Paquette said the first-round loan was forgiven and that they expect the second to also qualify. The $800 billion federal PPP low-interest loan program - which allowed loan forgiveness for borrowers who met requirements and forgiveness application deadline - was designed to help companies and businesses dealing with the economic fallout of the pandemic. 'Like a perfect storm': Fall River area businesses feel pressure of supply-chain crisis Two rounds of PPP loansįerris and Paquette said the Venus de Milo received two Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling more than $800,000.
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The walls in Ferris’s Swansea office are full of photos of some of those well known characters. Lee Bailey and former heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes.įall River-born celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse as a young man worked for a while in the kitchen. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Frank Sinatra actor Red Buttons attorney F. Show business celebrities and other famous personalities who through the decades appeared at or utilized the Venus de Milo included actor and philanthropist Danny Thomas, who helped found the St. It wasn’t long before his father began converting the bowling alley into a ballroom: “There was a demand for weddings,” Ferris said.
“We lost half our leagues to Holiday Lanes.” Paquette notes, and state records bear out, that the official, incorporated name of the business is still Swansea Bowlaway Inc.įerris says when his father opened the bowling alley it included the Olympic Room, which served lunch and dinner and became popular for its swordfish, scrod and lobster.īut it wasn’t long before the Holiday Lanes ten-pin bowling alley, now known as AMF Somerset Lanes, opened in Somerset. The origins of the Venus de Milo wedding venue and restaurant date back to 1959 when Fall River native Monsour Ferris, father of Monte and Ronald, opened a duckpin bowling alley at the same Route 6 site called Bowlaway. He says Carlos Melo, who now manages the Jillian’s restaurant and bar, also got started in the food service business working as a busboy at the Venus de Milo. “I owe a lot to Ronnie and Monte,” he added. “I grew up in this place,” said Paquette, who has a master’s degree in business administration. He eventually worked his way up to a managerial position while going to college and continues to help out - in addition to his full-time position as assistant director of the Bristol Community College program called Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search. Paquette, now 37, says he was 15 when he began working as a busboy for Monte Ferris and his older brother, Ronald, who died in 2009. Venus de Milo general manager Scott Paquette says soon after the pandemic alarm bell was rung in March of 2020, a decision was made to run the Venus Foods take-out business out of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill, a Wilbur Avenue restaurant and bar owned by Ferris.Īnd even though Ferris shortly thereafter decided to bring the take-out business back to the Venus de Milo, Paquette says customers can still order soup, chowder and lobster bisque while having lunch or dinner in the dining room of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill. Future Venus take-out foods ventureįerris, who grew up in Fall River’s Flint neighborhood and now lives in Providence, said after selling the property he would like to find a location, possibly in or near Providence, to open Venus Foods, an in-house subsidiary that only does take-out orders. “We will continue to work with him,” Feiner said of Ferris, during a brief phone interview. Its senior vice president Dan Feiner said he knows that Ferris is intent on finding a buyer.
The property previously had been listed for sale by MG Commercial Real Estate of Providence. He said he’s recently spoken to at least two potential buyers but a deal has not yet been brokered. Unlike a number of other restaurants, however, its Empire Grille did not reopen.Ĭustomers who yearned for its baked stuff lobster, Delmonico potatoes and signature minestrone soup and clam chowder were and are still able, for the time being, to stop by and pick up meal orders.įerris, 70, said he would ideally like to sell the building and real estate by the end of the year. It was also months before restrictions on indoor gatherings were relaxed and lifted.Īnd although its restaurant and banquet rooms remained closed, the Venus de Milo never fully shut down thanks to its take-out business. COVID took its toll on restaurant businessĪfter the emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020, the Venus de Milo’s restaurant, like other eateries throughout the state, was forced to discontinue indoor dining for more than three months.
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