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The end of an era in St. Pete when the Munch dinner closed
Kylie Tracy reports
ST. Petersburg, Fla. – A St. Petersburg staple is closing its doors after 70 years in business.
Munch’s Restaurant and Sundries closed Dec. 30. Restaurant owner Larry Munch said his parents started the restaurant in 1952. He bought the restaurant in the 1990s and is now retiring.
“When I was running around here in diapers, people would come in and tell me they could remember,” he said. “I don’t remember this, but I remember washing dishes when I was 12 or 14 years old.”
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Munch said his mother lived to be 98 and worked at the restaurant until she was 88.
“In her last weeks with us, she said, ‘Larry, don’t work until you’re 88, retire early and enjoy life,’ and that’s what I’m going to do,” Munch said.
Munch said it will be bittersweet to close the doors for the last time next week.
“For two weeks, two to three weeks, and then suddenly I don’t think it hurts, maybe one morning I go and wake up, “Oh, I don’t have to go to work. “And I think I’ll miss the camaraderie of the customers and everything. That’s probably what I’ll miss the most,” he said.
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“It’s very rewarding. We’ve raised a lot of families here. I have employees who have been with me for 28 years. I have people who have worked for me for 38 years. They’ve raised their families here,” Munch said.
On Wednesday, customers thronged the restaurant. For most of the morning and part of the afternoon, the line was out the door. They took one last photo of what many call the St. Pete Institute.
“I’ve been here forever as long as he’s been here, so he’s got a lot of memories for me,” Nancy Daugherty said.
Daugherty said she has been coming to Munch since she was a child. Her parents brought her at least once a week.
“My dad always sat at the end of the bar on the other side. They had a stool for him, so he sat there,” she said. “He’d bring me, and he’d always have his favorite cheeseburger, and they’d always make him apple pie and if we came over in the morning, he’d have fresh pie and I think those are the best memories I have with my mom and dad. Coming here,” Daugherty said.
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Daugherty said she had a hot cake Wednesday in her father’s honor.
“I’m heartbroken because it’s such a staple in this community, in this neighborhood, it was so hard,” she said of the restaurant’s closing. “Everybody comes to Munch. If I meet people who haven’t been to Munch, I say, ‘I can’t believe you haven’t been to Munch,’ and I tell them where it is.”
Another customer, Jim Siebert, has been coming to Munch’s for 46 years.
“How much of the real old place is left? That’s as far as I can tell,” he said.
Tom Jones and his friends have been eating lunch at Munch’s once a month for the past 40 years, he said.
“I don’t know if we can replace this place,” Jones said. “It’s irreplaceable, so we’ll still have lunch somewhere, but it won’t be the same as coming to Munch,” Jones said.
Munch said he is not yet sure what the new owner plans to do with the property. The restaurant is open Monday-Friday from 8am to 2pm next week.
Munch said they get their most famous items from the restaurant’s 70 years in business, such as the Munch burger and roast beef sandwich.
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