END OF AN ERA
Landmark Cutillo's closes, looking for new owner or operator
LOWER POTTSGROVE » “It was time.”
That’s how John Cutillo put it, simply, when asked why he and his wife Mary had decided to close the popular restaurant that bears their family name.
Since 1948, the building and business, once known as The Sanatoga Inn, has been in Cutillo’s family. And it is for family that they made the decision to step away from it.
“We wanted to spend more time with our grandchildren,” Cutillo said in his office Friday. And given that they have more than a dozen grandkids, that sounds like a fulltime job in and of itself.
“I like to play golf, I still play basketball,” said the grayingbut-still-fit Cutillo. “And I have a grandson who wants to play golf, and a granddaughter who wants to learn.”
Mary Cutillo, his wife of 37 years, is already officially retired.
She worked as a teacher in the Perkiomen Valley School District and decided to call it a career after the district, trying to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, decided to move to virtual learning in 2020.
“She said she would give me 20 hours a week, but that soon turned into 50 hours,” he said. “She really likes to meet the people in the dining room and talk with them, make sure they’re satisfied and feel welcome.”
But between the national phenomenon of “the great resignation” — people leaving jobs or making career changes — and the difficulties of keeping a healthy workforce, the couple found themselves increasingly filling in for absent employees.
“We’d put in an ad, and no one would respond. I can’t tell you how many times my wife would come down to the restaurant for a scheduled interview and the applicant would never show up,” said Cutillo, “Who does that? You don’t even call to say you’re not going to make it, or you got another job?”
The restaurant served its last dinner to the public on Jan. 9.
“We didn’t even open for Thanksgiving this year. The staff wanted to spend it with family, but we had a good number of people for Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners,” Cutillo said.
“We had a good year,” he said. “Obviously, it’s always nice if you make good money, but we had a good year in terms of customer satisfaction too, and that’s what I care about a lot.”
The hotel part of the business will continue, although whether that will be run by Cutillo or a new owner remains an open question, he said.
Right now, efforts are underway to give the dining room a
deep cleaning and then set it back up again for display for those interested in taking over.
“It depends on who it is and how they want to run it,” said Cutillo, noting “we’ve already had a couple of calls expressing interest.”
That’s why the electronic sign along High Street also reads “Temporarily Closed.”
Cutillo insists that although he is going to take more time for his health and his family, “I’m not really retiring.”
He has several other business concerns that will still require his attention and he may even lend a hand, or offer advice, in the running of Cutillo’s.
After all, he’s worked at the place almost as long as he can remember, and “I’ve done just about every job there is to do in this place,” he said with a wry smile.