Russ and Marie Swart, owners of Russ & Marie’s Marconi Beach Restaurant, have been selected by Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce to receive a Build a Better Mousetrap Award from Cape Cod SCORE at its fouRteenth annual awards breakfast on June 5, 2007.
Smoke billowing from the front and rear of a restaurant is generally considered a bad sign. "We are always smoking up a storm," says Russ Swart of Russ and Marie's Marconi Beach Restaurant. The restaurant's operation is a family affair. Russ and his wife Marie are the owners, their son Kevin waits on tables and his cousin Jim Gaston is a smoke master. Russ and Jim are the keepers of the flame. "The secret is in the smoke and Doctor Russ's recipe," says Jim. With '50s era images of the Cape mixed with country antiques and nautical icons of yore the pleasant interior motif of the restaurant is country-comfortable with a Cape Cod touch. Russ ran a sub shop in Wellfleet thirty years ago. After moving to Florida for twenty-five years, he is now back in Wellfleet. Russ and Marie are very thankful to the local people who have supported the restaurant and have been so great to them.