MALONE — A restaurant that has been in the village for nearly 30-years was open to the public for the last time on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Mike and Lynn Hosler, the owners of Hosler’s Family Restaurant on East Main Street across from the Franklin County Fairgrounds in the village of Malone, spent the following days cleaning up and preparing for the start of their retirement on Monday.
“It was emotional, the place was packed on Sunday,” Mike Hosler said.
On Thursday afternoon they took time to reflect on their experiences running a restaurant for nearly three decades, remembering the staff and regulars who made their time in the community a success.
“We’ve been through everything, the highs, the lows and the in-betweens,” Mike said.
Lynn said the restaurant’s last day was a chance to say their goodbyes to employees and customers alike.
“I personally came down and hugged everybody on both shifts,” Lynn said, “It was definitely emotional.”
She said they put the restaurant on the market in February and were surprised it sold before the end of the year.
“When we got a phone call from our realtor who said that someone was interested in purchasing, we looked at each other and said can we actually do this and retire,” Lynn said.
Mike said the plan is to fully retire.
“I’ve been working for 67-years now, 22 at Alcoa, 30 here, five on the police force,” he said, adding the couple hopes to be able to travel and visit family more now that they are fully retired, adding though they plan to travel they don’t plan on leaving Malone.
“This is our home, we love this town,” Mike said, “We were both born and raised here.”
He said the restaurant donated all their remaining food products to the adult centers in Malone and Brushton.
“The Malone Adult Center made five trips over,” Lynn said, “We felt good about doing that.”
Mike said the current building that houses Hosler’s was built about 20 years ago after a fire in 2007.
“We lost the building and by that time I had bought the 340, then I made the decision to tear both buildings down, they were two separate properties and we decided to build this,” he said, “We bought the East End Diner and when the 340 came up for sale that’s when we made the decision to go with both buildings.”
Mike said the people who worked and ate at Hosler’s kept the couple working at the restaurant for so long.
“Employing our staff, we figured that we did something good for this community,” Lynn said, “We employed about 30-people.”
Mike said over the years their restaurant has been the first job local high school students have had.
“Some of our staff have been here fore 23-years, we have three employees who have over 20-years here,” he said.
In addition to the restaurant, Lynn said the couple had a wedding, catering business too, adding the catering business has been sold is now called Heritage & Tales.
According to Mike, family has been a big reason for the restaurant’s success.
“Every grandchild I had has worked here,” he said, “All of my grandchildren this was probably their first job.”
Lynn said her nieces and nephews also helped out, in addition to her mother.
Most years the restaurants was open for 365 days a year, according to Mike.
“This last year was the first Christmas we had closed in years, we always stayed open because I came in one day to clean because it was Christmas Day and we were closed and there were a dozen phone calls from elderly people who had nowhere to go on Christmas,” he said, “I said to Lynn, you know what we got to open up for them. Even if we don’t make a fortune. All they wanted to do was go somewhere and talk. Ever since then we were open every holiday.”
According to Mike, Lynn has closed the restaurant for the night more than 7,000 times.
“I was here every night, I had to make sure everything was off, the doors were locked, didn’t matter what kind of weather I was down here,” Lynn said, “As owners we took pride in what we did.”
Mike said he believes the restaurant’s location helped the restaurant over the years.
“We had another thing going in our favor it’s called location, location, location,” he said, adding that breakfast has always been the most popular meal at Hosler’s.
“Our Sunday buffets was big too,” he said, “Mother’s Day was always the busiest day of the year.”
According to Mike, Roy Johnson, a sales consultant with the food distributor Sysco was a big help to the business.
“He’s been with us for as long as we have been here I think,” he said, “When we had catering jobs we could call him and he would help us right out. He was a big reason we were successful.”
Mike said when he first started at the restaurant he had a feeling the business would be a success.
“I thought it would because when someone tells me you can’t that’s when I will,” he said, “We had people tell us we wouldn’t last six months and when they said that it was almost like a challenge.”
Lynn said after the first decade, the rest of their time at Hosler’s has been a blur.
“You get better at what you do and you don’t take it home with you anymore,” she said.
Mike said without committed employees and regular customers Hosler’s would not have made it as long as it did.
“We are so grateful for the staff, they make the business,” he said, “We are also grateful to our clientele and our customers, and the community of Malone for their support. Without support you aren’t going to last.”
According to Mike, his daughter, Michele Danussi, was a big help to the restaurant.
“She did all the scheduling, she was a big help, I really would like to thank her for all she’s done,” he said.
Lynn said customers were like family and the couple got to know whole families over the past 30 years.
“We were proud to be the owners of Hosler’s,” she said.