A century is a long time for any restaurant to survive. For local or family-owned restaurants, the biggest threat often isn’t a lack of customers, but a lack of someone willing to carry the torch. The hours are long, the margins are thin and finding a buyer who understands the business – and cares enough about its place in the community – can be a tall order.

That wasn’t the case for Franks Diner in Kenosha. When it came time for the iconic, 100-year-old restaurant to change hands, longtime owners Julie Rittmiller and Kevin Ervin found a way forward in Pablo Escribano, a former IT professional-turned Franks employee who spent three years learning the ins and outs of the restaurant before buying the business earlier this year.

Located at 508 58th St., Franks Diner opened in 1926 in a train car shipped from New Jersey by rail and by horses. Today, it’s considered the oldest continuously operating diner in the U.S. and has garnered national media attention from appearances on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and features in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Thrillist, Business Insider and others.

Rittmiller and Ervin ran the diner for nearly 17 years before officially selling it to Escribano and his wife, Diana Escribano, in August.

“Julie and I have always considered ourselves the stewards of the diner, keeping it going until the next person could take it and continue the legacy of Franks,” said Erwin. “Pablo and Diana are the perfect couple to hand over that mantel to.”

Both couples said that honest communication and trust were key in what Escribano described as a “natural transition” of a longstanding Kenosha staple.

Read more at the BizTimes.