Owner Of Ben's Kosher Deli Announces Plans To Retire

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Ronnie Dragoon, the founder of Ben's Kosher Deli, plans to retire and hand over the Jewish delicatessen chain to new ownership.

Dragoon announced in a blog post that he's stepping down from the deli counter after 47 years at the helm of Ben's Deli and will look for a new owner to take over the business.

"I have decided that I must take a step back from Ben’s after toiling at Ben’s since 1972," Dragoon wrote in the Feb. 3 blog post.

"It’s hard to give up on what one has been doing for over 47 years and doing it with love, passion, and dedication and proud of what I was able to accomplish," he wrote, "but the restaurant business is getting more difficult to navigate and the labor market is ever shrinking with less loyalty and caring."

Dragoon, 71, is a native of Forest Hills and founded the first Ben's location in 1972 in Baldwin Harbor, Long Island, according to the New York Jewish Week.

The deli's location in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center, at 211-37 26th Ave., has been around for a quarter of a century.

Dragoon employs about 300 workers across Ben's seven locations in New York and Florida, according to his blog post.

"The pressure is too great and becoming even greater to provide job security for so many (which has been so important to me through the years) and maintain a reasonable pay schedule with reasonable and—even generous—benefits," Dragoon wrote.

Dragoon said he hopes whoever takes over the business will "keep the tradition alive," and assured customers and employees he'll always be a part of the Ben's family — "just not working behind the counter or wearing my working whites with my red suspenders."

In an emailed statement to Patch, Dragoon said he plans to stay on as a consultant to Ben's, writing, "I will always have a vested interest in the continued success of Ben's."

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A post shared by Ben's Kosher Delicatessen (@bensdeli) on Jan 27, 2020 at 8:59am PST