30-year employee buys SoCal diner she started at as a hostess

By David González

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    SANTA ANA, California (KABC) — A journey more than 30 years in the making — a woman who started as a hostess at a diner in Orange County is now buying the restaurant.

Benjies Diner in Santa Ana has been serving classic Jewish New York deli comfort food to its loyal clientele since 1967.

“It’s just like family. I always considered this family,” said Sally Davis, who worked at Benjies for 45 years and is now a regular customer.

Chanele Halkett has helped run Benjies for more than three decades.

“So, February was 32 years that I started here back in ’93,” Halkett said. “This is my home.”

She jokes that when she was first hired as a hostess, she was the youngest employee at the restaurant.

“I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life after college,” Halkett said. “And I just loved it. I realized I wasn’t leaving any time soon, and then here we are 32 years later.”

However, the future of Benjies was up in the air after owner Lloyd Weinstein decided it was time to retire.

“I was going to sell it to an outsider, and there was a lot of tension here about what’s going to happen,” Weinstein said.

“Mom and pop places don’t last as long as we have,” Halkett said. “You see all these big name restaurants. We’re been here for 57 years now, and we’re not going anywhere. I’m making sure of that. We’re not going anywhere.”

So, Halkett stepped in to buy the diner and keep it open.

“For years I kept saying, ‘I want to own it. I want to own it,'” Halkett said.

“I’m grateful to have somebody like Chanele to want to come in and keep the tradition going,” Weinstein said.

Halkett said this is what she’s always wanted.

“I’ve always told people I’m going to own it someday,” she said. “Everything I’ve worked so hard for, being here for so long, it’s finally coming to fruition.”

Halkett hopes to officially become the owner of Benjies by November. She started a GoFundMe page to help with future renovations.

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