Popular Lebanon City sandwich shop closing, looking for new ownership
After over 70 years in business, a downtown Lebanon favorite lunch spot, Gus Deraco’s Italian Sandwiches will be closing down.
Located at 714 Cumberland St., the restaurants last day will be on March 31.
The business has been for sale since before the announcement, and manager Jenn McCurdy said that there are several potential buyers interested.
Gus Deraco’s roots go back to 1948, when Gus Deraco himself began making sandwiches out of his parents’ garage. Two years later, he began traveling around with his hoagie wagons, serving his subs to local factory workers.
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The restaurant was opened in September of 1978 and was originally on 8th Street and has been serving subs, cheesesteaks, hot dogs and hamburgers to locals ever since.
McCurdy said that part of the reason that the business is closing before its sale is that Sandy Wentzel, a former owner of the business and current manager for 28 years, announced her retirement last week. Another employee will be taking maternity leave.
With those two leaving, they won’t have enough staff to stay open until the business is sold.
The business has stayed in the family, going from Deraco to his daughter, Wentzel, and is now owned by her stepson, who made the decision to sell the restaurant after the passing of his father and because of Wentzel's retirement, according to McCurdy.
“We want to thank all of our loyal customers over the years for coming in,” McCurdy said. “We’ve enjoyed getting to know them and their families. We have had a lot of regulars, we’ve watched their kids grow up.”
McCurdy said that the families hopes whoever buys it continues to stick with what they’ve built for the community.
The business announced that they would post any new developments on sales or reopening with new owners on their Facebook, Gus Deraco's Italian Sandwiches.
Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on Twitter @djlarlham
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Popular Lebanon City sandwich shop closing, looking for new ownership
