Mother Kelly’s Café
www.motherkellysli.com
Lisa Lanese and owners Mark and Glenn Gobetz
490 Chestnut st.
Cedarhurst
516-295-5421
575 Underhill Blvd.
Syosset
516-802-0333
(The newest location, a small Italian café open Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. with weekend hours in the close future. Specializing in pickup and delivery in the close surrounding area.)
In 1969, an employee of two businessmen in Cedarhurst opened a pizzeria, and soon bought the business. The employee, Marvin Gobetz, along with his wife Dorothy (AKA Momma Kelly), started a new adventure in life. With blood, sweat and determination, they managed to turn the business around. Dorothy found a balance to being a mother of three and successful business owner. Marvin ran his place with three rules: Always make the customer feel welcome, serve quality food, and give the customers what they ask for. He always made it a point to teach these three rules to his kids, day in and day out, so they would make for better people to work and be friends with. After years of success, they decided to open a “make your own” ice cream shop. With Dorothy’s desire to expand the menu to include home-style cooking, they realized that they needed to move across the street to expand. This was a desire that wasn’t only something on Dorothy’s mind, but also on the minds of all the loyal Five Towns customers. After 30 years of business and the passing away of Marvin in the 1980s, Dorothy and her adult children still agree that Marvin’s rules of business remain as the number one ingredient.
Years in business: My family has been in the restaurant business for 40 years and we are still going strong!
Business Description: We are an Italian restaurant and have been serving the Five Towns South Shore since 1969. We are now serving our customers’ 15 favorite dishes at our new Syosset location.
How did you get into this business? Mother Kelly’s has been family run for 40 years.
What is your favorite memory of doing business on LI? We started out as a small pizza mom-and-pop store and we are now third generation in the restaurant business.
How are you different from your competition? We strive to deliver great customer service and try to make everyone feel special. We really enjoy our customer base and feel grateful for everyone who has helped us become successful. We have created unique dishes throughout our years in the business, and it keeps our customers coming back.
Who is the biggest celebrity you have ever served: The biggest celebrity that we have served is George from The Apprentice, former Jets great Mark Gastineau and Vito from The Sopranos.
What is your best-selling item? We have many different items that we feel are our best, however, our customers LOVE our balsamic chicken and cream spinach pizza.
What is your favorite thing about living on LI? My favorite thing about LI is the beaches and the close proximity to Manhattan.
Hamptons or Fire Island? I love the Hamptons —the beaches are breathtakingly beautiful and the sunsets are not to be missed.
Do you have a Long Island accent? I absolutely have a Long Island accent, I’m proud to be a true Long Islander!
Billy Joel, Mariah or Run DMC? Mariah Carey has talent and a great style.