Waitress Deborah Cash: Working at Mimi’s for 20 Years

By Tom and Jerry Caraccioli

Q: What brings people back to Mimi’s?

Deborah Cash: Nostalgia and great food. (as one of her colleagues also offered “the waitresses.”) There’s no place like Mimi’s, it’s like home. We do our best to make people feel like this is home. Everybody loves to come here. We make everyone feel at home here. This is an ‘old-fashioned’ diner here. Everyone here is special. We, all us waitresses, make it special. We know just about everyone’s name but, more importantly, we know exactly what they eat. There are people that come in and we ask them — ‘You want your usual?’ We bend over backwards to make sure people get what they want. We go the extra mile.

Q: Would you call Mimi’s an institution in Fulton?

Deborah Cash: It’s the heartbeat of Fulton. Everybody that comes in says, ‘My grandmother used to bring me and I have such nice memories of being here.’ We send flowers to customers that have passed away, we’ve held benefits for people in need and Fulton is a wonderful town. When we were shut down for COVID a few years back, the town of Fulton made sure we stayed here. It makes me tear up thinking about it. We had people coming in here three times a day for ‘to go’ orders to keep us going. The town of Fulton made sure we were here because they love this place just as much as the people who work here do.

Q: Do you source local vendors for food items?

Deborah Cash: Yes, we get all our strawberries local for our strawberry shortcake. Mimi’s tries to do the very best we can to buy locally and do that.

Third Generation Owner, Richard Tagliareni

Q: Why do people like Mimi’s?

Richard Tagliareni: It’s our friendly atmosphere, our waitresses, we do whatever we can to take care of the customers. We go above and beyond and just try to accommodate our guests. I am the third generation. My uncle, Chris Sachel, just retired. He’s still the owner but I’m taking over and running the operation.

Q: Do you source local vendors for specialty items?

A: We do when we can. We get our produce from C’s Farms in Oswego. Some farms are local and we use them when we can. In the summertime we make a fresh strawberry shortcake and we use strawberries that come from local farms.

Q: What do you like best about Mimi’s?

A: I like the fast-paced environment. I like cooking. And I enjoy being around our customers.

Q: What makes Mimi’s so special and where do you think you’ll be in 50 years?

A: We’re just so engrained in the community. We’re a staple and hold that up on a pedestal. We cater to the community and are very involved in everything from the schools to local events. Whenever something is going on in the community, Mimi’s is there for them.

Q: What are some of the changes you have invoked to put your signature on the business?

A: We’re in the process of converting our menu boards over to digital TV screens. That will be coming in the future. People will be able to see pictures of our specials. That is something neat that will be happening soon. We’re not opposed to new ideas but we also don’t want to mess with what has worked right for so many years. We’re really glad to be in the Fulton community and Oswego County. The county has been good to us and we’ve been good to them. We take that seriously.

Q: What are your thoughts on the next 50 years?

A: In the next 50 years we want to continue to grow and keep doing what we’ve been doing.