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Adam Weitsman buys well-known Skaneateles restaurant for new version of Hilltop diner
New breakfast spot in the village will be called Clover's Cafe.
Last week, Skaneateles resident and business executive Adam Weitsman vowed to hire all the staff from the soon-to-close Hilltop Restaurant just outside the village and open a new place for them to work.
A week later, he’s made good on the promise.
Weitsman is buying Johnny Angel’s, a well-known hamburger joint at 22 Jordan St. in the village. For now, he’s turning it into a 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. breakfast-focused diner that will be open seven days a week.
It will be called Clover’s Cafe, after Weitsman’s 12-year-old daughter. It will incorporate much of the Hilltop menu and some of the Johnny’ Angel’s favorites.
Weitsman is offering jobs to 16 or 17 staffers from the Hilltop, and offering two managers from that restaurant “equity shares” in the business. He is also planning to offer jobs to all of the Johnny Angel’s staff.
Clover’s Cafe will open after a brief shutdown of Johnny Angel’s for a transition.
He said he plans to keep the prices low and donate profits from the new cafe to charity.
“The prices will be very equal to the Hilltop,” Weitsman said. “It will be an affordable place for everyone.”
Weitsman said Johnny Angel’s owner Bill Lynn approached him about a deal after reading of the closing of the Hilltop and its Cedar House Bowling Lanes last week. Lynn has moved to Florida and was looking to sell the hamburger joint, Weitsman said. (Lynn will keep the nearby Scoops ice cream shop for now).
Weitsman is the owner of Upstate Shredding, the largest scrap metal business on the East Coast, and also owns The Krebs and The Elephant and the Dove restaurants in Skaneateles. He lives on Skaneateles Lake.
The Hilltop and Cedar House, just west of the village line on Route 20, have been purchased by The Woodbine Group of Syracuse, a developer of boutique hotels and other properties.
