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Deli Fills Bellies For 25 Years

STAFF MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Regular customers Bessie Jo Almerico and Leo Almerico eat at Mott and Hester Deli Co. in South Tampa Friday, January 12, 2008. The couple have been eating at the deli for more than 10 years.

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By MARK HOLAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 19, 2008

Updated: 01/17/2008 05:23 pm

Additional Photos

SOUTH TAMPA - Ted Kelly has spent half his life at Mott & Hester Deli, hustling hundreds of miles between the counter and the kitchen.

"When I started the business I didn't plan to be around 25 years, but I didn't have a fallback plan," said Kelly, 50. "I don't know if there's anything else I could do right now."

In December 1982, Kelly became one of the first tenants in the new Palm Plaza shopping center, 1155 S. Dale Mabry Highway.

At the time, more women were entering the workforce, and families had less time for home-cooked meals. The deli aimed to become a middle ground between fast food and restaurants, with Kelly and his wife, Gina, cooking pasta dinners and casseroles, soups and gumbo.

"We wanted to provide an outlet for people to get the kind of food they grew up with," Ted Kelly said.

He added seating in the small storefront with its black-and-white checkered floor after the first year, developing a regular lunch crowd.

"People were tough to get in the door the first time because there's a lot of great food around here, but they were fiercely loyal once they came in the door," Kelly said.

Some regulars eat at the deli four or five days a week.

"I like having friends to talk to at lunch and still have enough privacy to read the paper," said lawyer Richard Osborne, an 18-year customer. "This is my lunch home."

John Harrison, who owns a printing company, said he has been eating at the deli since it opened.

"Hey, the food is good," he said.

The deli decor emphasizes Kelly's love for the University of Florida, his alma mater. Framed photographs show family and friends fishing and vacationing, including several pictures at the Manhattan street corner that inspired the deli's name.

On a visit to New York before opening their business, the Kellys waited at the corner for a ride back to New Jersey, where they were staying with a relative.

Today, about 40 percent of their business is catering and 40 percent is lunch traffic, Kelly said. A few of his seven employees have been on the payroll for more than 10 years.

"It's a lot of work and it's time consuming, but it's a labor of love," he said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Mott & Hester Deli Co.

WHERE: 1155 S. Dale Mabry

Highway

OPEN: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday

CALL: (813) 289-9758

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at (813) 835-2102 or mholan@tampatrib.com.

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