05/08/2023
Sad news to pass along
Today our Duff's on Sheridan Drive will open an hour later than usual. We'll open at 12pm to give our staff time to celebrate the life of Ron Duff. Thank you for your understanding 🙏🏻
An open letter by his son Joe Duff...
My Dad Ron:
My dad didn’t want me to write this.
He told me numerous times throughout my life that when he died he didn’t want anything done for him - no memorial, no service, no obituary, nothing.
He’d even half-heartedly joked with me on several occasions that when he died he didn’t want anyone to know that he’d died. He really just wanted everyone/everything - especially the restaurant (Duff’s) - to just go on like usual.
If you knew him, then you know his dying wishes were “classic Ron”. He was a man who dedicated his entire life to his restaurant Duff’s Famous Wings, yet, even though his wings became famous, he never wanted to be.
His dedication to Duff’s was unmatched. He worked at the restaurant basically every day from the time he was 7 years old - labor laws were different in 1946 when his mother Lousie Duffney opened the place - to the week before he passed away.
He even lived at Duff’s for several years when times got tough.
He was/is my gold standard for work ethic. There were no days off for my dad.
When you’re in the restaurant business - and open 7 days a week as Duff’s is - holidays are a prime time to do work/maintenance on your place. And they certainly were for him.
A few Thanksgivings back, he was supposed to come to my house to eat dinner, and as it got to be dinner time he still wasn’t there.
I called him and called him, and called him. No answer. So, I drove to the restaurant because I thought he had to be there, and sure enough, he was. He was sweeping the parking lot getting it ready for the next day, one of our busiest days of the year - another “classic Ron” moment.
A lot of people don’t know why Duff’s started selling wings. Most people just assume we always have. But, that’s not the case. We sell wings because my dad loved wings.
As I mentioned, Duff’s opened in 1946, well before chicken wings became a thing. It wasn’t until 1969 that we sold our first one. My dad was 30 years old at the time and a HUGE chicken wing fanatic.
He’d often tell me about his very first memory of eating wings. He’d buy 250 wings from John Young at Wings N’ Things and bring them into the Rock Pile so that he and his buddies could eat wings while the Bills played. John Youngs wings weren’t the traditional “Buffalo” style wings we know today - those hadn’t been “invented” yet - but that’s where his love of wings started.
By the mid 60’s, my dad was eating hot wings - buffalo-style wings - multiple times a week. His go to spot was a small restaurant just a stone's throw away from Duff’s. He loved grabbing wings for lunch there before opening the bar - Duff’s was mainly a bar at the time - at 4pm.
Then, in the late 60’s the owners of that restaurant decided to retire and move to Florida. Before they moved though, they offered to teach my dad how to make wings, and they also encouraged him to add the wings to the menu at Duff’s - which, of course, he did.
He put his own touch on their instructions. He made the wings how he liked them, which was saucier and spicier than most places were making them at the time. And, as a matter of fact, this is also the reason he came up with the “Medium is Hot” warning at Duff’s. The warning is an attempt to tell our customers that our medium-flavored wings are most restaurants hot flavored wings - so order with caution.
My dad cooked wings at Duff’s for almost 35 years, stepping away only because both of his rotator cuffs gave out from shaking so many baskets of wings. It goes without saying, but over those years he built an incredible legacy. When he started out he sold 20 pounds of wings a week, today we’ll sell somewhere around 12-14,000 pounds a week.
One of the things that made my dad stand out amongst the competition was his intense focus on quality. He had high standards for both the food and service at Duff’s and was unwavering in meeting those standards even if it meant a hit to his margins.
The wings at Duff’s always had to be - and still are - fresh and never frozen. The celery had to be large and crisp. The rolls had to be fresh from Costanzo’s and the bleu cheese had to have just the right amount of chunkiness, creaminess, and tang to it - the recipe we serve was his mother's.
Just like the food, he also had high standards for his employees. And he wasn’t shy about holding them to that standard.
He was a stickler for excellence, but he’d never ask an employee to do anything he wouldn’t do himself. You’d often find him cleaning the bathroom, or sweeping the parking lot.
More than anything though, my dad cared deeply about the people who worked with him. Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry knows that employee turnover is one of the biggest challenges. But, I can honestly say that our staff at Sheridan and Millersport has remained a close-knit group of family and friends that has lasted for generations.
Duff’s is a special place. And it’s a special place in large part because of my dad, Ron Duff…but also because of so many special people - far too many to name here - who worked with him throughout the years to make it that way.
However, there are a few key people I’d like to recognize, most notably my mom, Carol Duff who ran the front of the house for many years, his longtime GM, Ed Conley who did every job imaginable at the restaurant, and his long-time business partner, Jeff Feather who really carried the business as my dad got older.
Dad, you’re already so missed, especially at Duff’s. I know you wanted business to go on like usual, but it can’t. You were a legend not just because of the restaurant you built, but because of the man you were.
I love you.
I’ll try my best to honor your legacy at Duff’s.
Say hi to Mom for me.
Joe
National Buffalo Wing Festival
