Amore banquet facility opens

A mixture of heredity, experience and fate has resulted in a recipe for success for Plymouth residents Shaun Thome, 32, and his wife Kim Thome, 29.

Since Oct. 4, 2006, they have owned and operated Antoinette’s and Antonio’s, at 18 W. Mill St., Plymouth. Antoinette’s is a restaurant featuring pizza, pastas, salads, Paninis, sandwiches, Friday fish fries and Saturday night prime-rib dinners. The business also offers a catering service.

Antonio’s, a full-service bar connected to the restaurant, shares the same menu as Antoinette’s.

As of Jan. 4, the Thomes have opened yet another entity to their thriving business. It is Amore, a banquet facility that can accommodate up to 250 guests for functions entailing the set-up of tables: weddings; showers; birthday, anniversary, graduation, retirement and holiday parties; fundraisers and business meetings.

Amore can accommodate up to 450 guests for dances and other forms of entertainment, that don’t require the use of tables.

With its logo “Attainable Elegance,” Amore is connected to Antonio’s. All three businesses are housed in the facility, which originally served as the Dick Cornell Ford-Mercury dealership and service center and later, the Mike Burkart Ford-Mercury dealership and service center.

Amore is located in the back part of the building. “The Cornell dealership used this part of the building for their service department,” Kim said.

However, most recently the Fastenal Co., a retail business involved in the sale of industrial and construction supplies, occupied that part of the facility.

In 2007, the Fastenal Co. built a new facility at 117 Clover Lane, next to the Plymouth-based NAPA, and moved there at the end of that year.

“We tried to rent this part out but were unsuccessful,” Shaun recalled. “Then we decided to try to put a plan together for a banquet facility.”

“We felt a banquet facility would be a great asset to Plymouth,” Kim noted.

“There are no other banquet facilities in Plymouth,” Shaun added. “Other banquet facilities in the county are booked a couple years ahead for Saturday nights. We wanted to make our banquet facility elegant, yet with affordable prices, ranging from $12 to $17 per plate.”

The next step for the couple was to gain the approval of the Plymouth Common Council for their business plan. They did so over a period of several months.

At first, the parking situation seemed to pose a problem, but that has been resolved. “For larger events, we offer valet parking,” Kim noted.

Larry Duwell, Batavia, was the general contractor for the renovation project at Amore. Work began this past October and was completed at the start of this month.

The first event the Thomes held at Amore was a Jan. 4 party for the contractors involved in the renovation. And they already have received 36 bookings for the facility in 2010.

Shaun’s aunt Amy Duwell, Design Board Studio, Madison, designed Amore’s interior. The spacious, non-smoking facility, accessible to those with disabilities, features neutral colors, a diamond-patterned floor with wooden accents and attractive chandeliers.

The tile-sided, slate-colored, full-service bar sports a sile-stone top, with a glass tile back bar, that shimmers. when lit. The wall behind the bar is equipped with two large-screen TV’s.

Amore’s restroom facilities are separate from those in Antonio’s and Antoinette’s.

Credit for naming the facility, goes to Kim Snorek, mother of Lisa Taft, Antoinette’s executive chef.

“We held a naming contest online about six months ago,” Shaun recalled. “We received several suggestions, but we felt the name ‘Amore’ goes well with the three words beginning with ‘A,’ Antoinette’s, Antonio’s and Amore.”

Lisa Hurley, executive director of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, said she is elated that Plymouth now has a banquet facility, located in its downtown business district. Hurley made a site inspection of Amore during the holidays, to book two upcoming events.

One of these is the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner and meeting, for Thursday evening, Jan. 28, and the other, the Rotary Club’s holiday party, slated for Wednesday evening, Jan. 20.

“It’s wonderful to have a banquet facility in the city of Plymouth, with a capacity for more than 200 people,” Hurley said. “Hosting the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce annual dinner and meeting at Amore will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the new banquet facility to the Plymouth-area business community.

“This facility not only is good for Plymouth as a whole, but it is good for the downtown,” Hurley affirmed. “Amore adds another element of activity to the downtown business environment.

“With a restaurant that also offers catering, a bar, and a banquet hall, this full-service food and beverage facility meets the needs of both individuals and businesses,” Hurley said.

Plymouth developer Mark Kleinhans shares Hurley’s opinion. Kleinhans and his wife Linda were the original owners of Antoinette’s, which opened for business in January 2002, followed by the opening of Antonio’s in June of that year. Kleinhans business, Kleinhans Construction, did the renovation work on the parts of the business housing Antoinette’s and Antonio’s.

Kleinhans’ wife and their daughter and son-in-law Brenda and Chris Dale, along with Lois Roehl, operated the restaurant and bar, until October 2006, when the Kleinhans couple sold the business to the Thomes.

“Shaun and Kim are doing a fabulous job,” Kleinhans said. “It’s great they are so prosperous.”

The Thomes believe their business is thriving, because they re-invest most of their profits back into the business.

“Within the past three years, we have started dart and pool leagues and have sponsored basketball and softball teams,” Shaun said. “We also installed eight flat-screen TV’s over the bar in Antonio’s and installed new carpeting in Antoinette’s.”

Kim and Shaun have specific duties in their operation. Kim serves as bookkeeper and hostess, while Shaun is the general manager, overseeing the entire business.

It seems a natural fit for Shaun, a Random Lake native, and Kim, a native of Adell, to own a business. Shaun’s paternal grandfather the late Richard Thome owned and operated Richard Masons, headquartered in Random Lake.

His maternal grandfather the late Tom Jacoby owned and operated the former Jacoby Chevrolet dealership and service center, also located in Random Lake.

Ironically, fate played a role too, as Shaun and Kim purchased a business located in the site of a former auto dealership.

As for Kim, her brother and sister-in-law Mark and Val O’Loughlin own and operate the Road House in Dundee.

Regarding the Thomes’ employment history in the restaurant and bartending fields, Kim was a waitress at Applebee’s and Chili’s, both located in Sheboygan.

The Kohler Company employed Shaun for eight years – the first four years in the pottery department of the factory. He spent the last four years working at Riverbend, the grand, historic mansion in Kohler. He began there as butler and worked his way up to house butler.

“I helped manage the butlers and valets and ran the housekeeping departments and retail program,” Shaun said. “My supervisors were Richard Kluth of Plymouth and Stephen Beaumont of Kohler.”

In addition, Shaun had 15 years of part-time bartending experience at Chili’s, Sheboygan; the former Palmer’s Supper Club, town of Sherman; and Better Tymes Inn, Random Lake.

While he was employed at Riverbend, “Bill Cain and a group came in,” Shaun recalled. “I took care of the group, made their drinks and escorted them to their table, and later, gave them a tour of the facility.

“Bill said that he thought I should own my own restaurant. I told him Kim and I had been talking about opening a bar.

“Then a week later, Bill sent me a packet of area businesses that were for sale, such as The Green Room in Sheboygan and Silver Springs, the former DeO’Malley’s Lounge, and Antoinette’s and Antonio’s in Plymouth.”

Kim noted, “We looked at Prima and The Green Room, but they did not pan out, so I just put the packet of materials into a closet.”

Sometime later, Shaun found the materials and checked back for the sale prices.

“The price of Antoinette’s and Antonio’s had been greatly reduced, so we took a look at it and found it was clean, beautiful and new,” he said.

“Then we found some people to invest in it and went into business,” Kim added. “We had a partner who was a chef at Riverbend, but after a year, we decided to part ways. Then we hired Lisa Taft as our chef.”

A 2006 graduate of Milwaukee Area Technical College, Taft, while enrolled in that college’s apprenticeship program, worked at Tess, an upscale restaurant; Brew City, a barbeque restaurant Envoy, a restaurant in the Ambassador Hotel; and Aqua in the Park East Hotel. “I worked in these places as line cook, cocktail waitress, server and shift manager,” Taft said. “Before starting to work here at Antoinette’s, I helped open a pub and grille in Cedarburg.

The Thomes are convinced they have found their niche as business owners.

“We have a great staff,” Kim said. “What I enjoy most here are the customers and their positive feedback and seeing how far we have come.”

“I enjoy seeing our business grow,” her husband added. “I enjoy the patrons and seeing them come back over and over again.”

The Thomes have a staff of 35 employees for Antoinette’s and Antonio’s and have now added 15 more employees for Amore. They admit they face challenges at the onset of operating a new entity in their business but are willing to face those.

“It’s a challenge to manage 50 employees and to gain people’s trust, because we have no track record yet in regard to banquets,” Shaun said. “But we’ve hired employees who have had banquet experience.”

Kim and Shaun enjoy spending their off-duty hours with their two young daughters – Hayley, 9, and Madison, 6. Both are students at Fairview Elementary.

Note: For further information about Amore, phone 892-2161. The facility’s Web site is accessed at www.amoreplymouth.com

The Web site for Antoinette’s and its catering service is www.antoinettesplymouth.com, and the Web site for Antonio’s is www.antoniosplymouth.com.