Light a candle for every year TAT Ristorante di Famiglia has been in business, and the flames might burn down the building. The East Side institution turned 81 this year.
The key to its longevity?
"You gotta be very attentive to the customers and take a lot of grief," joked owner Jimmy Corrova, whose parents started the restaurant tradition in 1929. Seriously, though, "You have to dedicate your life to it. Our family has given up a lot of things - like weekends, parties and weddings - to be in the restaurant."
TAT, at 1210 S. James Rd., is in many ways an anomaly in a brutal industry. About 60 percent of restaurants either go out of business or change owners within the first three years, yet TAT has survived the Great Depression and all the recessions since. It is also still owned and run by the same family.
"We really are a family restaurant," Corrova said. "A member of our family is always there, from open to close every day. We greet people. We do everything. We have our fourth generation in the place."
Corrova started working in the restaurant when he was in the fifth grade. His wife, Dolores, is the manager, and his brother Anthony is the maitre d'. His daughters Michelle and Marianne Corrova manage the front and back of the house and are ready to take over the family business when their dad decides to give up the reins.
TAT has not always served customers in the bright-white building with the unapologetic red and green sign.
Corrova's parents, who emigrated from Naples and Ficara, Sicily, at the turn of the 20th century, opened the Italian restaurant that would eventually become TAT on W. Goodale Street in 1929, in a part of town once referred to as Flytown. There, in 1934, it served the first pizza in Columbus.
"It had a thick, homemade crust, and all it had on it was crushed tomatoes, oregano, garlic and anchovies," Corrova said.
The restaurant moved to 3280 E. Main St. in the 1950s, when the construction of I-670 flattened the neighborhood.
In 1954, Jimmy Corrova decided to go out on his own and open an Italian restaurant, near the corner of Broad Street and James Road. It was named TAT, after Transcontinental Air Transport, one of the first coast-to-coast commercial passenger airlines, which made frequent stops at nearby Port Columbus.
Corrova opened a second restaurant at Livingston Avenue and Beechwood Road in 1962.
But when Corrova's parents passed away and he suffered a heart attack, the family decided to regroup.
"Doc advised me to cut back," he said, so the restaurant business was consolidated, and in 1980, the TAT that today's diners know opened at the corner of James Road and Livingston Avenue.
It is known for its affordable Italian fare. The signature homemade spaghetti is $12.95; veal scaloppine is $17.95; and the 10-ounce sirloin steak is $13.95. All meals include soup and salad.
A restaurant that lasts this long, especially one that has stayed in the same family, is very rare, said Columbus restaurant consultant Bob Welcher. "A lot of family operations succumb to internal problems as the restaurant is passed from generation to generation."
Even a restaurant like TAT, which is among the oldest in Columbus, can't rest on its laurels.
Well-established restaurants tend to have an aging customer base, Welcher said. "People get older, and they stop coming in. Owners need to replace these lost customers with new ones by advertising and keeping up with the times."
Still, a lot has worked in TAT's favor. "Italian is more sustainable, more traditional, and it ages well," Welcher said. "Italian restaurants can endure a longer life, as opposed to more-trendy dining venues.
"TAT is an institution," he said. "It has the same recipes, great food and family atmosphere."
Corrova attributes the business' longevity to something much simpler.
"We just stuck at it, and we never changed with the times," he said. "We have never reduced quality of the food."
Eggfast is franchising
Eggfast, the quick-serve 24-hour breakfast restaurant that opened near Ohio State University at 24 E. 12th Ave. last October, is set to begin franchising locations in 36 states.
Store owners would have the option of running a single restaurant or buying the rights to own and develop all Eggfast restaurants in a designated territory. Columbus-area locations are available.
"Early on in our planning, we made the decision that if we are going to execute an aggressive expansion plan, we must remain focused on one avenue of growth. In this case, we chose franchising," co-owner Pete Nowak said.
He said he isn't ruling out the possibility for more corporate-owned restaurants, but it will likely not happen in the next 12 to 18 months.
Off the menu
• Mediterranean restaurant Greek Corner recently opened a second location at 1305 W. Lane Ave in Upper Arlington, in the former Camille's Sidewalk Cafe.
• Leghorns will open its second location in November, at 994 E. State St. in Athens. The original Leghorns is at 850 S. 30th St. in Heath. Owner Greg Powers also owns Shade on the Canal in Canal Winchester.
• The Three Amigos Mexican restaurant has opened in the former Don Patron's in the Shops at Walton Parkway in New Albany. The owner is the same, but the menu has been revamped.
Denise Trowbridge, Dispatch restaurant columnist, can be reached at: onrestaurants@dispatch.com.
