BETHLEHEM — Two kitchen managers who are childhood friends and have worked together for more than 15 years are partnering in their first venture as proprietors with a family-friendly burger concept that is taking over the former FoCo Taco location at 374 Delaware Ave., on Delmar’s Four Corners.
An opening by the end of April is planned for Stacked Grill, dependent on the progress of renovation and permitting, according to Chris Stewart and Mike Blendell. The two are former employees of Swifty’s Restaurant & Pub. Stewart started as a dishwasher during the 2009 opening of the Delmar location, rose through the business and became kitchen manager of Swifty’s on Everett Road in Colonie, he said. Blendell, who worked for Swifty’s for 16 years, was the kitchen manager of the Delmar location.
They said they had been quietly prospecting for a restaurant of their own for about a year when both were suddenly unemployed in December after Swifty’s was seized and closed temporarily by state authorities for nonpayment of more than $2 million in sales and withholding taxes. While Swifty’s reopened after a few weeks in Delmar and Colonie, but not its Utica pub, the closure was the impetus Blendell and Stewart needed, they said…