Several months ago, Sammy's Bar and Grill operations manager Joey Faciane suddenly learned he was going to be a restaurant owner.
He wasn't the only one. Local restaurant owners Wayne and Luci Stabiler have gifted full ownership of five of their restaurants — Sammy's Bar and Grill, Stab's Prime Steak and Seafood, Stab's Steak and Seafood in Central and The Little Village on both Airline Highway and downtown — to the restaurants' managerial staffs.
On Tuesday, Faciane was still amazed by the decision.
Ownership of Sammy’s Bar and Grill, seen here in 2015, has been gifted to its managers.
"Everybody was really surprised and excited," he said. "There was a little bit of nervousness, obviously, but everybody was very grateful for the opportunity. I don’t think any of us ever ... expected anything like this. Nobody was ever thinking something like this was going to happen."
Faciane said he doesn't believe there are many restaurant owners who would do such a thing, "which shows how generous they are and how much they care about all their employees."
"I think that speaks volumes in and of itself," he said.
In a statement, Wayne Stabiler said the process had been in the works over the past three months.
"We have been so blessed in so many ways and we wanted to share those blessings with the outstanding team of people that have worked so hard in our community for so long," Stabiler said.
Stabiler said that he and his wife "fully trust our legacy in the Baton Rouge restaurant scene to this group and feel that they have earned a chance to be able to work for themselves."
"We donated 100% ownership of the restaurants to them," he said. "We could not be any more excited for them."
For Faciane and the other new restaurant owners, the Stabilers' sheer generosity is life-altering.
"You see all the time where people sell and they’re money hungry, but this is the opposite of that," Faciane said.
Wayne Stabiler Companies will continue to own Palermo Ristorante on Jefferson Highway.
Village Bread from The Little Village is a legendary Baton Rouge treat.
The new ownership teams are as follows:
- Stab’s Prime Steak and Seafood: Kevin Kimball, Leo Verde and Dori Murvin
- Stab’s Steak and Seafood: David Rine and Kevin Kimball
- The Little Village (both locations): Hugh Freeze and Kevin Kimball
- Sammy’s Bar and Grill: Joey Faciane, Kevin Kimball, Jeremy Webber, Dondi McNulty and Fritz Carville
Faciane said he had worked with Wayne Stabiler about six years and, going even further back, had known him since he was a child. He said though Stabiler isn't one to seek the limelight, his generosity has always shone through.
"It's just such a blessing to work for Wayne," he said. "He's a very private person and his generosity has always been there. I just don’t think a lot of people knew because he didn’t want people to know. He's that kind of person."
Faciane said he's now working with his partners to "figure out the best process forward."
"We have hopes of growth for the future," he said. "The biggest thing we want to do is keep up where Wayne was — keep that legacy, and keeping doing what Sammy’s has done so well the last couple of years in the community."