Venus de Milo owner says the clock has run out on take-out business

SWANSEA — “Hope springs eternal,” poet Alexander Pope wrote, but even battlers like Monte C. Ferris have their limit.

The sole owner of the landmark Venus de Milo banquet facility and Empire Grille restaurant at 75 Grand Army Highway announced last year that he was closing down and was trying to sell his 7.5-acre property and building for $4.75 million.

Since that pronouncement, however, the business, sometimes referred to simply as The Venus, has continued to stay open for large-size, take-out food orders Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In May, Ferris told The Herald News he was delaying plans to reopen the Empire Grille by Memorial Day at the end of that month because of difficulty finding and hiring experienced restaurant workers.

He also at the same time expressed optimism that his banquet business would be back in action before the close of 2021.

Any hint of such optimism no longer exists.

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“I’ve lost well over a million dollars,” Ferris said, as result of the cancellation of private-function events and refunds of deposits since the novel coronavirus was declared a national emergency in March of 2020.

“When you can’t find help and you’ve got a 60,000-square-foot building, take-out doesn’t support it,” he said.

COVID took its toll on restaurant business

After the emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020, the Venus de Milo’s restaurant, like other eateries throughout the state, was forced to discontinue indoor dining for more than three months.

It was also months before restrictions on indoor gatherings were relaxed and lifted.

And although its restaurant and banquet rooms remained closed, the Venus de Milo never fully shut down thanks to its take-out business. Unlike a number of other restaurants, however, its Empire Grille did not reopen.

Customers who yearned for its baked stuff lobster, Delmonico potatoes and signature minestrone soup and clam chowder were and are still able, for the time being, to stop by and pick up meal orders.

But that may not last much longer.

Ferris, 70, said he would ideally like to sell the building and real estate by the end of the year. He said he’s recently spoken to at least two potential buyers but a deal has not yet been brokered.

The property previously had been listed for sale by MG Commercial Real Estate of Providence. Its senior vice president Dan Feiner said he knows that Ferris is intent on finding a buyer.

“We will continue to work with him,” Feiner said of Ferris, during a brief phone interview.

Future Venus take-out foods venture

Ferris, who grew up in Fall River’s Flint neighborhood and now lives in Providence, said after selling the property he would like to find a location, possibly in or near Providence, to open Venus Foods, an in-house subsidiary that only does take-out orders.

Venus de Milo general manager Scott Paquette says soon after the pandemic alarm bell was rung in March of 2020, a decision was made to run the Venus Foods take-out business out of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill, a Somerset restaurant and bar owned by Ferris.

And even though Ferris shortly thereafter decided to bring the take-out business back to the Venus de Milo, Paquette says customers can still order soup, chowder and lobster bisque while having lunch or dinner in the dining room of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill.

Paquette, now 37, says he was 15 when he began working as a busboy for Monte Ferris and his older brother, Ronald, who died in 2009.

He eventually worked his way up to a managerial position while going to college and continues to help out — in addition to his full-time position as assistant director of the Bristol Community College program called Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search.

“I grew up in this place,” said Paquette, who has a master’s degree in business administration.

“I owe a lot to Ronnie and Monte,” he added.

He says Carlos Melo, who now manages the Jillian’s restaurant and bar, also got started in the food service business working as a busboy at the Venus de Milo.

How the Venus got its start

The origins of the Venus de Milo wedding venue and restaurant date back to 1959 when Fall River native Monsour Ferris, father of Monte and Ronald, opened a duckpin bowling alley at the same Route 6 site called Bowlaway.

Paquette notes, and state records bear out, that the official, incorporated name of the business is still Swansea Bowlaway Inc.

Ferris says when his father opened the bowling alley it included the Olympic Room, which served lunch and dinner and became popular for its swordfish, scrod and lobster.

But it wasn’t long before the Holiday Lanes ten-pin bowling alley, now known as AMF Somerset Lanes, opened in Somerset.

“Ten-pin beat us,” Ferris said. “We lost half our leagues to Holiday Lanes.”

It wasn’t long before his father began converting the bowling alley into a ballroom: “There was a demand for weddings,” Ferris said.

Monsour Ferris also hired Joe DaRosa as head chef, which was a position he held for 40 years.

It was DaRosa, Monte Ferris said, who created the recipe for the renowned Venus de Milo minestrone and various other popular menu offerings.

“He’s the reason for our success,” Ferris said of the late DaRosa.

Ferris and Paquette said during the heyday of the Venus, starting in the early 1970s, between 100 and 200 mostly part-time employees, at various times of the year, worked in the building.

Paquette said there was always a full-time core contingent of no more than a dozen employees. Since the coronavirus pandemic, however, he says the total number of full- and part-time workers has not exceeded a dozen.

Celebrity visitors

Show business celebrities and other famous personalities who through the decades appeared at or utilized the Venus de Milo included actor and philanthropist Danny Thomas, who helped found the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Frank Sinatra; actor Red Buttons; attorney F. Lee Bailey; and former heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes.

Fall River-born celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse as a young man worked for a while in the kitchen.

The walls in Ferris’ Swansea office are full of photos of some of those well known characters.

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Two rounds of PPP loans

Ferris and Paquette said the Venus de Milo received two Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling more than $800,000.

The $800 billion federal PPP low-interest loan program — which allowed loan forgiveness for borrowers who met requirements and forgiveness application deadline — was designed to help companies and businesses dealing with the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Paquette said the first-round loan was forgiven and that they expect the second to also qualify.

With such a small staff, Ferris said he ended up spending a portion of the PPP loan money for employee bonuses.

He also said he’s spent $150,000 on roof and other building repairs since the pandemic hit. Those expenditures, Paquette said, were not covered by the PPP loans.

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Trouble finding staff

Ferris and Paquette said they couldn’t reopen the restaurant because of a lack of serious job candidates.

Paquette said people who supposedly were looking for work would inquire and then not show up for interviews as a way of continuing to collect unemployment benefits.

Ferris said he can’t fathom why teenagers, including children of former employees, wouldn’t want to work part-time — especially since he was offering an hourly wage nearly twice of what it was a couple years ago.

“We were completely surprised we didn’t get them. It was the weirdest thing,” Ferris said.

Charles Winokoor may be reached at cwinokoor@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Swansea Venus de Milo banquet facility will not reopen, up for sale