County Seat Owners Celebrating 30 Years, Talking Retirement

Aly Delp

Aly Delp

Published May 21, 2018 4:40 am
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CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — After 30 years of running an iconic downtown restaurant, Mary and her husband Gene “Beef” Lenhart say they are thinking about hanging up their aprons.

When the Lenhart’s purchased the County Seat in May of 1988, it was already a successful downtown restaurant. It had been running under the County Seat name for eight years at that point. Previous to that, it had been Three Sons, and even earlier, it had been known as Betty’s Restaurant.

Mary had already been working there for ten years when the couple got the opportunity to purchase the business. Because of that, she was comfortable with the restaurant as it was and didn’t seek to make a lot of changes.

“I had worked here ten years; it just felt awkward making changes. It took us a while to change some things. Things did change, but I can’t even really tell you how or when. It just slowly started changing,” Mary said.

When the Lenhart’s started out, County Seat was more of a local’s diner, but over the years, though the locals kept coming, the restaurant slowly started to gain more of a following among the college students.

Now, the restaurant is as well known on campus as it is in the local area.

“I don’t know when that change started, it just happened as time went by,” Mary said.

Now, the County Seat sees the same kind of seasonal shift in clientele as many of the other downtown businesses. However, that doesn’t mean summer is a particularly slow season for them.

“Fortunately, we get campers once college leaves out. The campers from Kalyumet, Cook Forest, and other places come in. We definitely have travelers that make us part of their vacation,” explained Mary.

Another slow change that occurred as the years went by was the restaurant’s operating hours. As time went by, the restaurant began whittling down their hours a bit. Their current hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

“It’s slim hours, but this is what’s working for us right now.”

One of the things that has separated the County Seat from many other restaurants is their loyal staff. While the restaurant industry typically has a high turnover rate, the County Seat has managed to keep many of their regular staff members on for decades.

“Some of my staff has been here the whole 30 years, and the most main people have been here quite a long time. That’s where we’re really blessed is with our long-term staff,” Mary said.

The staff isn’t the only thing that stays consistent at the County Seat. From their homey breakfast and lunch items to their homemade desserts, soups, dinner rolls, sweet rolls, and breadsticks, they go more for consistency than experimentation.

“We don’t really change much. We just keep to the traditional stuff. We might add a sandwich or two but nothing too extravagant. People, especially out of towners, well, it doesn’t matter if they only get here once every ten years, it’s still the same. It makes a lot of people happy, I think.”

One thing that does seem to keep growing and evolving over the years is the decor. Anyone familiar with the County Seat can probably tell you about the multitude of eye-catching signs decorating almost every available surface inside.

“It’s just kind of become a collection. I get offered money all the time for signs, and people are always taking pictures of them. And, a lot of them are gifts, even from customers. Actually, I’d say most of them are gifts, gradually accumulated. Honestly, my house pretty much looks the same, like a little gift shop.”

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One other unexpected change that has come in the last few years was the advantage of an internet presence. Though the County Seat does not have a website, their popular Facebook page has ended up being an unexpected boon to the business.

“It’s amazing to me the reaction we’ve gotten, putting the specials up there.”

Though the restaurant is doing as well as ever, all good things must come to an end sometime, and Mary and Beef say they have begun to think about retirement.

“Any business is for sale for the right amount of money, but we haven’t actually put it out there, yet. There’s so much for sale here, and I’d hate to see an empty place,” Mary said.

“But honestly, we’re ready to be done. I hate to say that, but we are. So, if someone has some long-lost dream of owning a restaurant, we’re here.”

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