By Kelsey Durham
After more than four decades in business, the owner of Douglaston Deli has decided to step down and pass the business to his oldest son.
Richard Walters, who has run the store, at 44-23 Douglaston Parkway since 1977, will soon be retiring and his son Matt will take over as owner. Richard began the long chapter in his life in 1972 when he took a job working at the deli. Five years later, he bought the store and officially became a business owner.
“I had worked in delis before and always wanted to own my own business,” Richard Walters said. “So when the opportunity came, I took it.”
In 1995, a teenage Matt Walters started working at his father’s business, helping out behind the counter and with other customer service tasks. He left for a short period to attend college at SUNY Cortland, but today, 19 years later, Matt is still happily employed at the deli where he grew up.
“I went to school because you never want to rule that out, but I love seeing my dad here and how much he loves coming to work every day,” he said. “This is the only job I’ve ever had and I always knew I wanted to take over some day.”
During his time spent at the deli, Matt has learned the ins and outs of the business from his father and his business partner, Robert Brancato, who became part owner in 1998. He learned his father’s recipes when he started cooking about seven years ago and is now looking forward to taking over his leadership role.
The deli features salads, sandwiches, wraps, breakfast items and eight different varieties of soups every day, all made completely from scratch. In the 37 years that Richard has owned Douglaston Deli, he has closed his store just once a year, on Christmas Day. His commitment and dedication to remain open, even during the most difficult times, is something he said he takes great pride in.
Through every stretch of undesirable weather the area has received over the last four decades, Richard has vowed to find a way to keep his store open for the customers who depend on him, and he has not disappointed. Even during Superstorm Sandy, which hit the city in 2012, he said he did everything he could to make sure he was able to open the deli.
“Sometimes it would take five or six hours to get there during blizzards, but I made it,” he said. “A few times I even drove all the way to Brooklyn for milk and bread because the community was so snowed in. It didn’t even go through my mind that I might not be opening and people loved that.”
Matt said he is excited to be able to finally take over the business, but he will miss working with his father like he has every day for the past 19 years.
“He taught me everything and I’ll miss him being here,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to building even more relationships with even more customers.”
Owning a restaurant is not easy, and Richard said he has gone many years without ever being able to take a vacation. Now that he has decided to retire, he said he will most look forward to spending more time with his family, including his three young grandchildren.
There are many things about the business he said he will miss, like not being there every day, but none greater than his customers.
“Thank you to all of them for their friendship and patronage,” he said. “Not one day did I ever say, ‘I have to go to work now.’ It’s been a pleasure, and after 42 years, I think that’s enough.”
For more information about the store, follow Douglaston Deli on Twitter at @Douglaston_Deli.
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
