Family sells Wardhurst Grille after 52 years

PEABODY – When Peter Routses graduated from Syracuse University in 1967, working in the family restaurant business wasn?t in the game plan.?I didn?t want to (work in the business),” he recalled. “The hours are horrendous. Day and night, it?s tough work. Working in a kitchen is tough. It?s seven days a week. You get done at one in the morning and you?re back in at eight in the morning.”Fast forward 50 years and Routses is preparing to turn over the keys to the Wardhurst Grille in Peabody, a restaurant that has been in his family since 1961, to new owner Spero Demakes.Demakes, like Routses, grew up in the restaurant business. His family owned Jimmy?s Allenhurst (a fixture on Route 114 in Danvers until it closed in 2010) and he currently owns Sidelines Sports Bar and Grille in Salem and Matty?s Food and Spirits in Danvers.?You get sucked in,” Routses says with a laugh when talking about following his father, George?s, footsteps.Those footsteps date back to 1944 when George Routses got out of the service and opened The Sparta restaurant on Walnut Street in the Greek section of Peabody.Routses remembers coming to the restaurant as a boy while his parents worked. . .?When I was a kid, they would give me a roll of nickels to play the pinball machines. That was my babysitter. I got all the Cokes, cherries and chips I wanted,” he said.Eventually the Routses bought the Wardhurst, which at the time was a pizza joint. Routses? uncle ran it while his father still ran The Sparta. In 1963, his father closed The Sparta after 19 years and came to The Wardhurst, got rid of the pizza and transformed it into a restaurant. Over the years, they added a room and bought an adjacent house, tore it down and expanded the parking area.At the same time, the family also owned a bar/lounge at the Northshore Mall. In 1979 it became Whaler?s Pub.?When the new owners came in the mall, they evicted me after 29 years. They wanted all major places,” Routses said..That was 20 years ago. Routses made the move to The Wardhurst and has been there ever since, eventually taking over for his father. Although his post-college plans (he had gone to Syracuse on a football scholarship, but ended up blowing out his knee) didn?t revolve around the restaurant business, the business found him.?I?m an only child. My father would say ?you better learn how to run it because you?re going to get it,?” Routses said.With retirement looming (the closing on the sale of The Wardhurst was scheduled for early this week), Routses has time to look back on not just his many years in the business, but his family?s 69 years as well.?It?s all about the people,” Routses said. “We have people who came here when my father was here. Their parents brought them in when they were kids.”Although independent restaurants have their work cut out competing against the chains, Routses said the owners? local businesses get to know their customers.?You spend time with the customer. He knows where you live. He knows your kids. He knows where you work,” Routses said, adding that the money people spend at independent establishments stays locally whereas at chains, it?s shipped out to the home office.Although Greek-American food has been a staple at The Wardhurst, with the marinated lamb shish kebab a fan favorite, Routses has adapted the menu over the years to suit the times.Routses said he gets a lot of his customers from Lynn, Marblehead and Swampscott. Years ago, when the leather factories were still humming in Peabody, the restaurant was where the workers would all come in for lunch. The crowd got young for a while and now it?s a little older.Although working in the restaurant business has required a lot of sacrifices when it comes to vacations and family time, Routses said he has had a wonderful life. He and his wife of 47 years, Sue, have two daughters, Carrie and Allison. Both are married and between them have four children. They all live nearby.?I have a beautiful family. I wouldn?t trade my life with any