Say-Boy Restaurant to reopen in new location following fire

FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) - A red-haired smiling face is hanging on the wall of a soon-to-be reopened restaurant in Fairmont.

It is the face of a survivor.

The original sign that hung outside of Say-Boy Restaurant when it first opened in 1960 survived the late-night March fire that caused extensive damage to the West Side restaurant.

On March 3 at around 11:30 p.m., a call came that there was a fire at Say-Boy Restaurant. The damage to the restaurant was significant.

“The rest of it was just melted; the whole inside is just a big charcoal blob,”?owner Kenny Sabo said of the restaurant.

Sabo said the fire marshal told him the cause of the fire was the electrical equipment in the attic.

The sign was in the back room of the restaurant, along with a large metal spoon and fork, which are now hanging in the restaurant’s new location, Sabo said.

Sabo took over the restaurant in 2000 from his uncle Albert Sabo, who opened it in 1960.

The fire hasn’t stopped Sabo in his quest to reopen Say-Boy. He heard about a space for rent between Big Lots and Wright’s Dawgs on Country Club Road.

Sabo rented the space and he, his restaurant manager Ellen Gotses and the employees have been working to get the space ready for the restaurant to reopen.

The restaurant will keep its old operating hours of 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sunday, Sabo said.

“It’s coming together,” Gotses said about the restaurant.

The employees have done and helped a lot she said.

The new space was an existing restaurant, and a lot of the tables and chairs and some of the equipment was already there, Sabo said.

“I had an opportunity to keep my people working until I?decided what to do,” Sabo said of why he decided to rent a new location. “If I would have lost all my staff we couldn’t have done this, because the heart of the business is the staff.”

Sabo is still working with the insurance company, so he had to use his personal capital to reopen the restaurant, he said.

He had to buy six pieces of kitchen equipment including a grill, friers and refrigeration equipment. He had to have the rest of the equipment that was left in the space repaired and other repairs as well, said.

The walls have been painted and new Tiffany lighting has bene put in. Booths have also been added, he said.

“There’s shades of Say-Boy here,” Sabo said.

The equipment and the seating is new, but the staff is the same.

All the staff but one was able to come back, Gotses said. There are a total of 32 employees.

“We don’t have a lot of turnover; a lot of our staff has been with us for a while,” Gotses said. “We’re like family.”

The pay is above average and everyone has a place in the business. The staff members all fit together, Sabo said.

The kitchen is smaller in the new space so there will be a few changes to the menu, but they are not set in stone yet, he said.

Say-Boy has received a lot of help to get open again.

V&W?Electric, Altman’s, Greg Dunn’s Refrigeration and all the food vendors all offered whatever Say-Boy needed to get going again.

“Greg Dunn of Dunn’s Refrigeration really, really did a lot,” he said. “He’s a good guy.”

Relocating has been very challenging, Sabo said. The move has provided a lot of opportunities as well, he said.

The building that housed Say-Boy for more than more than 50 years will have to be torn down, according to Sabo.

“I’d like to rebuild another Say-Boy,” but he has to see how things go, Sabo said.

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Information from: Times West Virginian, https://www.timeswv.com