The story below is from our September/October 2019 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
With 45 years in the rear view mirror and a new generation leading the way, Macado’s continues to be a prominent staple of the local restaurant scene.
When Richard Macher, owner of Macado’s Restaurant, talks about how Macado’s started 45 years ago, he begins with the story of his family and Wayne, New Jersey.
“It all started in Wayne, New Jersey,” says Macher leaning back in his chair.
We are sitting at the conference table in his large office. Most of the floor space is taken with rows of guitars, rolled up posters and other pop culture paraphernalia waiting for a Macado’s home.
“My father worked on Madison Avenue in advertising. He was also a musician; he played on cruise ships: Roland Macher and the Rolling Rhythms. He was the drummer.”
Macher describes his New York upbringing as neat: a melting pot of ethnicities, in row house neighborhoods where everyone was poor together. His father (besides being a drummer and in advertising), was a World War II veteran and a bit eccentric. His mother was the neighborhood welcome wagon lady. All of Macher’s extended family lived nearby.
As far as Macher knew, the entirety of life centered itself in New York. Until, his father decided to go back to school. Life tilted. The Machers left their center for the quiet mountains of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Macher was around 17 years old.
“Can you imagine?” says Macher with his still-thick Jersey accent. “Here I was, in high school, lived in the same neighborhood all my life. Never had to make friends … and here we come [to Harrisonburg], arrogant New Yorkers.”
He laughs and shrugs his shoulders.
Macher’s father took a job with Blue Ridge Community College as Dean of the Business School. The family was quick to befriend other New Yorkers drawn by the area’s university aura. When anyone was going back to New York for a visit, requests would flood in like grocery store lists:
“Hey, can you bring back some bagels and lox? Dr. Brown’s soda? Gummy Bears and Jelly Belly’s, please!”
To imagine it now seems strange. But in the 1970s, these were food items largely unknown to the world outside of New York.
Which is how Macher’s father had his delicatessen idea.
Walking into a Macado’s today, one might not guess the family-owned chain started as a New York-style delicatessen. It also didn’t start out as Macado’s. It was named Spanky’s, after Macher’s older brother. He spent a year in New York City working at a delicatessen and learning the business.
The Machers launched their first store in Harrisonburg. They sold lunch meat sandwiches and gourmet foods. They had 20 seats and a large cheese and desserts case. It was a quintessential mom-and-pop operation. The same guys who cut the meat served the sandwiches.
The Machers listened carefully to customers’ requests. Soon they were creating unique sandwiches with catchy names. The guys were having fun owning their own business; playing with meat, bread and cheese. Then, someone said,“Hey, what would happen if we got this thing hot?”
“Hot, eh?”
So, the Machers began toasting their sandwiches. Things grew quickly from there.
So, the Machers began toasting their sandwiches. Things grew quickly from there.
Shortly after the opening of their second store in Lexington, Macher’s father and brother had a falling out. Macher describes it as the classic clash between eldest son and headstrong German father. With Spanky’s uncertainty in the business, the Machers decided on a new name for their third location; a play on their last name.
They came up with Macado’s (Mock-a-doo’s). From November 1978 when the Roanoke deli-restaurant opened, every restaurant they’d open would contain the Macher name.
The evolution of Macado’s from delicatessen to full service restaurant began churning with the Roanoke store. Macher says they wanted to serve beer, but the ABC laws at the time were archaic. The law stated a restaurant must serve a “meal” in order to serve alcohol, too. Sandwiches didn’t count. So, the Machers took apart their sandwiches; meats on one side, toppings on another. Voila! A meal.
“This is the interesting part of being in business 45 years,” says Macher. “How do you be true to yourself but understand what’s happening in the whole environment?”
Exploring the answer to this question has been Macher’s guiding principle these 45 years. When grocery stores started opening deli counters and selling gourmet items, Macado’s started selling glasses of wine instead of bottles. Slowly, Macado’s retail side shrank and restaurant side grew.
When, in 2000, Macher and his wife found French fries in their fridge left by the babysitter, Macado’s started selling fried foods. Thirteen years ago, when opening the Bristol location, Macado’s added hamburgers to their menu.
“The story isn’t about hamburgers and fries,” says Macher. “It’s about how you must continually evolve and still be a deli.”
Twenty-one restaurants spanning four states (Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee) and 950 employees later, Macado’s continues evolving while staying true to its roots.
Sure, it’s delicatessen roots. One look at a Macado’s menu and it’s clear sandwiches are their specialty. But more than this, are the roots of hard work, sowing into the lives of others and enjoying the journey along the way.
And what are some of Macado’s fruits? Sowing into the lives of young people; helping them reach their potential through employment and the inevitable lessons along the way. Giving back through charity work. And, maybe most dear to Macher: having his son, Harrison, want to carry Macado’s into the next generation.
“You know, I never thought about success,” says Macher. “My dad started paying me $125 a week and I lived in my parents’ basement. Money was never a motivating factor because I never had anything. Success comes with hard work. But the joy is in getting up every morning and seeing the fruits of your labor.”
And retirement?
“I have my retirement,” says Macher. “I’m working with my boy, and I have my family. I can tell my son at the end of the day, ‘You know, we kicked it. We did it. Now, let’s go have a beer on the back porch.’”
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