Diner Ladies are shaking up business

The four women below should stand as a new world Colossus on the banks of the Ohio River,… The four women below should stand as a new world Colossus on the banks of the Ohio River, welcoming travelers to Pittsburgh and reminding them of the power of the empire, that empire of goals and dreams that we all ascribe to even if we don’t act on them ‘mdash; the opportunities our parents described to us when they sent us off to college. ‘Anything is possible.’ These businesswomen run a bastion of breakfast joints. And while some preside over greasy spoons and others fly more to the organic, they share a willingness to change, to quit the prescribed path in order to make their fantasies realities. Hillary Clinton may have lost her bid for the Democratic presidential candidacy, but she will always be welcome for breakfast in Pittsburgh ‘mdash; at least with the Diner Ladies: Penny Folino, Wendy Bennett, Donna Cole and Kelly O’Connor. ‘The concept of the Diner Ladies came about because we thought if we advertised as a group, we would be able to get a better price ‘mdash; they might cut us a break,’ said Donna Cole, owner and proprietress of Cole Cafe in West Mifflin. The Ladies lined up a spot on KDKA, one that would feature each diner in turn. This was an important consideration. As it says on their Web site, ‘We are friends, but each of our diners is unique.’ After refining their prowess in marketing, the group decided to set its sights on a different issue.’ ‘We targeted Hillary [Clinton],’ said Wendy Bennett, the owner of Hot Metal Diner in West Mifflin. ‘Every day she’d get an e-mail from one of us, from the Diner Ladies or Kelly O’s or Tom’s Diner or Hot Metal Diner or from Cole’s Cafe.’ Eventually, Clinton decided to find out whom the Diner Ladies were. ‘When Hillary walked in the door, the first thing she said was, ‘I’m so proud of you ladies,” said Bennett. ‘I’m a small business owner, and this is the First Lady of the United States telling me she’s proud of me. It made me realize that anything is possible,’ said Bennett sincerely. ‘I see that now.’ Clinton’s visit might seem run-of-the-mill to an outsider, but for the Diner Ladies it was indicative of something. ‘I was 44 years old when I came into my path completely,’ said Cole. ‘I made a total U-turn in my life. You have to do whatever it is you want to do,’ she said fervently. ‘You have to try. If you don’t …,’ she trailed off. ‘No guts, no glory.” The story of the Diner Ladies simultaneously evokes the nostalgia of mom and pop businesses and the savvy of a new business market challenging conglomeration ‘mdash; and this from women who were all nearly retired.’ Although the primary motive for their collaboration was monetary, friendship accompanied the business arrangement. In fact, the establishment of the women’s diners hinged on it. Bennett acted as the matchmaker, explaining the women’s connections in a throaty, practical voice that only Pittsburgh could have made.’ ‘The first thing you gotta know about Penny Folino is that she is a veteran,’ said Bennett. Folino’s family owned a restaurant when she was growing up, and she owns Tom’s Diner in the South Side. ‘We both live in the South Side, and we walk everywhere together. Through walking we formed a friendship,’ she said. ‘I met Kelly O’Connor when her husband died, and we’ve been friends ever since. I like her drive, and I like her spirit. And Donna [Cole] is Kelly O.’s sister,’ explained Bennett. It was O’Connor’s drive that kick-started the creation of the Diner Ladies. ‘Kelly O. was tending [a] bar in the South Side, and she decided she didn’t want to do that for the rest of her life. So she did the impossible for a girl making five dollars an hour. She walked into a restaurant and asked if it was for sale.’ It wasn’t, but the owner called her back and decided to sell it to her. ‘When she opened I went to work for her for a couple of weeks,’ said Bennett, who at that time was retired from running Bob’s, a diner that she and her husband owned in Crafton. But retirement wasn’t for her. ‘I worked for Kelly for a couple of months and I thought, ‘Hey, I could do this.” So she and her husband started Hot Metal Diner. Cole worked side by side with O’Connor and Bennett. ‘I went over to help Kelly out for a little while, and I thought, ‘I love this. It’s a great atmosphere.” So in a move characteristic of the Diner Ladies’ direct approach, Cole started looking for a diner to purchase. ‘My family thought I was crazy. I had never worked in a restaurant before,’ said Cole. ‘I have three sisters, and my younger sister likes to say about Kelly and me, ‘It was like watching Lucy and Ethel, and people just came to see what we were going to mess up next.” Cole said reflectively, ‘You take all your life’s experience and hopefully you’ll learn from them. I have,’ she said. ‘God knows I’ve learned a lot more than I wanted to know some days. We were the underdogs, we just were regular working women, who decided, ‘I’ve had enough, I’m going to try working for myself now.’ And it’s worked,’ she said.’ Bennett credits the Diner Ladies for much of her success. ‘I know how to better run a place. I know how to better own a place.’ She added, ‘Now it’s not just one independent business up against the world ‘mdash; there’s four of us.’