‘It’s an icon, they say’

In March 1979, newlyweds Mario and Kay Savaidis decided to take a gamble on a small restaurant in Washington.

Now after more than 41 years of owning and operating Dino's Pizza and Steakhouse, the couple is selling the business and retiring.

'My husband is 76, and I'm 66,” Kay said. 'You've got to enjoy some of your life.”

Mario and Kay are natives of Cincinnati.

Mario worked at a restaurant, and Kay was a keypunch operator for American Laundry Machinery.

'The guy he worked with at the restaurant decided that he wanted to come this way to see about opening a restaurant,” Kay recalled. 'He decided he wanted to do it. He came in looked at it. He said, ‘You know, I'd like to have a partner.'”

Kay and Mario traveled to Iowa to see the restaurant, George's Pizza and Steakhouse, first-hand and kicked around the idea.

The couple, along with their partner, Dino, had no family in Iowa but figured Cincinnati was only a 10-hour drive.

'We decided to do it,” Kay said. 'In March 1979, we decided to make the move.”

They had their wedding, then left Ohio for a new adventure in Iowa.

While Mario and Dino ran the restaurant, now Dino's Pizza and Steakhouse, Kay managed the State Theatre.

Mario and Kay fell in love with their new home.

'We decided we would stay,” Kay said. 'It was a nice little town, quaint, and people were friendly.”

However, Dino did not feel the same way.

'It was too cold in the winter, and they missed their family a lot,” Kay said.

So, Dino sold his share of the business to Mario and Kay and moved his family back to Ohio.

Kay left the theater and came to work full-time at the restaurant, but the restaurant's name stayed the same.

Running a small family business is not without its drawbacks.

Mario and Kay have a son and daughter, and the couple missed a lot of their children's events while they were growing up.

'When they were growing up, we couldn't attend a lot of sporting events and things like that, because this had to come first,” Kay said. 'That made it a little hard. We did what we could, but we missed out on some things with our children growing up.”

She said that missing events comes with owning a restaurant.

”When you own a restaurant, you've got to be here, or that's the way we have done it,” Kay said. 'We wanted to be here to make sure things were being done properly and working right. That's just the way we've done it all these years.”

Now, the couple is hoping to use their newfound free time in retirement to spend time with their children, who are both grown.

'We just now had our first grandchild on Oct. 24 in Cedar Rapids – a little girl,” Kay said. 'We plan on going to see her. We have a daughter in Des Moines, so we'll be going to see her some.

'Just those kinds of things for right now, because I don't think it's really safe to be doing a lot of things. We'd like to do something, but we're not going to right away.”

They will miss their customers, though.

'We're going to miss the people,” Kay said. 'We have very supportive people. It's phenomenal. The 41 years says it.

'I don't think there's a whole lot of restaurants that have done that for that long a period. Even during times right now, it's unbelievable.”

They believe they are leaving Dino's in good hands though.

Jacob Brown, who will take over ownership on Monday, has worked at Dino's for more than 10 years.

'He's interested in continuing on the way it is,” Kay said. 'He wants to do it exactly the way we're doing it. That's his plan.

'It's important to us, and it's important to our customers. They're all telling us that.

'It's an icon, they say.”

While Sunday will be Mario and Kay's final day as owners, there will be a celebration at the restaurant on Saturday night.

'Our daughter is coming from Des Moines,” Kay said. 'I don't know what she has planned, except that I'm told it involves a cake and a step-ladder.”

And to the generations of families who have supported Dino's over the years, Kay said simply, 'Thank you very, very much.”