Old Spaghetti Factory recipe for success: Good food, reasonable prices, treat customers right

Vice president Chris Hein (left) and owner Chris Dussin keep Old Spaghetti Factory humming

Denizens of Old Spaghetti Factory enjoy eating there for many reasons, not the least of which is its family atmosphere.

It’s no coincidence. Old Spaghetti Factory is all about family.

The Dussin family has owned the popular Portland-based chain since the first restaurant opened in 1969 at Southwest Second and Pine Street. Today, the franchise extends from Honolulu to Louisville, at 42 locations across 13 states nationwide. There are also OSF locations in Nagoya and Kobe, Japan.

Six of the OSF sites are in the Portland area and Vancouver. Like Jake’s and Huber’s, Old Spaghetti Factory is a landmark and institution for good eating in the city.

What’s the secret?

“Continuity of ownership and vision,” says owner Chris Dussin, whose father, Guss Dussin, got things started 54 years ago. “My dad made it pretty clear what we needed to do to make things successful and how you treat people and take care of them was always No. 1 for him. That rolls into why we have had so many long-term employees like Chris Hein.”

Hein began as a dishwasher at age 16 in the Old Spaghetti Factory in Denver in 1975. Nearly a half-century later, Hein serves as OSF’s vice president/food and beverage.

“Bob Martin is another example,” Chris Dussin says. “He retired a few years ago after almost 50 years with us. Bob started as a server in Seattle in 1970 and retired as our vice president/development.

“Why we are still around is by staying consistent, having had a lot of great people help us keep this thing going, and we have kept it in the family. There is a pride to that.”

There is pride on my part that Dussin and Old Spaghetti Factory have chosen to become the newest supporting sponsor of kerryeggers.com. Welcome aboard Chris!

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Chris Dussin, 67, and wife Tyanne — who is Old Spaghetti Factory’s vice president/design — have four daughters and two grandchildren. Chris served as OSF’s president from 1997-2015 and now oversees the family’s stable of OSF restaurants in Oregon and throughout the West Coast.

Chris’ grandfather — also Chris Dussin — came to the eastern United States from Argos, Greece, as a young man in the early 20th century. He worked his way across country on the railroads and got to Portland in 1906 and got into the restaurant business. In 1914, he and brothers Ted and Bill bought their first restaurant — Virginia Cafe at Southwest 10th and Stark. In 1922, they opened the New Virginia Cafe on Southwest Park Avenue. Both restaurants lasted for decades, but especially the one on Park. It was razed in 2007 and rebuilt under new ownership with its current location on Southwest 10th.

Guss Dussin was involved early.

Original owners Sally and Guss Dussin pose in front of the Seattle Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant

“Dad grew up in restaurants,” the junior Chris Dussin says. “After he graduated from college at Michigan, he came into the family business with his dad and two uncles.”

After his father and uncles sold out their business, Guss and wife Sally opened several other restaurants, including The Iron Horse and Jolly Roger (“Dad designed the pirate logo”), the latter lasting under different ownerships in various Southeast Portland locations until 2022.

Guss and Sally took a vacation trip to San Francisco in the mid-1960’s. In North Beach, they visited a cafe, cabaret and restaurant called Old Spaghetti Factory in a building that was opened in 1908.

“Dad was to the point where he was like, ‘I’ve got all these restaurants, but we’re not making a ton of money and working all the time,’ ” Chris says. “He liked the restaurant and also the name, and he bought the rights to it in 1968.”

Portland’s first Old Spaghetti Factory opened on Jan. 10, 1969, in the historic Carriage and Baggage Building in Old Town. The next year, an OSF restaurant was opened in Seattle. Then, one in Spokane. And Tacoma. And San Jose. The franchise was on.

“It worked everywhere we went,” Dussin says. “Dad wanted to do something family-friendly, low cost but quality food, and wanted to use young people (as workers). In his other restaurants, he had more older servers and full-time employees. He wanted (OSF) to be more high school college kids working part-time. He said, ‘They are going to have more energy and enthusiasm and will move quicker.’ ”

A “complete meal deal” was $1.75 a plate.

“The idea for that came from the Virginia Cafe,” Dussin says. “We started with spaghetti and marinara sauce, salad, bread, tea, coffee or milk and spumoni ice cream.”

The spaghetti with Mizithra cheese and browned butter is an old Dussin family recipe that almost never made it on the menu. When Guss Dussin applied for his business and liquor license for the first OSF, he was told that, in order to get the license, he needed to add one more item to the menu. Guss suggested the Mizithra cheese recipe. To this day, it is the most popular dish on the menu.

One of the signatures of all OSF sites is the trolley car.

The trolley car is a staple of all of the Old Spaghetti Factory locales throughout the country

“The idea sprung from their trip to San Francisco, where the trolley (also called cable car) is legendary,” Chris says. “They were thinking about things to make their restaurants unique. Then Mom said, ‘What if we put an old trolley car in the restaurant and people could dine on it?’ ”

Sally spotted an abandoned trolley car behind Reed College.

“City officials said, ‘If you can get it out of there, you can have it,’ ” Chris says. “They pulled it out, took out the front window and found a gentleman named Paul Class who refurbished it. They put it in (the first OSF) and, over the next eight years, we put real trolley cars in all our restaurants.”

It has since become a fixture in all OSF locales throughout the U.S. It’s where all the kids want to eat. The original car is still used at the Johns Landing location.

Old Spaghetti Factory officials take part in ground-breaking activities as they prepare to move their central location from Old Town to the banks of the Willamette River in 1984

The growing number of OSF restaurants had a distinct look.

“My mom, as well as my aunts and uncles, did a lot of the decor ideas,” Chris says.

She went for antiques, jewel-toned velvets, crystal chandeliers and, of course, trolley cars. Guss and Sally traveled together several times to Europe to personally select container loads of antiques and artifacts to put on display at the restaurants.

Chris bussed tables in the Seattle OSF restaurant --- operated by his aunt and uncle — during spring break at age 14. (Older sister Alexandra was also involved with the business in her early 20s and, after she married David Cook, he worked as vice president/development for 20 years.). Over the next three years, he didn’t work while attending Beaverton High. He graduated early and moved to San Diego, where his parents were building an OSF. Chris helped with set-up.

“Looking back, I wish I’d stayed and finished high school at Beaverton,” Dussin says. “I gave up a chance to play some varsity basketball. But it was a good year and adventure in San Diego.”

After one year at Oregon State, Chris moved back to California and helped open an OSF in Newport Beach.

“I lived with my cousin, who was running the kitchen,” he says. “I worked in the kitchen for a year. Loved it down there.”

Chris worked in the Newport Beach locale for four years, then served as owner of the Fullerton, Calif., OSF restaurant at age 28. He operated the facility for 2 1/2 years, then returned to the Portland area and moved up the ladder with OSF, taking over the presidency when his father’s health began to fail in 1997. There was little thought to a career doing something else.

“Dad being Greek, it was like, ‘This is what you’re going to do.’ ” Chris says. “As I got into my 30’s, I said, ‘OK, I’m old enough to take on more.’ Dad said, ‘Until you get to be 40, you don’t really know anything.’ I was 42 when I took over.”

Guss Dussin died in 2004 at age 78. Guss served as honorary director of the National Restaurant Association, and was awarded Restaurateur of the Year by the Oregon Restaurant and Hospitality Association in 1983 and was inducted into the Oregon Restaurant Association’s Hall of Fame in 1993. Sally Dussin died in 2021 at age 92. They were married 53 years.

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Old Spaghetti Factory now has Oregon locations at John’s Landing, Tanasbourne, Clackamas, Sherwood and Corvallis along with one in Vancouver. Today, there are 17 OSF restaurants in California, five in Washington, two apiece in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Missouri and Indiana and one apiece in Hawaii, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Kentucky. Aunt and uncle Mike and Georgia Dariotis and sons George, Chris and Mike own 10 restaurants in California and one in Chandler, Ariz. Cousin Jenny and husband Mike Pulos own the Phoenix OSF. Chris owns and operates the rest.

The OSF chain has about 3,000 employees.

“A great part of running a family business is you give people an opportunity to get started and teach them how to have a job and be responsible,” Dussin says. “My dad took the most pride in that, for sure. I can’t tell you how many people I run into or write to me that they were a server or busser for us 30 or 40 years ago, it was their first job, and how much they appreciate what they learned from it.

“It makes me feel good. I know it makes my family and cousins feel good that we can still provide jobs, especially for young people to get started.”

The restaurant business has changed considerably since Old Spaghetti Factory first opened in the late ‘60s.

“In the beginning, the menu was limited and simple,” Dussin says. “The first 20 years were easier. Business was more consistent as far as the cost of things. As we got into the ‘80s, Dad started adding some items. We needed more variety. It is more complicated now to get the food out and right now it is very challenging to hire good people.

“Last year, we had wages going through the roof and food costs up almost 30 percent. You can imagine what that does to you. It is harder to make money. You always try to be thoughtful in raising prices.”

Covid played a major role, too.

“Before Covid, we were at about 3,500 employees,” Dussin says. “Well over 100,000 restaurants closed in the U.S. over the last three years. We have continued to do well, but the game has changed. Like any business, you have to change with it and adapt. Now we are doing more to-go orders. Before Covid, it was very little of our business —  maybe five percent. Now it is 17 to 20 percent. We are not getting the numbers of people into our restaurants like we were before Covid.”

The Dussins have kept it a family business. Tyanne’s brother, Dean Griffin, now serves as president. Chris and Tyanne’s daughters, Karyn Dussin and Kiki Dussin Underwood, both do marketing and social media for the restaurants, and son-in-law Nick Underwood is in the company’s information technology department. But there is no son to inherit the business.

“The girls are both in their 20s,” Chris says. “We’re getting the girls involved and seeing if it’s a good fit for them. We’re trying to keep the family going into the third generation. I’m hopeful they’ll want to do it. It’s not something you let go easily. It would be a challenging thing to think it wouldn’t be ours anymore.”

For now, Old Spaghetti Factory remains a staple, particularly for families and big groups.

“People show up with 25 people and say, ‘We want to sit together,’ ” Dussin says. “We’re set up for that. Where else do you go with 30 to 40 people on a Friday night? That’s one of the other big reasons we’re still around after 54 years. With time, if you’re consistent and stick to your principles you become part of the community fabric.

“People grow up going to the Spaghetti Factory, and then they have kids who want to take their kids here, too. The grandparents love coming here because it’s reasonably priced, and they can get in and out and have a cocktail and the grandkids are happy.”

OSF’s “Rewards for Reading” program offers children the chance to earn a free meal coupon by reading a number of books.

“We always try to connect with the schools and try to give back,” Dussin says. “We think reading is an important part of growing up, so we’re continuing to promote it with kids. That’s a good thing for them, and the schools like it.”

OSF sponsors a number of sporting events, 10K runs, marathons and charities.

“It’s a good way to remind people who we are,” Dussin says. “We want to be a supportive part of the communities.”

Dussin spends much of his free time following Oregon State athletics. He owns football and basketball season tickets and also supports Beaver baseball and golf.

“We are going to move over to Living Room boxes on the new side of Reser (Stadium) for next season,” he says. “I can’t wait.”

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Customer service is an unquestionable priority at Old Spaghetti Factory, which breeds loyalty among its clientele. One married couple, George Crandall and Marilyn Sewell, eat lunch at the OSF in the South Waterfront “every day.”

“We can get the kind of lunch we want, we can get it quickly, and it’s nutritious and healthy,” Crandall says.

Their usual fare: soup, salad and iced tea.

“It’s very tasty,” Crandall says. “They know us there and bring it to us almost immediately. Every now and then we’ll deviate. and have a lasagna or something.

“We eat in the Tiffany Room, one of the more elegant spaces you can eat in all of Portland. It’s right across (the Willamette River) from a nature conservatory at Ross Island. You have the river and green across the way. And the staff is wonderful there.”

Crandall and Sewell live just a couple of blocks from the Johns Landing location.

“The Spaghetti Factor has become almost part of our community,” Marilyn says. “We get to know the servers, the managers, the people in training to be managers. Everybody is loving to us. It’s a beautiful setting, with good, nutritious food at a low price. What more can you ask for?”

Jim and Nancy Nestler have gone a different route. They’ve made it a practice to visit every domestic Old Spaghetti Factory location. The Walla Walla, Wash., natives first ate at the Spokane, Wash., site in 1985 or ’86.

“Then we lived in Denver, and we asked ourselves, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if she could go to all the Spaghetti Factory locations?’ ” says Jim, a biology professor at Walla Walla University. After moving to Washington, “we started going to the Seattle site, made road trips to Kansas City and to Minnesota, and then started hitting them all. Any time we would travel, we would eat at one. Now we will take trips specifically to hit the newest Spaghetti Factory.”

They’ve been to the OSF in Honolulu.

“It has changed locations,” Jim says, “and we have been to both the new and old sites.”

Why such dedication?

“The (employees) always very friendly,” he says. “We have been very happy with the food.”

Their favorite fare?

“We are stuck in a rut, in a good way, with what we get,” Jim says. “We always pretty much get the same thing. For me, it’s manager’s favorite — half Mizithra and half mushroom sauce, salad with pesto dressing, garlic bread and spumoni ice cream. Nancy gets the same thing, except (the spaghetti) with half Mizithra, half marinara sauce.”

The Nestlers’ most recent visit to an OSF was to a grand opening for a Colorado Springs, Colo., location in August. OSF vice president Kirk Michael, who has the Nestlers’ number on speed dial, alerts them to new openings.

“When we walked into the one in the door, they had a welcome sign up specifically for us,” Jim says with a laugh. “I have the sign up in my office. I have a whole shelf devoted to Spaghetti Factory — maybe 20 glasses, coffee mugs, an old hat.”

Two of Jim’s favorite OSFs are now closed — Atlanta and Nashville.

“Atlanta was an old mansion,” he says. “It was beautiful. We loved the Nashville one. The location was a neat part of town. Had beautiful wooden doors. There used to be ones in Charlotte and Boston, too.”

The nearest location to the Nestlers’ home is Spokane — “two hours and 42 minutes away” — where they at at least four times a year.

“We also hit the one in Lynnwood (Wash.) quite a bit,” Jim says. “Of the ones that are open, I like the one in Roseville (Calif.) the best. It has a nice outside eating area.”

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Chris Hein didn’t initially envision a career at Old Spaghetti Factory. He was less than enamored of his first job as dishwasher at age 16 in Denver.

“I absolutely hated it,” he says with a chuckle. “You never get caught up (with the dishes). It’s never-ending. I was working to make insurance money for my car. My parents had told me, ‘If you get straight A’s, we’ll pay for your insurance.’ You can guess how that worked out.”

But over time, Hein changed his mind about OSF.

“Then I started to work with people and develop friendships, some that I still have today,” Hein says. “It’s the culture and the people here who make the job fun.”

Soon, Hein started cooking spaghetti “and working my way up the line.”

Soon he was assistant kitchen manager and, at age 18, became kitchen manager. And suddenly, he saw a career without the need for college.

“I thought sure, why not?” Hein says. “Then I started dating my wife.”

Chris and Sue were married in 1979. They have two sons and a daughter and six grandchildren.

Hein got important early experience as kitchen manager.

“There was a big learning curve,” he says. “Now you’re managing people, and motivating and coaching. I found what I liked about the job was the people.”

But Hein also had an “aha” moment about the importance of communication.

“I hire somebody, put them on the schedule, they work for two weeks, and all of a sudden they don’t show up for work,” he says. “I learned a big lesson, to develop personal relationships with people. Every day when they come into work, I knew something about them — maybe their favorite sports team, or what they do outside of work. I tried to develop a strong relationship with each of them. I found they stayed longer when somebody paid attention to them.”

During the early years, he learned a little about what the Dussins were about.

“I was working in the dish room and this gentleman came in,” Hein recalls. “He asked, ‘How is everything going?’ He looked at the silverware, glasses and so on, and said, ‘Everything looks good; keep up the good work.’ I found out later he was Guss — the owner of the company.

“What really hit home, he came back three or four months later. I was cooking spaghetti, and he came over and called me by name. Maybe he asked someone, but just to know that mattered to him was impressive. I learned something from that.”

By age 22, Hein was the Denver store’s general manager.

“I felt like I was ready,” he says. “In our organization, you have to understand the back of the house. I had plenty of experience there. In the front of the house, I had learned about hospitality, taking care of guests and making sure your employees are well-trained. If you do that, your job is easy.”

Four years later, Hein met Chris Dussin at a company meeting of restaurant general managers. Dussin, already involved in the franchise’s hiring process, hired Hein to run kitchen operations for the company’s 14 restaurants at the time. For eight years, he traveled and trained each restaurant’s kitchen manager and helped open new restaurants. During that time, Hein also helped out as a district manager for the eastern part of the company’s franchises.

Then in 1994, Hein was hired to move to Portland and serve as the company’s vice president of purchasing.

In 1998, Guss Dussin was considering beginning a chain of Golden Corral buffet restaurants in Oregon. He asked Hein to spearhead that operation and find prospective sites.

“I went back to Guss and told him it didn’t fit for us,” Hein says. “It was a concept that wasn’t feasible.”

By this time, Chris Dussin was running the operation as president. He placed Hein in charge of a hospitality-based training program for employees.

“We have good people who work for us,” Hein says, “but they have to work here for awhile to really know how to treat our guests.”

The program was labeled “Service to the Nth degree,” which stands for, “Now, that’s hospitality.”

When that two-year program was completed, Dussin asked Hein if he would be more interested in serving a role in human resources or in marketing.

“I could do marketing,” Hein told Dussin. “I know the Spaghetti Factory brand.”

Hein served as OSF’s director of marketing for eight years. Then Dussin had another task for his trusty executive.

“He said our kitchen operations had lost its direction,” Hein says. “Kitchens are the heart of the house. Our systems started to deteriorate. We needed to get back on the right track there.”

Hein became vice president/kitchen operations and, eventually, vice president/food and beverage, a title he carries today.

“I love it,” he says. “I am challenged every day. That was especially so through the pandemic, which is something we’ve never dealt with. The thing that makes our business go is people. We have a great product and buildings, but if we lose sight of how to take care of people, we’re in trouble. If they feel like we take care of them, they look forward to coming back.”

Hein has developed a close relationship with Dussin through their nearly three decades working together.

“It has been outstanding,” Hein says. “Chris is a great person to work for. He is clear in his direction, always open to listening to anything, and very fair.”

Dussin has grown to rely on Hein in many areas.

“We have kind of grown up together and I’ve learned to appreciate him more and more,” Dussin says. “He sets a good tone in the office. He makes everybody feel good and appreciated. He talks to the kitchen staff, the servers, the managers. He is the same guy all the time.”

Hein has helped Dussin upgrade training manuals. Hein conducts new manager seminars, taking them through a training program.

“There are so many things that Chris has done, and he is like the epitome of hospitality,” Dussin says. “If you were going to have an ambassador of hospitality, it would be him.

“You can’t put a value on all the people he has touched. He is a very positive, upbeat personality. He has always been willing to help other people. I don’t know of anybody who helps more people that he knows than Chris Hein — neighbors, friend, whatever. All you have to do is ask him. I feel lucky that he’s a friend.”

Hein was president of the Oregon Restaurant Association in 2005-06.

“It was a lot of work, but a fabulous experience,” he says. “I spent a lot of time with restaurateurs around the state. It was fun to see how others are doing things. I still have friends and acquaintances I made from doing that.”

Forty-eight years with Old Spaghetti Factory, and still kicking.

“It blew by, that’s for sure,” he says. “I don’t like change. Hey, I’ve been married for almost 44 years. It’s been a fun ride.”

A 20-handicapper, Hein is a member of Tualatin Country Club. He follows both Oregon State and Oregon — “I’m more orange than green, but I like them both,” he says — and is a big fan of Kansas Jayhawks basketball. “My parents met there,” he says.

Hein’s sporting passion, though, lies with the Denver Broncos. He has had season tickets for many years. Visions of a Super Bowl title had danced in his head with the 2022 acquisition of Russell Wilson.

“Last year was a downer,” he says, “but with a new coach (Sean Payton) coming in, hope springs eternal.”

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