Governor’s Restaurant turns 50

    OLD TOWN — It’s been 50 years since Governor’s Restaurant opened as Creemee’s ice cream stand in Old Town, and Governor’s President and CEO Randy Wadleigh is throwing a birthday party on June 18 to celebrate. The public is invited.     Festivities are scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Old Town site, with a live radio feed. Kids can take pictures with “The Gov” and enjoy some special party favors — and everyone who stops by any Governor’s location statewide will get a free slice of birthday cake. Gov. John Baldacci is slated to attend as is Dick Grotton, president and CEO of the Maine Restaurant Association.
    Also on hand will be Leith and Donna Wadleigh, the original ‘Governor’ and ‘First Lady,’ who opened Creemee’s in 1960 with just $300 Donna had saved.
    “When our first customer came up and ordered a strawberry shake, Donna and I both froze,” remembers Leith Wadleigh. “Our friend Leonard Minsky happened to be hanging around, and he took over and made the shake.”
    Despite early jitters and an October snowstorm that closed the stand early that first year, the Wadleighs persevered, often taking on other jobs to keep themselves fed and their ice cream stand going. It was those jobs — and those tough first years — that taught them the lessons they say eventually made them, and Governor’s, so successful.
    As a young man in his 20s, Leith — now 73 — drove an ice cream truck in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. No one was buying. Finally, someone clued him in that people in the area had an ice cream favorite — lemon. When the vending company refused to supply lemon ice cream, Leith headed for the local grocery store, bought some lemon extract and mixed it with the vanilla ice cream he had on hand. Sales skyrocketed, and Leith learned how important it is to “give customers what they want.”
    Meanwhile, a hotel job and a nasty boss taught a young Donna how to — and how not to — treat employees, and the hotel restaurant’s popular new coleslaw recipe made them both vow to use nothing but the best ingredients — a promise they kept for decades.
    Today, Mainers flock to Governor’s Restaurants in Old Town, Bangor, Waterville, Lewiston, South Portland and Presque Isle — as they have for 50 years.
    According to Maine Restaurant Association’s Dick Grotton, about half of all new restaurants close before reaching the five-year mark, so Governor’s 50 years’ in business is quite an achievement.
    “Governor’s Restaurants are a Maine institution and a great Maine business success story,” said Grotton. “Only a handful of restaurants survive for 50 years. Governor’s secret? Serving delicious home-cooked food and plenty of it. Congratulations on 50 years; keep up the good work and the good food!”
    According to Randy Wadleigh, company president, that pretty much sums up his vision for the future.
    “The restaurant business has been very rewarding for our family,’ said Wadleigh. “As Mom and Dad discovered more than 50 years ago, it’s always about the customer. Now, half a century later, the customer is still our focus. We work hard to exceed the expectations of every guest on every visit.”
    Governor’s will be offering birthday specials at each location throughout the month of June. For more information visit http://governorsrestaurant.com/?area=hungry_50thBirthday.