In the Kitchen with TERMAC – McNally’s Tavern
By Terence O’Reilly, Jr. and Sean O’Reilly, Sr.
As it approaches 100 years in business, McNally’s Tavern at 8634 Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill, Pa. is celebrating its long history by looking forward. With take-out orders having increased 20 percent, McNally’s is expanding to the building next door.
Proud of their family’s legacy, sisters Meg and Anne presently run the business. Their great-grandmother, Rose, started McNally’s Quick Lunch in 1921, at the top of the hill on Philadelphia’s northwest boundary, to accommodate trolley car drivers and customers, where Route 23 ended. Her husband, Hugh, was a driver. Six years later, they moved to the present building and their three sons eventually took their turns running the business.
The restaurant is known for its Schmitter® — sliced beef with extra cheese, fried onions, tomato, grilled salami and special Schmitter® sauce on a flash-broiled Kaiser roll.
But a building with history has its challenges. The tavern is a long rectangular space where customers can see the kitchen hood above the cooking station. The sisters hired The Filter Man to properly service the hood’s grease filters with its exchange program. Clean filters keep the staff, customers and property safe from grease fires. “Our filters are replaced every other week with clean ones. It’s affordable and we love our service technician,” says Anne.
How important is it for a restaurant to bring in a professional? “Most important!” says Anne.
The owners used to clean the grease trap in the basement themselves, said Anne, who reports that it was “a messy, terrible, job.” Now on a regular maintenance schedule, G.T.O. Grease Trap Services cleans the grease trap and disposes
the debris in an environmentally safe way. “It makes my life so much easier,” says Anne.
Now Meg and Anne can focus on their customers – the many regulars and the new ones they will gain in the new space.
Happy 100th Birthday in 2021!
Contact a TERMAC Representative today at 800-332-4912 or TERMAC.COM to make sure your kitchen is running as smoothly as possible.
Termac Corporation is a family-owned business serving the hospitality industry for more than 56 years with its cleaning and sanitation products. To meet the needs of this evolving market, it established a system of service and developed The Filter Man, GTO Grease Trap Services, Universal Fire Protection and AllPro Stainless Steel and Metal Fabrication.
