MOUNTAIN LAKES — The Morris County Board of County Commissioners joined Mountain Lakes Borough and Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon in honoring the Zeris Family and their namesake, the Zeris Inn Banquet Hall, which had been a fixture in Morris County for well over four decades.
Commissioner Director Stephen H. Shaw presented a resolution to brothers Christopher and Andy Zeris at an event held Thursday, December 15, at the Mountain Lakes Club and organized by Mountain Lakes Police Chief Shawn Bennett and Robert Tovo, the former Mountain Lakes Police Chief and Borough Manager. Commissioner Douglas Cabana also attended to honor the family.
The Zeris Inn opened on Route 46 in Mount Lakes in 1973 and, by 1997, the family also opened Chrisandis Restaurant on the same site, naming it after Chris and Andy Zeris. By the time the businesses recently closed, the Zeris Family had hosted more than 6,000 weddings along with countless fundraisers and charity events.
They cemented themselves and their business as a staple in the social fabric and family lives of many residents of Morris County.
Multiple Mountain Lakes officials joined the event, including Borough Council Members Tom Menard, Audrey Lane, and Dan Happer. A dozen Zeris Family members also joined the festivities.
The Zeris Family saga in New Jersey began after WWII, when Steve Zeris immigrated to the United States and worked in the hospitality industry, eventually saving up the capital to open his own business, The Parthenon Diner in Parsippany, in the early 1950s. It was in the 1960s that his four sons – Peter, George, Andy, and Chris – followed him to the United States, where they worked at Cutter Bar and Restaurant in Morristown for a number of years.
By 1966, the Zeris Family purchased the Hamburger Inn at the Florham Park Bowling Alley, a business that was so successful it allowed the family to additionally purchase the Hamilton Luncheonette in Morristown. In 1972, the family sold both lucrative establishments to open the Zeris Inn Banquet Hall in September 1973.
