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Fast Teddy's in Tonawanda succeeds with 'cold coffee' and 'lousy food'

Owner says sign still brings in curious customers
Posted at 1:42 PM, Mar 12, 2020

TONAWANDA, NY (WKBW-TV) — The sign in the window at Fast Teddy's says "Cold Coffee Lousy Food". According to owner Dave Mascio instead of keeping people away, the odd sign brings curious new customers in. Dave and his wife Gina bought the Tonawanda restaurant four years ago.

Dave says that Fast Teddy's is really known for the $1.49 bottomless cup of coffee, milkshakes made from real ice cream and pancakes as large as a dinner plate adding "we do two eggs and toast for $1.99 during the week."

The food is not really lousy and the coffee is not really cold, but Dave says the sign stays because the customers like it adding "The motto has been with the place since the seventies. They come in and they say your coffee is not cold-but it drew us in."

We interviewed prior owner Ted Campos in 1987 and he said then that the idea came from a place he saw in Florida that drew a crowd with a sign that said "warm beer".

Fast Teddy's opens every day at 6am and is located at 221 Main St, Tonawanda, NY 14150