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

DATE: FRIDAY, July 2, 1993                   TAG: 9307020364
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DON and PATRICIA GREEN-WELLS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PARGO'S IS LOCAL, AND CUSTOMERS LIKE IT

USUALLY WE are content to let our business speak for itself, but your restaurant critic's recent review of Pargo's Roanoke Valley was of such a character that we feel it cannot pass by without comment, not only for ourselves but for the food-service industry of which we are a part (June 25 Dining Out column by Dolores Kostelni, "Roanoke Pargo's: hit or miss").

It implied that Pargo's was a Shoney's operation, part of a great national chain. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is owned and operated by a husband-and-wife team who live here and have invested their life savings and lives in an effort to provide a distinctive dining opportunity for this community. We used a local general contractor, Realtor and engineers. We purchase the bulk of all goods and services from local suppliers and pay a small royalty to the franchiser (Shoney's) for the use of the name and concept design.

The critic recognized that food services are designed for specific targeted segments of the population. We have never represented ourselves to be a gourmet or fine-dining restaurant. We do proudly present ourselves as a full service, casual restaurant, offering a wide variety of quality food, freshly prepared daily on premises, and served in generous portions at modest prices. We plead guilty to providing a pleasant environment in a beautiful building. Above all, we pride ourselves on taking care of our customers - even when we goof up! We live and die by our vision statement: "We will do everything we can to insure that every customer has such a special experience and is so well taken care of that they cannot wait to return."

We have operated Pargo's New River Valley at Christiansburg for nearly three years. Thousands of customers who regularly come to us from all over Southwest Virginia and West Virginia will be surprised to read that the critic could not find any "Great Value, Great Service and Great Fun," even if the experience of the food was not to the personal tastes of a "chef." Our customers have found the food to be good enough to make Pargo's the highest-volume restaurant in the New River Valley, and apparently have been responding in the same way in the Roanoke Valley.

However, there is something basically unfair for a restaurant critic to be harshly critical of a six-month-old business, still in the delicate process of developing its staff and cultivating its customer base. After investing $1.8 million in a clearly obvious effort to provide something distinctive and enjoyable for the community, surely any business deserves something better from its newspaper. If there is a danger to health, fraud, deception or a sham being perpetrated, it is the duty of a newspaper to expose it. But to injure a new business in its formative process based on personal tastes, while damning with faint praise, where is that fair or responsible to any industry?

We know who we are and are comfortable with that. We are always in the process of continuous improvement and will continue to pamper our customers with the best food we can prepare and service that is second to none.

Don and Patricia Green-Wells are owners of Pargo's in the New River and Roanoke valleys.

by CNB