<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2">http://www.mddailyrecord.com/archives/5_190_wednesday/businessnews/165089-1.html<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><B>Volume:</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"> 5 </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><B> Number:</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"> 190_wednesday<BR>
February 16, 2005<BR>
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Business as usual at Pete’s</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="3"><I><B>New owner says no changes in store for diner</I></B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><BR>
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By</FONT><FONT COLOR="#234669" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"> KARA KRIDLER</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><I>Daily Record Business Writer</I></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><I>Pete’s Grille, pictured above, has been a mainstay in North Baltimore’s Waverly neighborhood for 25 years. Its new owner, who bought the business last year, said little will change at the breakfast hotspot.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><B> Photo by Max Franz</I></B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><BR>
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It’s been called a regular place where everyone is welcome, a plate of three pancakes and bacon is $5, a couple hundred regulars are called by their first names, and most recently where Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps got his 3,000-plus calorie breakfast while training.<BR>
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</I></B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2">But for the first time in 13 years, Pete’s Grille, a mainstay in the</FONT><FONT COLOR="#234669" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2"><B> Waverly neighborhood of North Baltimore</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" LANG="0" SIZE="2">, doesn’t have Lou and Char Sharkey as fixtures.<BR>
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The Sharkeys gave up 3:30 a.m. wake-up calls late last month and handed over their spatulas, grills and waffle iron to new owners David Stahl and Darlene Castle.<BR>
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Stahl and Castle, long-time friends, officially bought Pete’s in August, but the Sharkeys stayed around until a few weeks ago.<BR>
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“Pete’s had a good feel when I came in here,” said Stahl. “It seemed like a place that I would enjoy, and in fact, I really do. I think it is all about the people who come in.”<BR>
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Stahl was never a customer at Pete’s, located at 3130 Greenmount Ave., before buying the eatery. He said he stumbled across it in his search for a new business to buy. He did not disclose the sales price.<BR>
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Neither Stahl nor Castle has previous experience running a restaurant — not even a snack bar.<BR>
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Stahl was an information technology consultant for the past seven years. Prior to that, he owned an executive search firm. Castle was a mortgage banker.<BR>
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“I have always had my own business. … But the only cooking experience I have gotten was at [Pete’s]. Lou worked with me for the past [several] months,” Stahl said.<BR>
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Aside from losing Lou Sharkey, Pete’s head cook, Stahl has kept the exact same staff.<BR>
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“The only difference is that now I am a cook,” he said. Stahl is accompanied by another cook who worked for the Sharkeys.<BR>
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Stahl said Pete’s has been “business as usual” since the Sharkeys left. “And this is our objective,” he said.<BR>
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Stahl plans to keep the same hours, same menu, same prices and the same overall feel at Pete’s.<BR>
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“No changes are planned. This is a formula that works and I don’t want to tweak it at all,” Stahl said. Even the annual pancake-eating contest is still scheduled for the fall.<BR>
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Customers have been very responsive to the way Pete’s is run, Stahl said. This is one of the reasons Stahl asked the Sharkeys to stay on for six months after the sale.<BR>
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“This is a place with a strong relationship between the customers and the owners, which is very important,” Stahl said. “I wanted [the Sharkeys] to help transition those relationships — and it worked. We haven’t missed a beat.”<BR>
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Stahl said he has even gotten used to rising before 4 a.m. “It’s really no problem at all. I thought it would be tough, but it’s not,” he said.<BR>
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The Sharkeys wanted to find an owner who would do a good job with the restaurant, said Winkie Campbell-Notar, manager of the Waverly Main Street, an initiative to revitalize the urban commercial district in the area where Pete’s is located.<BR>
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“Pete’s Grille is one of our destination businesses in Waverly,” Campbell-Notar said. “It’s a great restaurant that brings in folks from all over the city, county and even farther.”</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="4"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="4"></FONT></HTML>