RESTAURANTS KEEP IT CLEAN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993                   TAG: 9301130125
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
RESTAURANTS KEEP IT CLEAN
The Roanoke Wiener Stand No. 1 on Roanoke's City Market serves about 2,000 hot dogs a day. Throw in gallons and gallons of chili and mustard - not to mention chopped onions - and you've got the makings for a big mess.
But the Wiener Stand's employees work hard to keep things clean, and they've done a good enough job to win the Roanoke Health Department's Silver Spoon Award for cleanliness.
The Wiener Stand was selected out of 87 restaurants in the short-order restaurant division.
D.J.'s Brasserie was selected for a Silver Spoon Award out of 377 restaurants in the full-service restaurant division. It manages to stay clean despite a similarly brisk business. The restaurant at 117 Duke of Gloucester St. S.W. serves 6,000 to 8,000 customers a month.
Gus Pappas, the Wiener Stand's longtime owner, gives all the credit to his employees. "They do all the work," he said. Often one or two of them will come in on Sundays or holidays to do extra cleaning. "It's hard to do it during the weekdays, because we're so busy. We try our best to keep it clean."
Deno Poulos, co-owner of D.J.'s, said keeping a restaurant clean and sanitary takes hard work. "It's just constant maintenance. It's just a daily process. A lot of people take it for granted."
This is the first year the Health Department has given out the awards. Health officials said they based their selections on overall inspection scores during the past year, along with managements' attitude and willingness to quickly correct violations.
Both winners have a long family history in the restaurant business. Pappas inherited the Wiener Stand from his aunt in 1955. She had taken it over from his uncle, who had founded the business in 1916.
Poulos' parents, James and Helen, opened a lunch counter on the City Market during World War II. They owned the Charcoal Steak House on Williamson Road from 1956 to 1972 and then went into semi-retirement.
The family opened D.J.'s in Tanglewood Mall in 1978 and moved it to its current location in 1988. Deno Poulos is co-owner with his sister, Rita.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB