The Landrys

Mandy Landry’s mother and father will have been married for 47 years this August.
They fell in love in their early teens, and are said to be each other’s first and only love, “a true love story,” according to Mandy.
Theresa Landry and Jeffery Landry Jr. are the owners of Landry’s Hot Tamales at 1104 Main St. in Franklin.
Mandy said that after a decade or so of marriage, her mother told her father that she wanted to work, because she had never had a job. So she set out to do what she knew how to do.
Mandy said the thing Theresa knew how to do—was cook.
She and Jeffrey decided to open up what their daughter called a “shack” on Cayce Street where they sold hot tamales and hot dogs cooked by Theresa.
“Mama loved cooking,” Mandy said. “She said it’s the only thing she knew how to do.”
Once parking for traffic at the Cayce Street location became scarce, Mandy said her father purchased the Main Street location for her mother, to make room for dine-in customers, too.
They moved in 2008, and have been at their current location ever since.
Whether on Cayce Street or Main Street, Landry’s has been operating for 34 years with family at the helm every step of the way.
These days, it’s Mandy during the day, and her sister, Shantel Palambo, takes the afternoon/evening shift.
Before last June, it was Theresa, full-time.
Mandy said her mama was always at the restaurant, all day.
But last May, Jeffery had a stroke and required full-time care.
That’s when Theresa handed the daily operation of the restaurant over to Mandy.
“She promised him (Jeffrey) she would stay by his side if something ever happened,” recalled Mandy of her mother. “They promised each other.”
So, Mandy took on running the restaurant with the help of Hailey Smith, her self-proclaimed sidekick.
The staff/family took two big hits between January and March, when they lost Linda Frederick, Theresa’s sister, and Tina DeMarco, Theresa’s niece, both of whom had worked at Landry’s for 20-plus years.
Frederick passed away due to an unexpected aneurism, and DeMarco passed away due to lung cancer.
Mandy called it “a bad time for us, because we are family.”
So, with Theresa at Jeffrey’s side in the hospital, and the passing of Frederick and DeMarco, the sisters and their kids and loved ones have soldiered on to keep Landry’s going despite the trauma of their losses.
The staff answered in unison that the best thing about Landry’s, is “family.”
“It is work,” Mandy said, “we get on each other’s nerves sometimes, but we let it go.
“We’re family, and that’s what keeps us together. We see each other every day, and we still hang out on the weekends.”
As far as what brings the customers back, Smith said she thought it was the hot dogs; Mandy said she thought the whole menu should apply; and Brian G., of Maumee, Ohio said in a Yelp review, that Landry’s shrimp po-boy is “the best in the state.”
Mandy admitted that when she initially took the reins from Theresa, she would call her to get recipe reminders of how to make the food taste authentic.
“I was on the phone with her every day,” she said, “and she would tell me what to do with the (plate) lunches, and I finally have almost perfected it, like she had it, or close enough that nobody can tell the difference.
“I never had to cook any of this stuff before she left.”
According to her, Theresa was offered a canning business in the past, and was even asked to sell her recipes, both of which she refused.
“She’s very personal,” she said, so much so that she reportedly never committed her recipes to paper, but only passes them on from mouth to ear.
When asked what she expected for the future of the family restaurant, Mandy said, “I’m going to keep going. I have to, as long as I can, and then I’ll turn it over.”
No doubt to “kin,” as Mandy calls them.
After all, that’s how Landry’s has survived up to now—family and determination…and home-cooked food.