Rick Olivieri should have been smiling.
After all, the National Education Association's 9,000 delegates were in town and the lines at Rick's Philly Steaks were longer than usual as folks wandered by his big window at Reading Terminal Market, across 12th Street from the convention center.
Instead, Olivieri was on the phone to lawyers, business associates and friends, trying to figure out whether his family's 25-year reign in that corner of the venerable market will come to an end July 31.
That's the deadline managers of the 104-year-old market gave Olivieri on June 28. Sometime this fall, market managers will bring in a "fresh face" - Tony Luke's Old Philly Style Sandwiches, he of the stellar Zagat's rating as well appearances in the ring, recordings and film.
But is it a fresh face or more a case of getting rid of a troublesome old face?
Kevin Feeley, a spokesman for general manager Paul Steinke, insisted that Olivieri's departure has nothing to do with his often thorny dealings with management as head of the Reading Terminal Merchants group.
Feeley said Tony Luke is too high-profile to pass up: "Nationally, this is a premier sandwich shop. We think the chance to bring Tony Luke to the market is significant and only makes the market better."
Olivieri, 42, is unconvinced: "He may be Zagat's but is he part of the third generation of the family that invented the steak sandwich? Has he been invited to France three years in a row?"
Olivieri, in fact, is the grandson of the original Pasquale "Pat" Olivieri, who with younger brother Harry founded Pat's King of Steaks in South Philadelphia. In a convoluted family saga that has caused confusion as well as pending intra-family litigation, Pat's King of Steaks passed down to and is now owned by Harry's grandson, Frank Olivieri. Rick Olivieri's business was started 25 years ago at Reading Terminal Park by his father, Herbert, as Olivieri's Prince of Steaks, playing on Pat's title of king. In 1995, when he began managing the Reading Terminal shop, Rick renamed it after himself.
No, says Olivieri, this is not about Tony Luke. It's "retaliation" for his role as president of the Reading Terminal Merchant's Association during several years of protracted, painful bargaining on new leases for about 50 of the 76 tenants.
"I spend all this time negotiating leases for the tenants and I'm not going to take care of my own?" Olivieri asks.
