MANSFIELD – Mansfield’s iconic Wiener King restaurant is in danger of closing, according to Jimmy Smarjeff, who runs the business.
He said he was advised to sell Wiener King but refuses to give up on the more than 40-year-old Lexington Avenue landmark despite its financial troubles, which he says stem from the fact that his father was recently placed in a nursing home.
On July 28, Smarjeff launched a Go Fund Me account, asking the community to contribute towards a $50,000 goal. The fundraiser was his daughter, Jamie’s suggestion.
“This is something that is very difficult for me to do,” he said in a Facebook post.
He called the costs of keeping his father, Christ (t is silent) in a nursing home “staggering.”
Christ and his late wife, Nancy opened their branch of the Wiener King chain in 1976, taking over a building that had previously been an Arthur Treacher’s, and before that a sandwich shack called Jacque’s.
The Wiener King chain has since ceased to exist, leaving Mansfield’s location as possibly the only one remaining. Smarjeff’s father owned the location outright by 1983, so he stuck with the brand as other Wiener Kings closed or changed.
The restaurant was failing, Smarjeff said, when he took over, but he worked to bring it back to life.
“That dedication has left me in a precarious situation. The only qualifying years of Social Security earnings came when I briefly worked out of state in the ’80s, leaving me with no income should I retire,” Smarjeff said. “In other words, Wiener King is my lifeblood, and only source of income.”
He feels that he’s in no position to sell the restaurant and hopes the community will rally behind the establishment to help.
Wiener King, 118 Lexington Avenue, was remodeled in 2016 and celebrated its grand re-opening and 40th anniversary that October.
To view Smarjeff’s Go Fund Me page, visit gofundme.com/save-wiener-king.
