TESS FICCAGLIA
Special to the PARADE
Imagine this: you have packed up the car and are going to the beach for the day. It’s early, 7 a.m., and you’re trying to beat that awful Causeway traffic, but your stomach is growling since you didn’t take time for breakfast and opted for just a fast cup of coffee. Unfortunately, there are not many places open at that hour for breakfast. The restaurants that are open seem to be packed with dinners waiting outside. Then you see the sign for Pirate’s Landing, serving breakfast starting at 7 a.m. and there is no line. Pirate’s Landing is a huge establishment with lots of seating for everyone. That’s the place to stop, right at the foot of the Causeway, with easy in and easy out.
You enjoy another cup of coffee while you peruse the menu. “What a selection,” you think to yourself. It’s hard to decide what to eat. Claudia Lamas, the General Manager for the past eight years, explains as she passes by that anything with the homemade tortillas is going to be good, but then again, anything on the menu will be made with love.
Lamas has worked for Pirates Landing for 24 years and her mother worked at the old location on the corner. When the establishment expanded to its present location on the water, Lamas’ mother got her a job as a hostess. Lamas worked her way up the ladder and now manages Pirate’s Landing, which has been around for nearly 50 years. Her mother retired a couple years ago and now the third generation, Lamas’ son, is an employee, which she loves because she can spend more time with him since she works long hours. Lamas gives all the credit of retaining long-term employees and the success of the business to its owner, Scott Freedman. He “leads by example.” The tools and training he provides has made Lamas the success that she is today. Her entire staff has been there for years. A server called Pupa (no one knows or remembers her real name) has worked over 20 years and retired several months back with a party and everything, but showed up for work the next day, and still works to this day. The kitchen staff are all 20-year veterans of Pirate’s Landing. Freedman must be doing something right because working that long at a food and beverage place is almost unheard of.
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