LACKAWANNA, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's not just a family business, it's a tradition.
"My Uncle Steve started the place in 1978 and it's been in our family ever since," Marvin Barberich, owner of Steve's Pig & Ox Roast, said. "The fact that we're still here 42 years later, I think we're doing a great job."
Steve's Pig and Ox Roast Restaurant in Lackawanna has been around for decades. It's the way the food is made that brings customers back.
"The roast beef, the pork, the lamb, and the turkey is slow roasted over a charcoal fire. No one does it like that," Barberich said. "We get sacks of potatoes in and we turn them into curly fries. My sister makes the pies, my wife makes the cookies, we pretty much do it all."
But the way they operate has temporarily changed.
"In all my years, I never thought I'd see anything like this," said Barberich.
The 17-year owner now comes in at 5 a.m. and works fifteen hour days. He does this six times a week as he and just one other worker take and prepare orders.
Take-out only and toilet paper rolls with orders over forty dollars is the new normal. But it's the loyal customers, the customers they know by name, and the dedicated workers that have kept this place open for business.
"There's no better place to live, think about it," Barberich said. "Everybody pulls together here, takes care of each other, and that's what makes this place so special."
Things will eventually go back to normal, but until then, Steve's Pig and Ox Roast is making it work because in Buffalo, that's what we do.
