New Jersey Nightly News; 40; A Closer Look: Labor Day Essay - Diner

Labor Day is of course a misnomer. Nowadays it's actually workless Monday. It's when the only assembly line is building a sandcastle and the secretarial pool is taking a bit but it wasn't always such a lazy day. Peter McGraw hire the Camden carpenter who invented the holiday in 1880 to invision date as an occasion to pay active tribute to the industrial spirit in the late 19th century hard work seem to be taking America as immigrants and the nation along with them to almost dizzying heights of success. The first Labor Day celebrated strong backs and blistered hands with marches and religious ceremonies around that time William Jennings Bryan summed up the common man's life story. Quote He is bored he works he dies. It's fitting that today our closer look team visits a working man. As a matter of fact he's on the job today while most everyone else is taking it easy. His name is Konstantinos lucky he'll tell us he's from an island of iOS and Greece. In America. He's called God.

His place of business is almost exactly halfway between New York and Philadelphia. It's called the colonial diner. On the outside instead of chrome and seven course dinner is approaching $10. Gus prefers to call it a restaurant. It's his fourth diner. He bought it with his brother 11 years ago. Now he spends over 10 hours a day seven days a week there. You have to have to make the kitchen. Then sometimes. When you're busy in the standing room to blow away. Something maybe well done to.

Your. Business Let's hope it's not a hamburger at a diner and the man who runs it need more than a lot of cars passing by outside to make it. A gimmick or two if they can help it makes the difference. This is one of Gus's gimmicks. A fully automated orange juice or a. Fresh orange juice helps squeeze a lot of customers away from breakfast with the competition. The other gimmick is pastry. The most successful day. He died yesterday. Why. Because the America. You know people love. Song down west that calories. Was a. Little better. Place on the weekend. And we found very. Very successful with that special way street. We're about

40 to 55 years. Gus says his other secret is to employ his own family. That way things get done right. His brother Lee is his partner. His 23 year old son John serves as head butcher and chef. His wife Catherine is a sometime hostess. And serving food is a family tradition. My father has a restaurant Tyler and I and. You can say I was been on a top international match but I was a part of the. Abscess. And I started young and seven eight years old after school at the back and. That's how you know men. When you study you know you learn the trade. And once you learn how to do. The different. You know you have to understand one thing that in this country.

The United States or the nationality is so. Different from the one gets into the other. Gus came to this country in 1950 and worked as a dishwasher in a diner of course. Soon he became a chef. When he took over the colonial in 1968 business wasn't a piece of cake. There was nothing here but there was a farm and he started to grow faster and the less time was the gasoline rationing. Oh. But. Me and him working together. My son in the summertime after. High school. And the fall family together to survive.

There's a reason for six. Seven thirty. Sure now basking in the kind of success that's a combination of good business and good luck. His back lot a Greek pastry are in demand in Hawaii two moles moved in on either side of his restaurant. Still there's not enough time even on Labor Day to celebrate his good fortune. Labor Day is. A day. For their work. Questionable. But then you know it's there for me for my brother. We're going to have to be here.