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A&W Set For Mid May Opening

Tuesday May 8, 2007

By Mike Cameron

    The Middlebury A&W season is about to begin and this year there will be a new chapter in the last remaining A&W in all of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

    As we mentioned last week in this two part feature, Tony Neri and David Nienow will begin to write that next chapter over the next couple of weeks and both are excited about the prospects for the business.

    “Solon, Sarah and Kim have done a great job keeping the A&W a popular summer spot for folks in Middlelbury and from around the region,”  David Nienow explained during a recent interview with The Voice.  He was referring to Solon G. Colburn, Sarah Cassidy and Kim Smith who recently sold the A&W property to Tony and Nancy Neri.  The Neris will also own the A&W franchise, purchased from Yum Brands Inc.  David has purchased the business assets and goodwill and will lease the A&W franchise from the Neri’s.  David brings an impressive, life-long food service and restaurant resume to the business.  He is excited about the venture and looks forward to opening the door on Route 7, South, day one.

    Nienow and Neri have joined talents in several successful food related business ventures since 1980, all of them successful.

    Currently David keeps more than busy.  As the owner of Ramunto’s Pizza and a Vermont based specialty butter manufacturing business, he is a whirling dervish of positive energy and ideas.    

    Referring to the new A&W venture Nienow is both candid and introspective.  “The A&W here in  Middlebury has always been a hometown favorite.  I knew this when I bought the business.  We will bring along the black bean and the veggie burger and we will also provide the traditional A&W touch to the menu,” he explained.

    That traditional touch will include what people in the fast food industry  call “putting the fast into fast food,” a  realization that folks are in the habit of getting in and out with time being of the essence for many.  “We will have the 50’s and 60’s look and still attempt to match the pace of 2007 in our service.”

    Like any truly successful owner/ operator Nienow has a keen eye and ear for what the public wants.  “With the A&W we will have a variety of burgers and dogs and we will get some veggies involved as well.”  Looking at the past and the future his goal is to get a blend and have some of the best of both worlds.  

    Nienow is also pleased to see that A&W will be going on national television by  the summer of this year with an campaign to promote their Papa Burger.  The national exposure alone is priceless when you consider that his business is practically one of a kind of its unique type in New England.

    “When Tony Neri explained what he had in mind and I went down to the stand and looked around inside and out, I got goose bumps,” David says with a big smile.  Back in Wisconsin, when Nienow was growing up, A&W’s were plentiful.    

    “Understand the customers needs from the customers point of view,” said motivational marketer, Don Beverage, back in the 1990’s.

    It’s the kind of philosophy that Nienow and Neri still believe applies today.

    The famous A&W basket meals will  continue to be served.  There will be plenty of burgers and dogs and maybe even a 1/4-pound dog for those who might want more than one but not quite two.

    Shakes and floats will be back and most importantly those timeless mugs of ice cold frothy A&W Root Beers, started back in 1919 in Lodi California by Roy Allen, will be back for another summer in Middlebury.  

    “We will  also have a great staff.  My daughter Mary will be the key management person in the business.  We also have some folks who have been  on staff here before.  We are going to have some fun, with some fun food that I think will appeal to a wide variety of customers.  The community is excited about the project and we are too, the momentum is building”  Nienow explained.

    David will continue to own and operate his pizza business ,Ramunto’s, and the specialty butter enterprise he owns  here in Middlebury.  His son Michael, who is ready to graduate from Paul Smith College in the Adirondacks, will join the family business this summer and  eventually take over management of Ramunto’s.  

    Asked to comment about the chemistry  needed to make the A&W project work and work well for both Tony Neri and David Nienow.  David is quick to point out, “We compliment each other in different skill areas and we both love the food business.”

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