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“We were born into a life of servitude and drudgery,” the Hoboken-born enterpreneur jokes when discussing the appeal to three generations of his family of giving people a welcome — and welcoming — retreat from everyday life.
It began with the popular Hotel Victor in Hoboken in 1915 and continued in 1955 with the even-more widely-known Maywood Inn (and, later, Victor’s Maywood Inn), opened by his father.
Renamed Maywood Inn’s Twin Door Tavern, the West Pleasant Avenue destination gets its appeal in Rivara’s estimation through a combination of attractions.
“Wonderful free live music, great food and beer selections at reasonable prices, banquet facilities, New York City theater trips, open mic every Sunday and more,” he says.
“More” includes 19 HD TVs, Happy Hour from 4-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Paint Nite every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month — and then some.
For Rivara, it’s a blend of art and science: He pays particular attention to customer feeback in each area, so that he’s never guessing.
He also demands a lot from his staff — and gets it.
“No success comes without good people on your team,” Rivara said. “And we’ve got ’em.”
It’s important, too, that Rivara is always looking for ways to improve — no one makes it to three generations in any business by standing pat.
“We have some irons in the fire,” he said. “I’d like to renovate the kitchen.”
Right now, Rivara is looking forward to a 60th anniversary bash sometime this fall.
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