(Omaha, NE) -- A long-time Omaha Italian restaurant is closing its doors.
After more than 30 years in business, Lo Sole Mio announced on Wednesday that it will permanently close. The Losole family says they had been looking for someone to buy the business but had no offers, forcing them to shut down the South Omaha restaurant. Their last day will be on Saturday, July 2nd.
You can read the full statement posted to Lo Sole Mio's Facebook page below:
To Our Most Precious, Valued and Loyal Employees and Customers,
“And Now the End is Near, and So I Face the Final Curtain. Regrets, I have a Few, but then Again too Few to Mention”, so goes the lyrics in the song, “My Way.” We did this venture “Our Way”, we have few regrets, but the most heartbreaking one, is losing our son Dino. We started the restaurant, for and with our 6 children, but little by little, they left. Only Dino and Julie wanted to take over the restaurant. Sadly, when Dino lost his life, we lost ours. This business was too much for one person to take over, and Julie eventually left too. As what happens to most mom-and-pop places, the parents’ passion is not the children’s passion, and no one wants to carry on such hard work. But what an honor and privilege it has been to see our passion and goal come to fruition. It has been our pleasure to serve you!
We have been blessed and humbled by this honor, and could never
TRULY THANK ALL of YOU ENOUGH!!
You have all been aware that Lo Sole Mio has been for sale. Well, we have not sold it, and that is probably a good thing. We have worked long and hard to build a reputation of quality, quantity, service, and friendless. We know everyone doesn’t like us, but as Abraham Lincoln famously said, “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Hopefully we have pleased many! We began over 30 years ago at this location, and have been in the restaurant business since we were both 14 years of age.
In November of 2021, we posted a notice to our employees, that vacations were not allowed in the month of December. We also informed them that we planned to duplicate an all-employee vacation time in July, as we took last year. Many of our employees have already made plans to take the almost two-week closure, going on vacations or just relaxing. At the time we posted that, we did not plan on selling LSM. But, as time went on, it has become harder and harder for us to continue with joy in our hearts. The broken supply chains, cost increases, and labor shortages, have taken a toll and put stress on the world, and has affected us as well.
Being almost 74 years of age, (in early August) we know we don’t have much time left in this precious world. Our energy is running out, and our stress level is building up. We have achieved our dream, our goal, our passion, and now it’s time to move on to the next chapter in our lives. We have decided to close. We plan on taking care of our loyal and hardworking employees, and most have already made plans for their next chapter. We are so proud of all of them!
Our last day in business will be Saturday, July 2nd, 2022.
Lo Sole Mio’s Mission Statement has always been,
To be a Part of Creating a Special Memory for our Customers, by Welcoming Them into a Clean and Friendly Atmosphere, Where They Can Enjoy Quality Food and Excellent Service, Making Them Feel Like Our Family. Providing a Work Place for Our Employees Where They Feel Appreciated and are Treated with Respect, As They Take Pride in Their Service and the Products That We Serve Making Them Feel as a Part of Our Family.
We had a dream, and all of you, family, friends and foes, bankers, vendors, past and present employees, and so many awesome customers that have become such good friends, have made everything come true for us! We wanted to create a memory for you, but it has really been YOU, that has created the most wonderful and lasting memory for us! Un Milione di Grazie, a Million Thanks!!!
And in the beginning there was…..Don, Marie, Julie, Don Jr, David, Dino, Dion, and Jenna Losole, along with some of their spouses, parents, nephew and niece, cousins, and then grandchildren.
P.S. We have 17 grandchildren that we can now enjoy even more, and I will have time to finish my book. A story of my life. How I went from a starving child in the streets of Italy, stealing food to selling food. The book will have stories, recipes, pictures, and even some of my corny poetry. I will let you know when it is published via our Facebook page and website, losolemio.com Copyrights pending. Title….“Life is a Recipe, but God Keeps Changing the Ingredients.”
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU, AS HE HAS BLESSED US!