WYOMISSING — When Hamid Chaudhry announced June 1 that he was selling the Wyomissing Family Restaurant to his cousins Rizwan “Riz” and Oz Chaudhry, there was one question on everyone’s minds: Would the iconic giant chicken, which Hamid purchased and installed in front of the restaurant in 2018, remain?
According to the new owners, the chicken is here to stay.
“There may be a new coat of paint, spruce it up a little,” Riz Chaudhry said, sitting in a booth at the restaurant. “The past few winters have done some damage to it.”
Riz and Oz Chaudhry have worked with Hamid Chaudhry for 15 years, and have managed the enduringly popular Penn Avenue eatery since 2016.
“Our philosophy has always been scratch-made, homemade, simple cooking,” Oz Chaudhry said. “That’s what we want to continue to focus on, and introduce new products as we go along.”
He said that after six years of running day-to-day operations at the restaurant, he and Riz’s responsibilities as owners won’t be much different.
“The experience has been great,” he said. “We call this the water cooler of Berks County. We have many prominent people visit us. For example, politicians.”
Connor Lamb, David McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz all visited the Wyomissing Family Restaurant during their respective Senate campaigns.
“It has been a great learning experience,” Riz Chaudhry said. “We came from a franchise Dairy Queen, so working at an independent restaurant has been a great experience in learning things on your own.”
Hamid Chaudhry, who had owned the restaurant since 2015, said that by selling it, he gave his cousins “a piece of their own American Dream.”
He sold the restaurant for an undisclosed price to focus on his family and other business ventures, such as the Shillington Farmers Market and his planned food truck park and community kitchen at the former Sheetz on Perkiomen Avenue in Exeter Township.
“COVID taught me a few things,” he said. “What’s more important to me than money. I wanted to spend more time with the wife and the kids, get a dog. I just realized life is too short.”
COVID taught Riz and Oz Chaudhry a few things as well.
“Thank God we have a good relationship with our employees, and our customers as well,” Oz Chaudhry said. “It was not as challenging for us.”
The restaurant retained 75% of its staff through the pandemic, as well as its loyal customer base. Lately, they have hosted fundraisers for churches and customers in need, offered internships to Berks high school students and donated to charity events such as school Mini-THONs.
“We try to help the community however we can,” Oz Chaudhry said.
“When they started working with me, I told them, ‘I will sell (it to) you. I will make sure that you are set,’” Hamid Chaudhry said about Riz and Oz Chaudhry. “They are people persons and they are hardworking. The American Dream is alive and well for the people who are willing to work, and they are willing to work. The restaurant business is not for someone who is afraid to get his hands dirty.”
