A pair of friends, neighbors and Connecticut residents have taken over a popular restaurant in town that has been in business for more than four decades.
Longtime customers Ram Chagantipati and Rakesh Narra, both immigrants from India, officially became the owners of the family-owned Lena’s Restaurant, located at 655 John Fitch Boulevard in South Windsor, on July 1, but the sale had been in the works for months.
“We are residents of the town, and we have celebrated some major happenings in our life here,” Narra said. “We come here for my wife’s birthday and my kids’ birthdays. That’s how we know this restaurant because we have been eating here for eight years.”
Narra and Chagantipati have been neighbors in South Windsor since 2017. Both are natives of India, and both had backgrounds from the restaurant industry in India, but this is their first restaurant in the U.S.
Narra said when the restaurant became available for sale, the friends were quick to look into it.
“We heard it was being sold and we thought we would give it a try,” Narra said. “We wanted to take over the business and operate the same way. We want it to be more than just a business. We want to keep operating this as a family and not just as a business.”
Chagantipati said the transition of taking over the restaurant has been positive. He said the ownership has retained the entire workforce, about 20 employees, from the previous regime.
“We are not starting from scratch,” Chagantipati said. “The staff here is well trained. Right now, things are going well, and we are continuing the Lena’s tradition. We’ve continued the same menu.
“The customers that came in previously are still coming,” he added. “We have kept everything the same.”
Narra said they have maintained the same principles and guidelines and have learned a lot in their first months heading Lena’s.
“We have a great staff,” Narra said. “They have taught us a lot. Everything is the same. When we had our first meeting with the staff, we told them that we wanted to grow as a team so that we can hire more people.”
The restaurant’s founder, Lena Lonero, still works three days a week. She is known as “Mama Lena” and is in her 80s. Both owners said “Mama Lena” has been a valuable resource. The Loneros came to the United States from Italy around 1960. Lena and her husband Joe bought the restaurant in 1982. Their son Sal eventually took it over in 2000 and owned it until selling it this summer.
Lena Lonero, the daughter of Lena’s original owners, has been working at the restaurant since 1996.
“The new owners have kept the family tradition and atmosphere going,” Lena Lonero said. “The new owners went out of their way to celebrate my mom’s 85th birthday. She still makes desserts Thursday through Saturday and her most popular is her tiramisu.”
Lena Loreno said her mom still mixes it up with customers and debates about baseball and football. She said customers were shocked that when the restaurant returned following the July 4th holiday with new owners.
“Sal had been here for 43 years and that was a long time,” Lena Loreno said.
Both new owners said they developed their love for Italian food at Lena’s. Narra said initially the staff and customers were a little hesitant about how they were going to operate the restaurant and whether the staff was going to be the same.
“We assured the staff and the customers that we aren’t going to change anything,” Narra said. “The only change you may see if upgrades of the flooring or in the banquet hall and nothing to do with the food. We want feedback from them. … We want to maintain what has been here for the last 42 years.”
Chagantipati, who works part time in insurance industry, and Narra, both started the process of buying the restaurant in the spring both see an opportunity of growth at Lena’s.
“It’s not just a business. It’s more than that. It’s great to see the families that come in here and how they are connected to the staff and Lena,” Narra said. “It’s more than a business. We want to operate the same way and that’s the best part of the first few months of owning Lena’s.”
Narra, who previously worked in tech at CVS, said his family asked, “Are you sure that you are taking the right step taking over the restaurant?”
“Why not? Sometimes you have to take chances,” Narra said. “We’ve been here multiple times, and we know the potential. We like place. This is not like any other restaurant. It’s more like a family. We know each other very well. We joined this family.”
Chagantipati, 43, said his family loved Italian food and his wife loves the chicken parmesan, which is made with the original Joe Lonero recipe. The menu remains the same specialty Italian menu. Chicken parmesan remains the top selection by customers, withItalian steak and Italian combo grinders also popular choices.
“We see how it is with Italian food, it’s about family,” Chagantipati said. “We now love Italian food because they are so much into family all of the time too and that attracted us to this.”
Narra, 40, said the restaurant is the host for birthdays, anniversaries or a place to go after graduations and other celebrations and attracts people of all ages.
“Everyone has a story about Lena’s,” Narra said. “Some of the customers have been coming here for more than 40 years and always sit in the same place and have the same server. That’s the way they are connected. We’ve heard so many stories like that. That made us sure we made the right decision. There is so much of a person connection here.
“We want to continue that,” he added. “We want to keep doing it the Mama’s way.”
The owners said they are concentrating on this restaurant but haven’t ruled out the idea of opening another location in the future.
“We have the plans, but we want to see how this goes and maybe we will have another Lena’s at another location in Connecticut,” Narra said.
Lena’s Restaurant, located at 655 John Fitch Boulevard, is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The owners are continuing the tradition of having Sunday’s off for the staff to spend time with families.