A Friendly change of ownership
After two decades as a family-style diner, a Laurier Street landmark business has been sold as Friendly Restaurant and Pizzeria owner Dounia Saikaley turned over the keys – and stoves – to an employee October 1.
The Friendly history is a long and intertwined one and includes a couple of generations of both sides of Saikaley’s immediate family.
“My father-in-law started Friendly in Orleans, decades ago,” she says. “He and his wife and children ran it for 20 years or so. That included my husband, Eli Saikaley, who started working there when he was 12.”
In many ways, it’s a traditional restaurant succession story for both families: Dounia and Eli married in 1996 and bought her parents food operation and ran it for a few years. Eli’s sister, Denise, bought the Orleans Friendly from her parents and operated it for several more years.
In the meantime, Dounia and Eli opened a second Friendly in Rockland in March 2000 having purchased the property at 1756 Laurier Street – a building that already had its own rich commercial and residential history as a Rockland landmark that predates 1918 at which time the structure was destroyed by fire.
When Dounia and Eli purchased it, it had been the once very popular Andy’s Burgers that is across the street from the current Friendly and what is now New Ruby House.
“We ran that for many years,” says Dounia. “Then, in 2004, this property was for sale, so I bought it. It had been a breakfast place called Panorama for 30 years. I changed the name to Pano’s Breakfast and Deli.”
During that time, Eli, who now operates a local property management and development company, saw to operations across the street, while Dounia took care of the second restaurant.
She eventually determined that it was time to renovate and refresh the restaurant, so they combined forces.
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