This is the first time I have written in to any newspaper, but after reading Dan Foley’s letter, I felt overwhelmingly compelled to do so.
Having enjoyed Petersen’s Restaurant and Ice Cream for the better part of 61 years, I found it sad that you gave such a mean-spirited and factually flawed letter editorial status with its own by-line. I would like to comment on Mr. Foley’s arguments.
First, cleanliness is a health issue and should be addressed by the village by way of periodic inspections. They should close any establishment not meeting health and safety standards. Since they didn’t close Peterson’s, I would assume the restaurant passed. I do not find the place particularly dirty. Moreover, the washroom, which is an important part of my own standard of hygiene, is always nice and clean. Beyond that, I rather enjoyed the decorum with articles and old pictures on the walls showing the history of our village. I really don’t care if they have spanking new wallpaper or not.
Second, my own experience with the wait staff has always been positive, and I can most likely provide just as much hearsay evidence to that effect as Mr. Foley did to the contrary. In fact, Mr. Bartelson is usually there himself, overseeing the operation and being personally involved with the patrons.
Third, Petersen’s has not been just “about ice-cream” since 1931. A large part of the experience was having a good meal, followed by a choice of several great ice cream desserts. Try that at Giordano’s or Jimmy’s. I, for one, am not “confused” by the addition of beer and wine or anything else to the menu. I simply look for what I want, and disregard the rest.
Fourth, a Sweet Shoppe sells sweets, usually as many different kinds as possible. If you expect to not find them there, you will naturally be disappointed. And if you do not want your child to ask for sweets, I suggest you do not take them to a Sweet Shoppe.
Fifth, applying the logic of “core competency” to our local retail operations, 7-Eleven would sell only Slurpees; Walgreens, greeting cards; and BP and Citgo, gasoline because that’s what they do best.
To my knowledge, Jack Welch never ran a restaurant. He was very good at shutting down or selling the divisions of GE that were not extremely profitable, thus apathetically impacting the lives of tens of thousands of workers. He also regularly fired the bottom 10 percent of his producers. But he did have a great bottom line! I don’t know how he would have run Petersen’s. Perhaps he would not have hired high school help. Welch did have an original development, however. He started NBCi, whose stock ended up going from 88 to 2, but that’s another story.
Petersen’s has probably been in more newspapers, and featured on more television shows, than any other establishment in Oak Park, and not unfavorably. I salute Daryl Bartelson and his family for all of their efforts, financial and otherwise, trying to keep this great 87-year Oak Park tradition alive.
There could be any number of reasons why a particular restaurant or business might fail through no fault of the owner. The overabundance of dining and ice cream establishments in the village might be one. The escalation of costs, e.g. raw commodities, taxes or salaries which must be passed on to the consumer or absorbed by the owner, is another. Also, it doesn’t help if the village chooses to subsidize some places and not others, which seems to be the case in Oak Park.
Finally, I feel bad that I took Petersen’s for granted all these years and also that I could have supported them more than I did. It’s like the old Rock ‘n’ Roll song says, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
