Following in his mother’s footsteps, Steve Armen, Owner of Bellaluke’s, revived the fifty year old name into the successful hot dog joint it is today.

Bellaluke’s started out as a small soda shop in 1945, named after the original owner’s daughter, Bella, and the place he used to work as a child, Luke’s.  Armen’s mother used to own a beef stand and ice cream shop in Schiller Park, and after 17 years in the finance industry, Armen decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and open take ownership of Bellaluke’s, a decision that has kept him coming back every day since 2004.The diner was reopened in LZ with its 50s diner theme in 2003 and shortly afterwards Armen took over.

“If the owner is here putting in the time, two things happen: [First,] customers really appreciate it,” Armen said. “My wife [is] usually on the front register and I’m usually in the drive through, and if we ever take a day off the customers will ask, ‘Hey, where’s Gretta, where’s Steve?’ They all want to know where we are, they love seeing us and they love the interaction, and to me that’s very important.”

The second thing that will happen, according to Armen, is building the relationship between the owner and his staff.

“When you’re side-by-side with them washing dishes and going back in the kitchen when you’re busy, they’ll appreciate it,” Armen said. “They know that if you’re working with them, they’ll work just as hard.”

Even with all of the hard work that comes with the job, Armen loves what he does, and one of his favorite benefits of the job is meeting all the new people.

“When someone walks through the door, you have no clue what you’re getting with personalities,” Armen said. “That’s what makes it exciting, that you have to think on your feet all the time.”

“It’s really nice to see all the people, we have great relationships and everyday talk,” Armen said. “When Sonic came in, people kept saying, ‘I hope it’s not hurting you,’ but what Sonic did was actually brought more people to the area and increased our business. It’s the people in the neighborhood here. We do not do any type of advertising outside of Lake Zurich and Barrington area. All the advertising I do goes towards the schools, with football, baseball, lacrosse, and hockey. We don’t do any ads in clipper magazines or coupons because [the money] goes outside of the community, and if you take care of the community, the community will take care of you.”

Armen says he loves the thrill of meeting new people every day, but his favorite part is running festivals, though he admits it can be hard work.

“We would get up early in the morning, get all of our equipment over to the park to get set up, and it was just an exhilarating grinding day, but the nice thing was the people,” Armen said. “The community coming up to you and having a great time, and by the end of the night, even though everybody left and you have to bring back all the equipment, but at the end of the day when you’re heading home it was a lot of fun.”