Ready’s Celebrates 50 Years in Ocean City

Doug Wing says there was “nothing to do” when he and his brother, Jamie Ford, purchased Ready’s Coffee Shop in December 2007.

“Everything was set in place,” he said. “All I had to do was keep it.”

He’s being modest. There are few things harder than not screwing up a good thing.

Proof he hasn’t ruined it but has improved it, according to the testimonials of many regular customers, is evidenced by the fact that Ready’s is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

The iconic downtown landmark, located on Eighth Street, looks the same as it always has — with wagon-wheel chandeliers, round mirrors on the paneled walls, an old-fashioned milkshake machine and a menu listing prices reminiscent of another era. Booths and tiny tables for two dominate the center of the restaurant, but it’s the row of stools along the counter that attracts such local luminaries as Dick Boccelli, the original drummer for Bill Haley & His Comets; Councilman Keith Hartzell; Press of Atlantic City sportswriter Guy Gargan; and mock mayoral candidate "Sam Samstie."

“It’s definitely more of a locals type of place,” said Hartzell, a charter member of the 3 O’Clock Club, an exclusive group of himself, Gargan and Gold Coast resident Pat Juliano who gather practically daily after Ready’s has closed to debate politics, talk about Hartzell’s beloved Philadelphia sports teams, and help themselves to beverages, ice cream and single-serving size boxes of cereal.

“You see a lot of people you know,” Hartzell says of one of the myriad appeals of the place. “If you don’t know anybody, you sit at the counter and talk to people.”

“I’m here for the three-cheese, 12-egg omelets with a triple side of scrapple and because the stools line up directly with my behind, so I only take up two, whereas I usually take up three at other joints,” said Samstie, whose failed bid to win multiple City Council seats simultaneously ended prematurely last year when he suffered an obesity-related medical emergency.

Sam Lavner and Jim Ginn are two locals who dine daily at Ready’s and rarely cross paths. Lavner, who can be found occupying the counter stool closest to the street, is part of the breakfast crowd. Ginn, who most frequently holds court from the largest booth in the restaurant, often accompanied by his At The Shore.com employees Lisa Haas and Rich Spencer, is mostly a late-afternoon lunch customer.

“The charming atmosphere, friendly staff and customers, good food and prices overwhelm my aversion to being a regular anywhere and bring me in every day for breakfast year-round,” Lavner said.

Ginn is partial to the homemade corned beef hash with two eggs over medium and his specialty drink of seltzer water with orange juice when he drops in during the morning.

“He can keep his tomato or cream of asparagus soups,” Ginn said of Wing’s daily soup-and-sandwich lunch combo. “I expect jambalaya everyday of the week, but it’s infrequently on the menu.”

Many of the soups are made by Wing’s mother, former radio deejay Allison Wing, who also bakes the chocolate chip cookies that are displayed in a glass jar by the register.

Wing and his brother bought Ready’s from Bob Caroccio, who owned the place for 31 years, the longest of the restaurant’s four owners. Wing says he occasionally teases Caroccio, who still stops in for meals, that he’s going to own the place for one year longer than Caroccio did. That would mean Wing wouldn’t hang up his apron until 2039 at the earliest.

The subject of Caroccio’s eventual retirement is what prompted him to inquire about the restaurant’s future, Wing said. An 18-year employee of the Green Grill, a restaurant in the 1700 block of Asbury Avenue that was razed in the building boom of the mid-2000s, Wing said he remembers being in Ready’s the day Caroccio marked his 70th birthday.

“I told him happy birthday and said, ‘When you’re interested in retiring, I’m interested in buying.’ I’ve never approached anybody like that,” Wing said. “It was the strangest thing.

“I went to my mother’s that day and said I got the weirdest feeling from Bob. I have a feeling he’s interested in my taking over when he retires.”

A year later, with no repeat mention of the conversation, Wing said Caroccio showed up at his house. Wing wasn’t home, but when he learned he’d had a caller, he instantly knew what it was about, he said.

“He makes sure things are done correctly,” Hartzell said of Wing. “He’s a good boss. He comes out of the kitchen, he asks how you’re doing, how everything is. People like that.”

Hartzell also credits reasonable prices, good quality food and the professional service of Wing’s long-term employees with making dining a pleasurable experience at Ready’s.

“It’s part of my life,” Hartzell said. “I like an Italian hoagie salad or chef salad. What they do is unique. They chop the meat up. I eat out everyday and nobody has ever done that before. It’s better that way. You get some meat and cheese and lettuce in every bite that way instead of just big hunks of meat.”

That’s classified information, Councilman Hartzell. Let’s just let that bit about ordering your salad chopped be between regulars. You don’t want to upset the cooks in the kitchen by telling everyone in town that special orders are gladly accommodated. After all, that might lead to Ready’s being in business for another 50 years.