The hrs, menu, catering, off web page unique occasions, in dwelling special functions, takeout, supply, foodstuff truck, and a lot of a lot more thoughts could grow this enterprise and even become a franchise.”
To get more than the small business and the cafe at 126 South St. will expense you $2.2 million, in accordance to the listing.
“For pretty much 100 a long time, this place has been a model and a staple in city, and you could be the a single to capitalize off of its legacy and make it your have,” the listing reads. “The relatives who owns this would enjoy practically nothing additional than (to have) capable and inclined individuals to go off the decades of devotion … with the similar aspiration.”
Kouskos reported he has been telling clients who have heard the news that the household has each individual intention of selling to a new operator with similar values.
“They say, ‘Oh no, you can’t do that,’ and I say ‘JK’s will be the exact same,’” Koukos claimed. “That is our intention. The new proprietors will do that if they are sensible. There’s no rationale to reinvent the wheel.”
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