Fond Memories Stir Tears at Chardon Landmark
The biggest thing I’m going to miss are my loyal customers’ smiling faces. – Mark Suveges
The closing of the Maple Leaf Inn Restaurant in Chardon Jan. 30 distressed many of its long-time diners.
“There were a lot of tears,” said Betty Ladow of Chardon. “I saw seniors leaving there crying. I cried. It was very sad.”
Before furnishings and equipment were sold off Jan. 31 by Kiko Auctioneers, Maple Leaf “regulars” stopped by the restaurant on Water Street to offer their condolences to Mark Suveges, who had owned and operated it since 1990.
“We’ve gone there for years and years and years. I took my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren there,” Ladow said. “Mark really has touched many, many, many seniors.”
Suveges and his staff of about 25 made it a point to cater to the over-60 crowd for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“We certainly served lots of senior meals over the years. The meatloaf, liver and onions and beer-battered haddock were real popular,” he said, adding he liked to work in the kitchen and everything was made from scratch.
The exception was pancakes.
“We did sell a lot of Fowlers Mills-mix pancakes,” he said, referring to the local milling company.
As with many small, local eateries, the Maple Leaf was popular also because seniors could hang out, drink coffee and visit, Suveges said.
He learned his trade during his 13 years working for General Mills’ York Steak House.
When General Mills sold the restaurant off, Suveges couldn’t find a job he wanted, so he bought the Maple Leaf Inn Restaurant and kept the name because the previous owners had recently installed a new sign when the Maple Leaf Plaza was remodeled in 1989, he said.
He relocated from Twinsburg to Chardon and settled into the seven-day-a-week job.
A few of his staff came with the restaurant and others have been with him for decades. Even part-time employees stayed until the last day.
“I had a very loyal staff,” Suveges said. “Some of the waitresses had been 12 to 14 years with me.”
Although he had hoped to keep the restaurant going for another 10 years, Suveges said it suffered from being in a plaza without much signage and the addition of other eateries in Chardon.
“Times change. There is a lot of online stuff. It’s been very difficult to do business,” he said.
He was spending more and more time doing paperwork and fewer hours interacting with his customers.
“I’m really going to miss that. I always enjoyed the senior citizens’ stories,” he said.
But, over the last year, Suveges started to realize, by the time all the bills were paid, there wasn’t much left.
“I really tried to stay open (for the employees),” he said, adding, however, after six months, it was time.
“I just couldn’t do it anymore,” he said.
Now, Suveges, 58, is back in the job market.
“I have to re-invent myself. I want to do something local, find something I’m going to enjoy,” he said, adding he has his commercial driver’s license, so there are options, but it won’t be the same.
“The biggest thing I’m going to miss are my loyal customers’ smiling faces,” he said.
