Be mine… and my business partner? Stories from 4 couples who own Colombian restaurants. | Food news and features

Two decades ago, Tom and Jane Sedio sold their New England diner and vowed never to work together again.

But “God had other plans,” Jane said.

All these years later, the couple is celebrating Valentine’s Day with heart-shaped pizzas — just like Tom made to impress Jen after their first date — at Irmo’s Pizzeria and the food truck they co-own.

Like many couples who own and run restaurants together, the Sidios, owners of Little House Pizza and Catering, know the challenges and triumphs of co-owning a restaurant.

For the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday, The Free Times sat down with four couples who run Columbia-area restaurants together. While the details vary, the thread that ties each story together is this: the highs are exceptionally high, the lows can be devastatingly low, but there’s no one you’d rather work with than their sweetness.

Sparks go off in the kitchen

The Sedios met 25 years ago while working at a pizza restaurant in Massachusetts. A few years and a wedding later, the couple bought a local diner and ran into a pile of bills and their relationship was strained.

“We were at the point where we had to call it quits,” Jane said.

The couple moved their family to the Columbia area and stayed away from restaurant ownership for a long time.

But a few years ago, Tom envisioned a pizza shop on wheels, and when Covid-19 sidelined that plan, Jane stepped in. Now, despite their engagement 20 years ago, Tom and Jane are working together again, time at a brick-and-mortar pizza shop and a nearby catering company.

Megan and Kevin McDonald, owners of Il Giorgio on Devine Street, also found love in the restaurant business, a whiskey distillery in Utah.

“I was (already) dating Megan and I had a little crush on her,” Kevin said. “And then I found out (at the distillery where I worked) that she was applying, so I was really excited.”

The McDonalds bounced back and forth between South Carolina and Utah, but the couple settled in Columbia to raise their family. When the couple decide to move back, Kevin calls his old boss at Il Giorgi and hires him as his chef.

McDonald’s took over ownership of the restaurant in December last year when the previous owners retired.

Hell’s (and Heaven’s) Kitchen

Although they have worked together before, owning a restaurant is a whole new adventure, McDonalds said.

“(The difference is) now she can tell me what to do,” Kevin said.

Danny and Tracy Katsikis, owners of Our Daily Bread Co., said working together can be a challenge because there’s a fear that they’ll get mad at each other.

“But that ends,” Tracy said. “Nobody’s perfect. Right? Don’t leave salt out of a recipe or… I rolled something wrong and the brioche didn’t come out.”

But when they were upset with each other, they learned how to walk away and cool down before they got angry, Danny said.

The McDonalds echoed this sentiment, adding that they don’t try to read too much into each other’s voices, especially in writing.

“I’m a chef, and sometimes we lose our temper,” Kevin said, “and I really wanted to change that dynamic.”

On the other hand, each partner in a marriage knows how to react to stress.

“We know how to talk to each other,” Megan said.

Knowing your business partner like you know your spouse makes division of labor easier, Tracy says.

“We’ve been together for a long time,” she said. “So we already know where a good part of our strengths are.”

And working with a spouse provides a level of trust that’s hard to find in any other business partner, says Lil’ House of Pizza’s Tom.

“I know between me and her, nothing will happen,” said Tom. “And this is what gives us, I think, a lot of security.”

Trade secrets

Each couple agreed that pursuing a romantic relationship while working together full-time can be challenging, but they all had their secrets for making their marriages fun and exciting.

Cynthia and Dennis Harris, owners of the Sky Bistro Lounge near Main Street, found their marriage strong after jumping into the restaurant business.

The couple met in the army and decided to try their hand at the restaurant business almost 40 years into their marriage. Dennis bought the Washington Street property and renovated it during the outbreak.

Cynthia works closely with her husband to keep the restaurant running smoothly, and says the challenge of running Sky Bistro has brought the two closer together.

“We come down here all the time,” Cynthia said.

The Sedios carve out time for each other in their busy lives and plan vacations every few months.

“We’re the only ones getting somewhere,” Jane said. “We went to Asheville the first week of January and we wined and dined the days we were there. We didn’t have to make a bed there. It was just him and me wanting and enjoying ourselves.”

At the end of the day, sharing moments with each other is worth the challenges that come with co-owning a restaurant, the McDonalds said.

“When everything finally came together in our soft opening, I looked across the room and saw Megan talking to everyone,” Kevin said. “It was just such a high, okay this is amazing.”