The Golden Pear Turns 25

Emerald awnings and soft yellow accents in East End business districts have become almost synonymous with a certain eatery: The Golden Pear Cafe.

What started as a new, hybrid concept, according to founder Keith E. Davis—a cafe-style eatery serving coffee, breakfast and lunch, when the first Golden Pear opened in Southampton Village on November 12, 1987, has continued to ripen.

This week, the business—which has grown to include sites in Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor and East Hampton Village—celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Monday, the special day brought 25 percent off specials on all purchases, free cookies and apple cider, as well as a drawing for $25 Golden Pear gift cards, and was preceded by a weekend of 10-percent off all purchases.

But for Mr. Davis, 49, the whole venture has been a reason for joy.

“I love what I do,” he said. “It’s a God-given calling, and I can’t see myself doing anything else. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been here for 25 years.”

The average lifespan in his industry for his type of retail restaurant, he said, is seven years.

The Hampton Bays resident, who was born and raised in Mastic Beach and lived in Southampton Village for a spell, has poured his heart and soul into The Golden Pear—and is looking to pour even more.

He said last week that he is close to securing a lease to a building—one that currently houses BookHampton—just a few doors down from his flagship Southampton Village Golden Pear on Main Street. He envisions, he explained, a high-quality, specialty gourmet foods store there, to be called The Golden Pear Market, and to open as soon as spring 2013.

“There’s a lot of really high-quality specialty foods that are available now that are not being sold out here in the Hamptons,” he said.

The Golden Pear is known for localizing its fare after East End locales. Its specialty sandwich menu, for example, features such dishes as The Southampton, The East Hampton and The Westhampton Beach.

The names have no significance when it comes to the ingredients, however. The Southampton is all-natural turkey breast, brie with herbs, honey mustard, lettuce and tomato on a French baguette, while The Sagaponack features Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese, Dijon mayo, lettuce and tomato on rustic ciabatta, to name a few.

The cafe also offers paninis, wraps, soups, salads and coffee, as well as baked goods like muffins, cookies and croissants, which Mr. Davis proudly points out are baked fresh every day. He said he is also proud of The Golden Pear’s use of organic products like oatmeal and yogurt and free-range eggs.

“We do business in a really great community,” Mr. Davis said. “I think Southampton Village is just one of the nicest places in New York State if not the country. It’s got a tremendous amount of great history and gorgeous ocean beaches and bays and farms and just natural rural beauty that makes it a very special, lean, healthy place to live,” he said.

The Golden Pear derives its name from an idea Mr. Davis thought of well before opening day in 1987 and pays tribute to an old friend.

He had worked with a chef named Michael Goodison, as a busboy, waiter and bartender, among other roles. The two formed a good relationship and talked about opening up a business together. Since it would be the two of them, the “golden pair” came to mind, Mr. Davis said. Rather than spell the latter word like the synonym for two, however, he decided to use its homophone for a delicious fruit, the pear.

Mr. Goodison moved back to his native Syracuse and the pair never did open together, but the name stuck with Mr. Davis.

The Golden Pear is also where he met his wife, Anne.

“She was my first pastry chef that I hired back in 1988,” he said.

“May 1, 1988,” he added.

Because of the timing, their 24th wedding anniversary in February 2013, will follow the business’s silver anniversary.

Ms. Davis today works in the Golden Pear office in Southampton as an assistant to the comptroller/bookkeeper, but is also involved in menu selection and development. Her husband said she still loves to bake and will bake some pies for the Thanksgiving menu.

They have three children, Sarah, 22, Emily, 19, and Keith Jr., 17, and the younger two work at the Golden Pear, as well. Emily, a college student, does sales at the cafe in Bridgehampton, while her brother has pitched in a good three years in sales at the Southampton and Bridgehampton cafes.

The second Golden Pear to open was on Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village on April 26, 1991, followed by the one on Main Street/Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton on June 21, 1996. The newest is the one on Main Street in Sag Harbor, which opened on May 25, 2006.

The small-town feel is what draws some regular customers.

“It’s nice to go into a place and really be able to see the owner face to face and have that personal interaction,” said one regular, Troy Buckner of Southampton Village, who eats there often with his father, Hal, “especially in the summer when it’s chaotic. He might help us find a seat.”