MASON CITY — Brent Svejda smelled the zesty Italian sauce a woman added to her sub sandwich for lunch this past week.
His nose led him to the source: Pete’s Kitchen, a popular neighborhood deli which opened 25 years ago this month.
“It’s been around here for a long time, and they’ve got a good reputation and they’ve got great food,” said Svejda, 29, of Mason City. “It’s nice to see ‘Mom and Pop’ places still around. There are so many corporations that are just taking over.”
The only drawback: deciding between a slice of pizza, a sub or a gyro sandwich. And don’t forget dessert.
“The eclairs are to die for,” Svejda said.
Pete’s scored 8.5 out of 10 in a recent ranking by Newman Catholic High School journalism students.
“It was very tasty and the service was great,” reporter Drew Verstegen wrote in a food review for the school newspaper. “But it is a rather small place, and it is kind of a hidden gem.”
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Pete and Arlene Kiroff had all of $10 in the bank when they opened Pete’s Kitchen on Jan. 13, 1986.
They got support from developer Tom Zanios and eventually bought the building on contract from Zanios’ son, Jamie.
The Kiroffs made their last payment in December 2010. They’ve taken just one extended vacation in all those years.
“I’m real proud of them,” said their daughter, Crystal Kiroff, 30. “I know they’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into everything they’ve done here.”
Success did not come easy. It shouldn’t, said Pete, 58.
He still works 12-hour days, six days a week, making 25 to 30 carrot cakes at once.
“It doesn’t seem like hard work,” he said. “You just learn how to manage time.”
“I think you were always the kind of person who wanted to be your own boss, and you can do that here,” Arlene, 61, told him. “It’s an independence thing.”
Their old-style, blue-collar neighborhood deli is holding its own amid the many large franchise counterparts.
“People go there and they come back,” Arlene said. “There’s business enough for everyone.”
“And our stuff is all homemade so it keeps us unique from a lot of other places,” Pete said. “You have to give people their money’s worth. Don’t cut back on your product. I’d rather go up on price than cut my quality.”
The Kiroffs made sack lunches for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who visited Mason City during his 1988 presidential campaign, and fed Secret Service agents when President George W. Bush visited in 2004.
They’ve also fed a couple of generations of customers — some of whom also needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to just listen.
“I think it’s all about the people you meet, and interacting with other people,” Arlene said. “It’s unconditional love of everybody around you. That’s what makes the whole world tick.”
Pete advises burgeoning entrepreneurs to follow their dreams and work hard.
“It takes a lot of perseverance,” he said. “I won’t die a wealthy man, but I’ll be satisfied with my life.”
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