**Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article stated the restaurant has been in Bill Foreman’s family for three generations. Foreman is actually not blood related to the Duberek family; his aunt married Paul Duberek, and Foreman bought the restaurant from Paul.
By Megan Alderman-Person
On busy Broad Street in Meriden, cars are constantly pulling over to a place that has been quietly bustling for more than 50 years. The small sign and side entrance may be easy to miss for newcomers, but it has become a well-known establishment since its opening in 1959. Even with the change in owners, little has changed over time in Ted’s Restaurant and the family hopes to keep it that way.
Foreman, leaning on a stainless steel table in a narrow storage room behind the kitchen, explains that family businesses require a lot of work and motivation. Foreman previously worked in the golf business, but took over the restaurant after his uncle, Paul Duberek, had back surgery. While Foreman hopes to keep the business in his family for years to come, Foreman says he is unsure who will take over the business after him.
“It’s tough; it’s a different climate,” Foreman says, while tapping the “ignore” button repeatedly to quiet an incoming call. “You have to be dedicated to what you do. We’re open seven days a week and you always have to be a phone call away.”
Like Foreman, 66 percent of family business owners worry about filling the gaps in their businesses in several years, according to a 2015 family business survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Foreman has a 10-year-old daughter, but his immediate family is not involved in running Ted’s Restaurant.
“It’s really a tough call,” Foreman says. “I would hope that we can keep it going, whether it’s my family or my uncle’s family.”
Paul’s father and the founder of Ted’s Restaurant, Ted Duberek, decided to open a restaurant that specialized in steamed cheeseburgers after seeing them made in the diner where he was working. Although Foreman credits his long-term employees and loyal fan base for Ted’s Restaurant’s continued success, he says he loses business with every new restaurant that opens in the area.
Foreman says it is difficult to keep up with the advertising knowledge that chain restaurants have. The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey again shows that Foreman is not alone, as 47 percent of family businesses say that the need for new technology will be a substantial challenge for them in five years’ time.
Foreman is trying to keep up, and a presence on social media has helped new people find out about Ted’s Restaurant.
“How else would you expect someone from Texas to find us, you know, 20 years ago?” Foreman says.
Through their social media accounts, new and old customers can also follow the location of the restaurant’s new food truck, one of the upgrades Foreman has made to the business. Foreman also recently purchased a trailer, which will add to his mobile food fleet.
His two business partners, Scott Backus and Christian Parisi, opened another Ted’s Restaurant in Cromwell nearly five years ago. With these new developments, Foreman says he has never had a moment where he did not think the original Ted’s Restaurant would survive.
“You can’t duplicate the original, whether it’s our business or anyone else’s,” Foreman says. “Hopefully over time, we’ll grow it even more.”
Megan Alderman-Person is a senior journalism student at Quinnipiac University. She is writing about food this spring. She can be reached at megan.alderman-person@quinnipiac.edu.
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