In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we want to spotlight two of York County’s favorite restaurateurs, Jon and Amy Fortes. Jon and Amy met working at a restaurant together in 2009 and have been married for over seven years. They own three restaurants together, Salmeri's, Flipside Restaurant, and Flipside Café. Did we mention they also have three children? How do they do it? Trust, balance, and teamwork are the secret ingredients in this recipe for love and success!

Trust

Amy and Jon have always managed to find balance at all of their restaurants, but Covid-19 has definitely thrown them for a loop! One thing that really helps – is hiring strong management and staff. They seldom worry when leaving the restaurants – because they consider most of their employee's families and trust them to tend to any problems that should arise.

"Family is what gets us through the restaurant life whether that be our restaurant family or our three fantastic kids" -Jon 

Fun Fact: One of their sons is a busboy at Flipside on the weekends!

When they're not busy cooking up a storm at their restaurants, Jon and Amy are spending time with their kids. From attending youth sporting events to hiking and adventures, there's no shortage of fun when it comes to the Fortes family!

Balance

Having three restaurants is stressful, they've learned. Although they love being a team and working together in the restaurant industry, they find it easiest to divide and conquer. Typically, Amy is at the Flipside Café a few days a week and then Salmeri's. Jon is at Salmeri's the other days and Flipside Café on the weekends for brunch, when it's the busiest.

One thing that brings them together amid their busy work life? Their mutual love of hosting special events and catering!

Teamwork

Jon and Amy both bring a lot to the table when it comes to running their businesses and they make a great team because their areas of expertise differ from one another. 

"Amy is fantastic at building relationships with guests, almost a Wolfgang Puck mentality of the being in the dining room" -Jon

Amy also handles a lot of the paperwork and all of the payroll. On the other hand, Jon focus on the business side of things including menus, specials, purchasing, hiring, etc.

One thing's for sure, we LOVE having Jon and Amy in York County. To learn more about Jon, Amy, and their restaurants, watch this CN2 interview from Valentine's Day 2020!