The River House Cafe at 148 Elizabeth St. in downtown Derby opened June 22.
It’s owned by Peter Maniatis and his family. It’s not their first time in a kitchen.
Maniatis has owned Zoi’s on Orange Street in New Haven for almost 12 years.
Before opening Zoi’s, Maniatis worked in the commercial lending department of a regional bank.
His brother runs The Hornet’s Nest deli in Branford, and his brother-in-law owns The Meeting Place on Derby Avenue in Seymour.
Maniatis purchased the approximate 38,000 square foot building last year and spent about seven months renovating the place.
The Valley Indy recently sat down with Maniatis, who lives in Orange, to learn about the business.
Valley Indy: Why did you decide to open in Derby?
Maniatis: “My brother-in-law has a place in Seymour called The Meeting Place.
He was always telling me how good the people in the Valley are, how loyal they are, and how respectful they are to food and a good environment. So I started to look around.
I came here and I saw the foot traffic, and I liked what I saw.”
Valley Indy: There have been several eateries on Elizabeth Street that have opened and quickly closed in the last few years. This seems to be a tough block for new businesses.
Maniatis: “It is very hard. But all my bills and all my home expenses are paid out of Zois. I’m not required to draw money out of this business. You cannot think you’re going to be a success right away.
You cannot think everybody is going to be here from the minute you open the doors. The reality is you have to build a following from the ground up. You have to do what you do well.”
Valley Indy: Describe your food.
Maniatis: “We we do breakfast-lunch, we have pizza and we have a beer-wine bar.
With our food, we use as many local products as we can get. Our bread comes from New Haven, though we’ve been talking to Yolanda’s down the road. We often get our eggs from a farm in Durham. We try to buy as many vegetables as we can at the local farmer markets. because the difference in taste is unbelievable.
We make a lot of things from scratch. We don’t buy our chicken cutlets. We make them from scratch. The response so far has been great. Most of the cutlet sandwiches we send out of here have been cutlet sandwiches. I hope people can see the difference. They’re bigger, they’re thicker, they’re juicier.”
Valley Indy: You’re open until 7:30 p.m.?
Maniatis: “Right now, yes. We’ve been staying until 9 during the week, and later on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The hours are exploratory at this point.”
Valley Indy: How’s business so far?
Maniatis: “Breakfast took off right away. We have Derby public works coming in, then the court house staff later. We’re seeing the same people return, which is good.
We’re also doing deliveries. There are a lot of medical offices and departments around Griffin Hospital where people can’t get out for lunch. So we deliver to them.”
Valley Indy: I’ve heard a new business has to be prepared to lose money during the first year. Is that true?
Maniatis: “It’s very true. In my experience you’re not going to make back your initial investment for three to five years. You have to be prepared for that. The cost of food and labor is high.
But you have to be good to your employees. You have to pay above minimum wage.”
Valley Indy: How many employees do you have?
Maniatis: “We have probably 12. Of the 12, eight are from Derby and four are from the area, like Ansonia and Shelton.”
Valley Indy: This used to be RJ’s, a bar. What kind of renovations were done after you purchased the building?
Maniatis: “This was a 100 percent renovation. There’s brand new electrical, windows, the heating system, air conditioning, everything.
We even put new sewer pipes in. That’s how far we went.
Inside we didn’t just want to slap lipstick on the place. We put some thought into it. The tables were made by Reclamation Lumber in New Haven.
They used lumber from the old Hammonasset Beach boardwalk.
The bar stools (the restaurant has a small bar downstairs, along with outdoor dining) were made by a metal fabrication shop (Hammered in Time) in Derby. The wood is from Canal Street in Shelton.”
Visit the River House Cafe on Facebook or on the web.
The phone number is 203 751 9030.
