Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Huseyin Gunaydin has been a fixture in his Golden Eagle Diner over the past 35 years.
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Starting on Monday, Gunaydin will turn the business over to Fahri Ekiz, who is buying the Golden Eagle Diner at the corner of Route 13 and Bath Street in Bristol Borough after a career operating similar eateries in New Jersey.
“I’m getting old and I’m tired. There is no other reason,” Gunaydin said of his motivation for the sale.
Gunaydin is proud of his decades running the diner that seats several hundred people and has a bar.
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“We have a good operation. It was a lot of hours, and I’m ready to not go to work anymore,” he said.
Gunaydin, a Turkish immigrant who came to America in 1977, began working as a dishwasher at the Marlboro Motor Lodge in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
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From his job as a dishwasher, Gunaydin worked his way up to a short-order cook and then a baker, a job kept him working from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The long hours payed off and Gunaydin was able to buy a diner in South Jersey, later also purchasing the Golden Eagle Diner. He later sold the New Jersey diner.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
“What I’m going to miss… The people,” he said. “I love my diner, and I told the people, ‘thank you, people, for supporting me in this area and in America.’”
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The diner, under Gunaydin’s ownership, completed a $1.5 million renovation in 2019.
Gunaydin said he employed 80 people before the pandemic and 40 currently.
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Over the past few years, Gunaydin has been looking for the right person to take over his business.
Ekiz plans to keep the staff and menu when he takes over next week.
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“He’s a good man and a good man for the diner,” Gunaydin said of the new owner.
Gunaydin, 75, plans to spend time relaxing for the first time in decades.
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“I don’t want to be involved in restaurants no more,” he said.
Over the years, Gunaydin said he has tried to be as nice as he could to customers.
Starting next week, Gunaydin will move from running the diner to being just another customer.
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“I will stop in for a coffee or breakfast and lunch like anyone else,” he said.
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