August 24, 2024 / By mobanmarket
HATBORO, PA —The owner of The Dish is ready to move on.
The popular South York Road eatery is up for sale as owner Jackie Evangelista makes plans for a future after struggling to make ends meet over the past six months with changes in her life and the high costs of running a restaurant these days as a small business.
Evangelista, The Dish’s owner for 12 years, is doing double duty.
With the new school year starting, she also works in the Hatboro-Horsham School District as the food service manager at Crooked Billet Elementary School for the past three years.
Evangelista is trying to sell The Dish. But she also wants it to remain a staple of the downtown district for years to come.
“I feel like this is the hub of Hatboro,” she said in an interview with Patch over breakfast last weekend.
But the past five months have been a struggle, she said.
There’s been difficulty hiring help. And while everyone has felt the pinch of prices at the grocery store, Evangelista has also dealt with higher prices.
For example, eggs —a necessity for any breakfast business —were about $1.64 a dozen when she started. Now, eggs cost around $3 a dozen.
She’s abandoned Coca-Cola products, even venturing to Reading to find a soda that’s a lot cheaper.
“I find myself running to places like Restaurant Depot and Sam’s Club for cheaper products,” she said.
The Dish has also unveiled new menu items like shrimp and grits, different skillets, different fruit toppings for waffles, and sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast. There are also complimentary Bloody Marys and Mimosas over the weekend.
For lunch, there are also a few new features: Three or four different burgers and Quesadillas.
Evangelista even hired a new chef where everything like the sausage gravy and biscuits, soups, and such.
She almost sold The Dish.
Evangelista said she had a buyer back out a few weeks ago after not being able to obtain finances, just another sign of an economy is which many chains and local eateries like Tonelli’s Pizza Pub and The Farm and Fisherman are closing.
“It’s upsetting,” she said. “Even if someone buys it, I want to be a staple here.”
Evangelista has prided herself in building a strong reputation for The Dish, starting during the pandemic where The Dish dished out free meals for 12 weeks to about 20,000 people.
The eatery is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast and lunch every day except when The Dish is closed on Monday.
Anyone interested in buying The Dish should contact Gary A. Roberts Jr. at Long and Foster Real Estate in Blue Bell at 267-221-3174 or email at [email protected]
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