MAUMEE, Ohio — For 26 years, regulars like Gary Schroeder have shown up for the morning breakfast rush at Dino's Family Restaurant in Maumee, still enjoying every bite even after decades of visits.
"He has a great staff here," Schroeder said. "All the servers are just wonderful, and the cooks. I've never had a bad meal."
Hopefully, customers like Schroeder haven't become too attached to the building, though. Owner Dean Yakumithis said Dino's will soon have a different home.
"Our landlord has letters of intent. Someone has offered to purchase the property," Yakumithis said.
Yakumithis is only renting the property and said he knows very little about the deal. He doesn't know what the building will house after Dino's is gone.
Yakumithis said he wanted to keep the move quiet until everything was written in ink. But somewhere down the line, he said a rumor began to spread that Dino's was closing entirely. Yakumithis said that rumor is false, but it became widespread enough that some of his own staff began to believe it.
"It all came to a head," he said. "The anxiety level, the stress level of our employees was out there, and we had to do something about the problem."
So, Yakumithis decided that even with the sale unfinished, he would tell his staff what was going on. Dino's isn't closing its doors forever; it's getting a new set of doors to open.
"It was a very big collective sigh of relief," he said.
The restaurant will be moving about 500 feet away from its current location at 129 Golden Gate Plaze, Yakumithis said.
Customers like Schroeder said wherever Dino's goes, they'll follow.
"He's going across the street, my wife and I will go with him," Schroeder said. "Assuming he keeps the clam chowder on Fridays, that's the only reason I get out of bed."
Yakumithis said Dino's likely won't start to move until the first or second quarter of 2024.