Partners Restaurant recovers from fire

Date: 1/7/2016

AGAWAM – Even on a late Tuesday morning, Partners Restaurant is bustling, alive with forks clanging on plates and servers delivering omelets to hungry customers. People are happy, owners Sue and Mark Tansey said, because after 15 months, their Agawam location has reopened.

A September 2014 fire destroyed the restaurant, and though the Tanseys opened a temporary location in June at the former Cup in West Springfield, they and their customers were anxious to return to Agawam.

With the work of the property’s landlord, Partners opened up in a brand new building on Dec. 11.

“The customers were saying, ‘Finally, we’ve been waiting, we’ve been waiting,’” Mark told Reminder Publications. “They seem like they were antsy, and they were very happy to have us back. We’ve been very busy since the first day, every day.”

Though Partners at The Cup remains open, the Agawam location is home for many of their regulars.

“Even in West Springfield, we would scratch our heads. We opened there in June and people would come in, a lot of our regulars from here and some not, but they would come in and say, ‘Well, this is great, but when are you opening in Agawam?’” Sue said. “I think breakfast is a very personal thing, you want it to be close to your home. We’re happy to provide a great place for them to come.”

When the doors opened again, Mark said customers were surprised to find a few differences. The floor plan, he said, is much more open than the old restaurant and they are hoping to create outdoor seating on a patio for the spring.     

With a new building also comes changes to the atmosphere, and Sue took the charge with new décor.

The “rustic-industrial” feeling helps to create a homey feeling, Mark said. With a wall completely covered in maps – the blue of drawn oceans dominating – Sue said she was not necessarily trying to create a travel theme. It was just what inspired her.

Part of that creative process was a combination and crowdsourcing. Between trips to the flea market and contributions from customers, Sue was able to get decorative dinner plates from all 50 states, which now hang on the walls of the new Partners.

“I posted it on Facebook and so many of our customers were involved in finding them because if I looked at Etsy.com or eBay, the plates were $10, plus at least $10 shipping,” Sue said. “I don’t want to spend that. I just posted it out there and people would call and say, ‘Hey, I’m at a flea market. Do you have Pennsylvania?’”

Mark said they only had to buy about six plates on their own. The rest were customer contributions.

Beyond helping to decorate, both Mark and Sue said the customers and community have been a source of inspiration and support through a trying time.

“To think of what [Mark] built, and then along with me, and that people didn’t forget us for 15 months…” Sue said, both visibly moved. “They were still asking about us [for 15 months]. We were lucky. It never ceased … We’d be working in here and people would come looking in the windows.”

Sue said the members of their community, from customers to employees who return after years, says a lot about her husband.

“He’s a good boss and a good man,” Sue said. “It’s all a testament to him.”

It has not been an easy 15 months for Mark and Sue, but the work has been worth it.

“It wasn’t even an option to not move back in here,” Sue said. “I said even if we won the Powerball, I think we would still open because we felt our customers’ need for us to be back.”

For more information about Partners Restaurant, visit www.facebook.com/Partners.RestaurantCatering.