Chamber honors Malverne Diner manager

Each year, the Nassau County Council of Chambers of Commerce recognizes 40 merchants and professionals as the organization’s Small Businesspeople of the Year for their contributions to their hometown chambers and communities. Among those honored during a special breakfast at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury on Oct. 21 was Malverne Diner manager Debbie Dimitrakakis.

Dimitrakakis, who has been a Malverne Merchants and Professional Association trustee for five years, said that her husband, Tommy, and brother-in-law, Jimmy, bought the diner in January 2006 and have since done extensive renovations.

“The booths, the tiles, the bathrooms, the storage rooms — all have been upgraded,” Debbie said. The diner’s involvement in the community is equally extensive, with participation in the village’s annual Easter egg hunt, holiday lighting, Memorial Day parade and more, she added.

Julie Marchesella, the outgoing president of the Council of Chambers, said that the honorees have given back to their communities through volunteer work, either through their local chambers or community organizations. They represent “Main Street’s finest,” she said.

During the first several years of the Dimitrakakis family’s ownership of the diner, it suffered from the previous owner’s bad reputation, despite its community outreach. “It took us a lot to get past the stigma of the past owners: the bad attitude, bad service, the bad food,” Debbie recalled. “But once we did, things fell into place.”

That new beginning, and newfound success, came, strangely enough, during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. “We were the only place from Long Beach to Malverne that was open because we hadn’t lost power,” Dimitrakakis recalled. “So at that point, people began realizing, ‘Wow, I’ve been in this area for years and I never knew you existed.’”

It was then that people began discovering what are now some of the diner’s biggest sellers: its Greek salad, corned beef hash, and mische salad. “People love our mische salad because it’s light and healthy,” she said. “And all our soups are homemade. There’s nothing out of a can here.”

Dimitrakakis said her husband and brother-in-law’s family had been in the restaurant business in Greece, and that they enjoy working in a small diner because it’s more manageable and personal. In addition to Dimitrakakis, the other honorees include other restaurateurs, a legislator, a musician, a therapist and owners of businesses ranging from a nail salon to a gas station and a leather-goods repair shop.

The Council of Chambers, which now has 6,000 members, formed in 1979, when officials from the Baldwin, East Meadow, Franklin Square, Freeport, Garden City, Great Neck, Hempstead, Hicksville, Levittown, Long Beach, Massapequa, Merrick, Rockville Centre and Westbury chambers, and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce of Long Island, gathered at a workshop and discussed the need to pool their resources.