"40, 12, 17 and 1" isn't a recent winning lottery combination, but the significance of those numbers, especially this year, is kind of like hitting the jackpot for members of the Amaral family of Amaral's Fish & Chips in Warren.

December is typically a busy month for the business with hungry holiday shoppers looking for a quick, quality bite. December 2024, however, holds even more meaning for Amaral's considering it includes a couple of consequential anniversaries and other annual dates of note.

The number "40" celebrates how many years Tony Amaral has owned the revered 4 Redmond St. eatery.

"Twelve" denotes how many free holiday dinner events the restaurant has hosted to assist those Warren residents and others in need.

"Seventeen," as is December 17, 1988, will always be looked upon as a day of some tragedy, but even greater triumph after a fire forced the business out of its original location on nearby Turner Street.

And "1" is the aforementioned anniversary date, as in December 1, 1984, when Tony Amaral bought the little fish & chip shop on 7 Turner St. from then-owner Manny Rego.

Doing fine at "40"
Amaral's Fish & Chips celebrated four decades of operation a few weeks back on December 1, 2024. It's been a proverbial "match made in heaven" between the business and the town ever since.

"It's been 40 wonderful years," Tony said one recent morning prior to the lunchtime rush. He actually worked at what was called Rego's Fish & Chips for four years before making the purchase.

"It's been 40 wonderful years because of the people, the people in Warren," he continued. "I've seen Warren, how far it's come up to here now. Warren kind of started in the bottom. We all started in the bottom. But Water Street, the waterfront is now amazing. And our restaurants here are amazing now, too."

Amaral's has been a family affair from the outset. Tony was immediately joined by his brother, Don, in running the restaurant. They've been helped along the way by their spouses, Holly for Tony and Sherry for Don.

These days, Tony's son Brian has gradually started taking over the restaurant's day-to-day operations. Tony's daughter, Meghan, occasionally still stops in for a shift. And Don's son, Shawn, is a consistent contributor to the business.

"It's all in the family: me, my brother and my son. My son is pretty much running the show at this point," Tony explained. "Between the family and the customers and being here a lot, kind of watching over everything, we try to take care of our customers and our employees. We have fresh product every day. We get deliveries every day. Local seafood we use, Tony's Seafood right in Warren. We've stayed small. We concentrate on take-out. I think that's another reason why we've been successful."

Added Don, "That's how we did it, with family. Without family involved, we couldn't have survived this long. Forty years is a long time."

A "dozen" dinners
Twelve years is a pretty long time to do something, too, so it's notable that the 12th Annual Amaral's Holiday Dinner took place Sunday, Dec. 15.

The business, as it does each early December, broke from serving its usual seafood fare for a day to provide patrons, at no charge, a full meal made up of traditional holiday fixings of ham and turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and vegetables and desserts such as apple crisp.

On the event's origins, Tony said, "Twelve years ago we just saw people going through some tough times. We have a lot of elderly in the area. We can always tell what time of the month it is. The end of the month we're super busy because their (retirement pension) checks come in.

"And I was like, 'Let's do something for the locals.' And we started it. We don't have a lot of homeless. We just have people who need a hot meal. So we were like, 'Let's do it.' And we've been doing it ever since. And every year when that day is over we all feel so rewarded. We feel good about it. It's about helping other people."

This year, Amaral's served 244 dinners from the restaurant and, as it does with the leftovers after every holiday dinner, donated the rest of the food to charity. This past Sunday, it was delivered to the McKinney Cooperative Shelter in Newport.

What "17" means
Actually, the idea of giving back to the community, to those who could use a helping hand, came about somewhat from Amaral's annual recollection of December 17, 1988 when the Turner Street fire turned the family's collective life upside down.

The blaze was caused by faulty electrical and quickly inside the walls. It was the immediate support the family received from the community that eventually led to them coming up with a way to express their appreciation to everyone who has assisted family along the way.

"Looking back after the fire there were so many people who came to help us clean up the restaurant. And thinking back about what happened, that actually got us going with thinking about what we could do to help others because the next day I had all kinds of friends and people helping me take all the stuff out the restaurant. We put it all into storage bins. And then we looked for a new building," Tony remembered.

Two months later, in February 1989, Amaral's found its footing and its future home (the "seafood place between two auto body shops," as Tony puts it). Amaral's Fish & Chips was back open at its Redmond Street location, where it has prospered for going on 36 years.

"1 to 40"
When you've enjoyed such success, such a connection with your clientele, all those weeks and months between Day 1 to 40 years can actually go by pretty swiftly.

And an anniversary of such length also gives one pause, offers a chance to ponder what has been and what will be. For Amaral's on the business side, it's about passing it to the next generation as Brian takes over from Tony.

"Slowly but surely," Brian Amaral said about the process of him taking the reins from his father. "I went to college for management and marketing and for four years I always seemed to pick my schedule around working here. I've obviously been here forever being a son, but I've always enjoyed being here."

Said Tony, "Brian, he likes it. He's been here since he was five-years-old. Now he's 35 and has his own son (Theo). It's in the blood. And I'll always be here. I'll be the little old man, 80-years-old, who's in the back dicing potatoes. I am not leaving. I love it."

You really do have to have an affinity for what you do to do it so long and so well. And if you like your job, it certainly makes the days go by quicker. Tony Amaral knows that full well.

"I was thinking about of it just the other day. It all happened so fast, like in the blink of an eye," Tony said as he pondered 40 years of his life and business. "Like I said, it's about the wonderful people in Warren, which is so true. The people in Warren have been terrific. I can't say enough about Warren."

And that feeling, between the locals and Amaral's Fish & Chips, seems very mutual.

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