Kitchen manager taking over Ozzie’s Steak & Eggs Updates

FROM PAGE 5 highest number of applicants selected for the 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Fulbright is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program.

Simon’s Rock alumna Chazlee Myers was awarded an English teaching assistant grant by the U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission to provide assistance to local English teachers in Italy and act as a cultural ambassador for the U.S from October 2022 to June 2023

Simon’s Rock professor Peter Filkins was also awarded a Spring 2023 Fulbright IFK Senior Fellowship in Cultural Studies to research and write a biography on poet Ingeborg Bachmann.

The MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board is holding two workshops across the Berkshires for employers and organizations that are interested in working with high school interns.

The workshops will be held April 26 at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and May 12 at Berkshire Health Systems’ Hillcrest Campus in Pittsfield. Both sessions take place from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

These identical workshops will provide tips, guidance and strategies for providing internships to high school students. They are open to professionals interested in starting an internship at their company or looking to enhance their current internship program.

Information/registration: Youth program specialist Kat Toomey, kat@masshireberkshire.com, 413-442-7177, ext. 120.

Big Y Markets was recently named as one of America’s Greatest Places for Diversity 2023 by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group.

The two entities conducted a large-scale employer study based upon over 350,000 company reviews across 6 economic sectors and 34 different industries throughout the United States.

These reviews generated scoring based upon available data and interviews as well as an anonymous online survey of a diverse pool of employees at companies with 1,000 or more employees.

By Jane K aufman

HINSDALE — He’s been cooking at Ozzie’s Steak & Eggs for years; now Dylan Brewer is on his way to owning the restaurant where he learned the business.

Brewer, 30, is buying the business from founders and owners Tracey and Alan “Ozzie” Lussier, who will stay actively involved at the 20-year breakfast and lunch destination after the transaction. It’s expected to change hands in May following the transfer of the liquor license.

“That’s what makes us so successful ... everyone works together as a team,” Alan Lussier said.

The founders plan to remain involved in three ways. First, the Lussiers will continue to own the three-story building in the center of town that houses the restaurant along with the one-acre field behind it, which is used for events. Second, they’ll retain ownership of Ozzie’s Food Truck/ Catering for off-site catering jobs from fairs to weddings. And finally, they’ll remain involved in all aspects of the restaurant business in an effort to help Brewer continue the success Ozzie’s has enjoyed for 20 years.

The Lussiers want their customers to know that nothing will noticeably change with Brewer as the new owner.

Brewer said he likes the “big extended family” that runs the restaurant, “just the whole atmosphere.”

He said it’s his intention to keep the restaurant operating in the same manner as it is now: attracting 300 to 500 customers on busy weekend days with the same staff of about 20 that has been there for years.

The Lussiers met when they were working at the Dalton Restaurant, a restaurant Alan Lussier’s parents, Carmella and Gil Lussier, started 39 years ago, which is still running today.

Alan and Tracey Lussier opened Ozzie’s Steak and Seafood, also in Dalton, in the late 1990s, running it for a decade. At Dalton’s former train depot, they brought in local cover bands such as “Wishful Thinking.” After working late nights, they often went out to breakfast.

“It was always, like, not really the greatest,” Tracey Lussier said. “That’s what put the thought in his head that … we needed to open a breakfast place.”

“You need to have hot buttered toast corner to corner,” Alan Lussier said.

Peter Frissell learned of their interest and approached Alan Lussier about opening in his three-story building in Hinsdale. At that time, the first floor had a small restaurant called Gloria’s and a laundromat next door.

The Lussiers looked at the location and decided to open there in March 2003. They rented the restaurant space and bought the laundromat, closing it and converting the space into a second room with seating for about 50. The main dining room, with its bar, has seating for about 40.

The Lussiers bought the building in 2006 and remodeled both dining rooms.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ozzie’s closed for just three weeks, and pivoted to takeout for much of the lockdown.

The owners added a pavilion to cover the deck outside, where there had been a tent. Ozzie’s holds several car shows in spring, summer and fall, advertised as cruises. The restaurant also offers fresh seafood during the summer, including lobster rolls and fried clam bellies.

Summer sizzles at Ozzie’s, with camps open, second-home residents in abundance at nearby lakes, and the Berkshires’ busy tourism season.

The restaurant has remarkably low turnover, with some of the staff starting as teens, returning to work during summers in college and working a day a week once they find their careers elsewhere.

“We’re very lucky and grateful that we have had the same people for numerous years,” Tracey Lussier said. “It’s unheard of. We always get complimented.”

“Her staff is the best,” Alan Lussier said.

Alan Lussier, 62, and Tracey Lussier, 54, are now hoping to have more time to enjoy life by selling to Brewer, whom they consider to be a part of their extended family.

Brewer’s father worked as a bouncer at the Dalton Ozzie’s.

“So then when I was looking for a job, he brought me down here,” said Brewer, who began working at the Hinsdale restaurant as a dishwasher when he was 14. “And then working under Al, I learned a lot very quickly. So it just became the right move for me. So it made sense to get a culinary degree in high school and then stick with that, just like the rest of the staff has, forever.”

Brewer studied culinary arts at McCann Technical High School in North Adams. Brewer, 30, lives in Dalton.

“You learn a little differently when you’re doing it in the kitchen,” Brewer said. “You learn how to adapt and multitask on your feet.”

Brewer said he enjoys developing and cooking specials, and that he also enjoys preparing fresh seafood in the summer.

Brewer’s sisters, Cassidy and MaKenna Brewer, both work at the restaurant, and Brewer has the long view in mind: He’s hoping his nephews, Vincent, 7, and Barrett, 2, will be able to keep what’s become a family tradition. In fact, he asked The Eagle to feature their photo for this story, both dressed in Ozzie’s T-shirts.

“This isn’t something that just happened,” Alan Lussier said of the decision to sell to Brewer. “He’s been working for years on this goal.”

Brewer praised the work of the Lussiers.

“Alan and Tracey have built a great business over the past 20 years,” he said. “And I’m just hopefully looking forward to another great 20 years.”

Nationally, in the food retail sector, Big Y is one of only 5 companies to receive a total of 5 stars, their highest rating. Another 10 companies received 4.5 stars and 11 received 4.

Based in Springfield, Big Y operates Berkshire markets in Great Barrington, Lee, Pittsfield and North Adams and gas/convenience store locations in Lee and Pittsfield.

Berkshire Community Diaper Project has received $7,000 from Greylock Federal Credit Union to support its mission of providing free diapers to families. Funding from this grant will go directly to the purchase of more than 41,000 diapers, which will be given out to low-income families through 23 partnering agencies. Not only will this grant money support ongoing work, but it will help the organization grow and diversify its reach. The Diaper Project has provided more than 1.6 million diapers in the past nine years.

“The Diaper Project fills a critical gap in supporting low to moderate income families in the Berkshires,” said JamieEllen Moncecchi, Greylock’s senior vice president and chief administrative officer. “They leverage partnerships and meet families where they are needed most. Greylock is honored to be able to support their work.”

Foot Care by Nurses, which provides nursing-focused, comprehensive foot care, mainly for older adults, recently opened a new clinic at 625 Cape St. in Lee.

The clinic opened despite the recent death of longtime Berkshire resident Emily Armstrong, who was slated to lead it.

The business is a holistic, evidence-based practice focused on preventing falls and wounds from happening. It was founded by registered nurse Kate Clayton-Jones in 2016 in response to an unmet need.

“Despite this terrible loss, the team that Emily built will continue to provide exceptional care from specially trained nurses,” Clayton-Jones said.

“A holistic approach, teaching about nutrition and health, and supporting overall wellness are what makes foot care by a trained nurse different than foot care provided by a podiatrist or other allied health care providers,” she said.

The new clinic is currently accepting clients by appointment. Information: : FootCarebyNurses.net.

Big Y Foods has donated almost $44.000 raised from its October “Partners in Hope” initiative to 32 local breast cancer groups throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, including the women’s imaging center at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

The regional supermarket chain holds this fundraiser annually in October at all of its stores to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer.

Seventeen Massachusetts organizations, including those in Amherst, Holyoke, Ludlow, Longmeadow, Northampton, and Springfield, received funding.

Based in Springfield, Big Y operates Berkshire supermarkets in Great Barrington, Lee, North Adams and Pittsfield and gas/convenience store locations in Lee and Pittsfield.

Latde Diagnostics won the $50,000 prize for finishing first in the Western Mass. Health Tech Challenge, which took place at the Institute for Applied Life Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The challenge was sponsored by small business accelerator Lever Inc. of North Adams. It was open to startups from the four counties of Western Massachusetts.

Quasar Therapeutics received $25,000 in grant funding for finishing second. The top two startups were selected from the group of five finalists by a panel of judges.

All five startups began at UMass Amherst, and have been supported by the Institute for Applied Life Sciences. The challenge was funded in part by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Lever and MLSC have partnered since 2016, with the Western Mass Health Tech Challenge representing the seventh in a collaborative series of acceleration programs.