Cupid is often pictured with a quiver of arrows that can inspire love. But for several Delaware couples, the Roman god\u2019s arsenal includes whisks, tongs, and a wooden spoon or two. From Wilmington to Fenwick Island, partners in life and work are behind some of the state\u2019s most popular restaurants.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy. At Roma Italian Ristorante in Dover, owners Joe and Kristin Garramone are \u201ccooking, serving, marketing, advertising, event coordinating, training, and bookkeeping while still making the time to touch base with all our guests,\u201d Kristin notes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lifestyle, she says. And most owners wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n
A leap of faith<\/p>\n
Some partners choose to invest\u2014financially and emotionally\u2014in a loved one\u2019s dream, and if all goes well, it becomes a shared vision. That was the case for Ben and Diane Winiarczyk, who met in high school while cruising Main Street in Newark.<\/p>\n
Owning a restaurant was a natural progression for Ben, a seasoned mixologist. He and Diane purchased Shorebreak Lodge in 2024. The acquisition of the popular Rehoboth restaurant put the couple on the same page. \u201cWorking in the restaurant together means we are experiencing the same successes and challenges,\u201d Diane explains. \u201cWe can [understand] and support each other better than when we had separate careers with separate successes and challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean and Kristina Malone can relate. Sean, a former United States Postal Service employee, was well acquainted with his wife\u2019s entrepreneurial spirit. She opened a spa and wellness center the first year they met. After the spa closed, she opened Kristina\u2019s Kitchen in 2020 in Millville and was quickly overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI desperately needed his help,\u201d Kristina recalls. \u201cSean has a great business perspective, and he, too, loves coffee and good food\u2014and even loves baking pies.\u201d Their first year as partners was challenging, especially since Kristina\u2019s opened during the pandemic. \u201cWe did take it out on each other occasionally,\u201d she says. \u201cBut over the years, we have grown as business partners and have learned to listen to each other\u2019s ideas and compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michel McFarland-Davis and Richard Davis met more than 30 years ago in Rehoboth. \u201cHe\u2019s always been in the restaurant business, and I\u2019ve been in retail,\u201d Michel says. Despite living with a chef, she experienced a learning curve when they opened Michy\u2019s near Rehoboth in 2014. \u201cWorking together was challenging since I [had] never been in the business,\u201d she admits. \u201cBut Rich [taught] me the ins and outs.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/delawa_mar_2026_a012_002.jpg\")
Ben Winiarczyk was a well-known coastal mixologist before he and his wife. Diane, purchased Shorebreak Lodge in Rehoboth Beach. He manages the bar program; she handles the front of the house. Both are committed to creating an exceptional guest experience. Photograph by Crew Media CO.<\/p>\n
Meeting of the minds<\/p>\n
Many couples met in the industry. Consider Gary and Lorraine Papp, who own Harbour in downtown Lewes. She hired him to be the sous chef at Wycombe Inn, an eight-room Victorian inn in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and their culinary careers have been entwined ever since.<\/p>\n
They moved to Delaware in 1994 to open The Buttery in Lewes, and in 2020, they opened Harbour.<\/p>\n
Before sparks ignited, chefs Kristin and Joe Garramone often crossed paths in Delaware. \u201cHospitality in Delaware is a small community,\u201d she notes. Joe grew up in the business; his family opened Roma in the early 1970s, and he took over in 1999. Kristin, previously a chef at the Back Burner in Hockessin, came on board in 2015 to open Sul Tempo Cocktail Lounge, an offshoot. They wed in 2017.<\/p>\n
In Kent County, Matthew Schafenberg hired Janelle Harrington in 2003 to work at his first Dover restaurant, Eight Sixty Five. They remained friends, and after they both went through divorces, romance blossomed. Now they are the faces behind Jack\u2019s on Main in Clayton, which opened in 2023.<\/p>\n
Divide and conquer<\/p>\n
Regardless of the path to partnership, many couples divide duties based on skills, interests, and experience. At Roma, for instance, Kristin primarily handles the front of the house, which includes the dining room, while Joe is in the kitchen. Michel and Rich follow a similar approach at Michy\u2019s. At Shorebreak, Ben handles the bar program and operations, while Kristin handles finances and human resources.<\/p>\n
Some are balancing multiple jobs. For instance, Janelle has a full-time job in commercial real estate management, so she works as a server at Jack\u2019s on Fridays and Saturdays. In between, she handles server scheduling and training, back-end point-of-service operations, menu and promotional design, and the website.<\/p>\n
Matthew operates the tiny kitchen at Jack\u2019s, which includes two pieces of electric equipment and a soup warmer, he says. From his culinary stage in the dining room, he cooks for up to 80 people a night. \u201cI run my office out of a messenger bag with a laptop,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Molly Merrill is a longtime state employee, but she owns Skipjack Dining with her husband, Donny, the chef. When the Newark restaurant opened in 2013\u2014a year after their wedding\u2014she was often on-site. Then they welcomed three children. \u201cWe bought the restaurant and had Mickey,\u201d Donny says. \u201cWe bought the banquet room and had Maya. We bought the patio and had Declan. We are not expanding anymore!\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of her job and the kids, Molly has scaled back her on-site presence but does what she can on the computer.<\/p>\n
All in the family<\/p>\n
Two of the Merrills\u2019 children have Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare degenerative disease. Mickey was diagnosed in 2017, and in 2019, regular customers started the annual MickeyGolf event to raise money for research. \u201cMany of the volunteers you see at our Mickey events are our customers or staff,\u201d Donny says. \u201cSkipjack started as a restaurant, but it turned into a big family.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Merrills spent a year with Mickey in California, where she participated in a clinical trial, the team kept the restaurant running. \u201cThey did a fantastic job,\u201d Molly says proudly.<\/p>\n
Longtime employees can help give couples much-needed time off. The Papps go on fishing trips and spend time in Puerto Rico. They can count on Clay Nelson to manage the kitchen. Michy\u2019s closes for a few weeks each year in January.<\/p>\n
The Winiarczyks, who are new to ownership, are learning to set boundaries. \u201cWhen we purchased the restaurant, we were together more than we had ever been,\u201d Diane says. \u201cSo we had to create a space where we were focusing on us and not the restaurant. One of our early goals was to create a management team that could allow us to step away from the restaurant for quick date nights or weeks of travel.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Gary](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/delawa_mar_2026_a012_003.jpg\")
Gary and Lorraine Papp, the couple behind Harbour in downtown Lewes, have built a life around hospitality\u2014they met when she hired him as her sous chef. They were The Buttery\u2019s opening chefs and now run one of the town\u2019s busiest dining rooms. Photograph by Maria DeForrest.<\/p>\n
So far, she says, they have no regrets. \u201cWe are driven and rewarded by our vision of Shorebreak,\u201d she says. \u201cIt fills our hearts and passion to see friends, lovers, and families coming together for an evening of conversation and connection over a meal prepared and served with kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related: A Guide to Over 30 New Restaurants in Delaware You Need to Try<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cupid is often pictured with a quiver of arrows that can inspire love. But for several Delaware couples, the Roman god\u2019s arsenal includes whisks, tongs, and a wooden spoon or two. From Wilmington to Fenwick Island, partners in life and work are behind some of the state\u2019s most popular restaurants. It\u2019s not easy. At Roma<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6366,6364,6362,6365,6363],"class_list":["post-27311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-delaware","tag-delaware","tag-delaware-dining","tag-delaware-food","tag-delaware-grocery-stores","tag-delaware-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117320476557442800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}