‘Proud to be associated with it’: Norm ’n Nate’s shutters

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This article was published 08/11/2024 (682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg delicatessen that got its start next door to Health Sciences Centre almost 40 years ago closed its doors Friday.

Norm ’n Nate’s co-owners Wayne Nemy and Lisa Benedek started telling customers about their decision earlier this week, announcing it widely in an email Friday morning. Benedek, who served as general manager, most recently operated the business as a take-out and catering operation at 1391 St. James Street.

Making the announcement was bittersweet according to Benedek, who started slinging sandwiches at the deli in December 2000, and became a co-owner 14 years later.

“It felt kind of weird,” she said. “You work at something every day and it becomes a part of you.”

The business started struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nemy said. When it lost a major client in August, it couldn’t recover.

Norm ’n Nate’s was started in 1987, by Mike Oman and Steve Ratson, who named the business after their fathers. Located at 870 Sherbrook St., it was a full-service deli, offering sandwiches, soups, wraps and salads.

Norm ’n Nate’s moved several times over the years, including stops at Madison Square and McPhillips Street. By the time it landed on St. James Street in 2017, customers no longer had the option to dine in — but the company offered take-out and catering. It also expanded into the wholesale market, at one time supplying businesses such as Shell and Costco.

“Large or small — we do ’em all!” became the company’s motto, and it wasn’t unusual to cater for a group of three and a group of 2,000 in the same week. Two employees assisted Benedek with daily operations.

There were about 15 people working at the deli when Benedek joined the staff. It was supposed to be a short-term job while she saved money to go to college, but when her post-secondary plans didn’t pan out, she stayed.

“By that time (we) almost became like a little small family,” she said. “And I’m not the person that likes change, so I just kind of stayed.”

Owners came and went throughout the years. Nemy, who describes himself as “a reluctant restaurateur” — his main line of work is in real estate — was a long-time customer when he bought into the company roughly 20 years ago to help out the then-owner.

Prior to that, Nemy visited the restaurant so often the staff named a sandwich after him: Wayne’s World Clubhouse.

“It was good food,” he said. “It still is. To this day, we make really great sandwiches. I can’t take any credit for that — that’s all Lisa and her staff that she had in the kitchen. They were phenomenal.”

The shuttering of Norm ’n Nate’s is disappointing, said Shaun Jeffrey, executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association. Jeffrey frequented the deli when it was located at Madison Square.

“It’s disheartening because it’s a longstanding local restaurant that has struggled to the point where they can’t make a go of it anymore,” he said. “There’s not a lot of room to be successful in the restaurant industry right now and it’s causing a lot of businesses to reevaluate their future viability.

“It’s very hard to swallow especially for me because we need restaurants like this. We need them to have a thriving diverse industry in Manitoba.”

It’s not the end Benedek and Nemy had hoped for, but the business partners have been touched by the response they’ve received from longtime customers since announcing the closure.

“As much as I never wanted to get into the business, I will miss it for sure,” Nemy said. “It was an iconic name in Winnipeg for a long time and I was proud to be associated with it, quite honestly.

“We brought a lot of smiles to a lot of people’s faces over many, many years.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca