December 20, 2009
Dear Wonderful Customers & Friends,
We just wanted to send a note of thanks to you for supporting us this year and probably for so many others before. It has been a wonderful year for us in many ways, as well as a very hard one.
We
started off with a visit from then President-Elect Barack Obama who,
along with Mayor Fenty, joined us for a half-smoke and cheese fries on
January 10th. Then followed the busiest time in our 51 year history, as our nation inaugurated it’s first African-American president. It was wonderful meeting and serving so many of you from across the country and the world here for that historic occasion. Our thanks again to Tom Joyner and the Tom Joyner Morning Show for broadcasting live here on the morning of January 19th,
and of course to Cake Man Raven from Brooklyn who carved that
incredible “OBAMA” ice sculpture in front of Ben’s for all to see and
enjoy.
This year was also our very first year with our new venture, Next Door. It
has been truly exciting creating what is becoming a new tradition and
hopefully one day a new landmark in the city right next to Ben’s. We
have enjoyed creating new dishes and new signature cocktails for you,
while putting together a place with the same warm feel as Ben’s, just
in a totally new package. Next Door has a 53-foot full bar, 9 flat
screen televisions, and a “woodsy” feel. And I think we achieved our #1 goal…never change the original Ben’s Chili Bowl in any way!!!
The
summer followed, with many tourists visiting us, plus many first-timers
who had heard of President Obama’s visit to Ben’s and wanted to check
us out for themselves. We hope you enjoyed your meal, had
a chance to hear some “living” history from our friend Marshall Brown
in the backroom, and got a chance to see our short film on Ben’s. We
also opened Ben’s Gift Shop over the summer; it’s located on the second
floor just above Next Door and has lots of great Ben’s merchandise. And around March of next year, a visitor’s center will open just outside the store.
This
year also brought us a new Ben’s family member, as Mike Kipp, the
former general manager of the Market Inn Restaurant in D.C. for nearly
35 years, joined us. In addition to bringing his famous jumbo lump crab cakes and his she crab soup to Next Door, Mike started our online store. So
now, as you probably know, we can ship those very same crab cakes, his
soup, and our half-smokes, chili, shirts, and aprons to you, your
friends or your family anywhere in the U.S. This
was the next logical step in our growth, as we would hear from so many
of you that couldn’t get to D.C. to enjoy Ben’s food but wanted it so
badly. Now, thanks to Mike, we can ship it to you.
2009 was also a very tough year for us, as we lost our dad Ben on October 7. He
lived to a great age of 82 years old, starting Ben’s with my mother
Virginia in 1958 when he was only 31 years old and she was 25. What obstacles they overcame, but they did it. They survived so much, and we are thankful for both of them. We’ll miss you so much Dad. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/magazine/27Ali-t.html?ref=magazine
The
fall brought a slow-down at Ben’s and Next Door as we felt what the
rest of the country was and still is feeling with the recession. Our
thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that were hit so much more
severely than us, and to those who have lost their jobs or their
insurance. Here’s hoping for a great rebound in 2010!
Well,
we just wanted to reach out to each of you personally to thank you all
so very much for this year and to wish each of you a Merry Christmas,
Happy Kwanzaa, and a Happy New Year. To those that celebrated Eid Al-Adha or Hanukkah, I am sorry this wish didn’t get to you earlier. It’s been a heck of a year!
God Bless,