Support Your Neighbors: Once Upon A Table

A customer who walks into Once Upon a Table in Chester can leave with a unique piece of art for their den, a high quality sofa and love seat, an interior design appointment and a freshly made gourmet roast beef sandwich and glass bottle of soda.

In fact, one of the only things you can’t get at Once Upon a Table is antiques. And as a matter of rule, I wouldn’t ask. “We don’t sell antiques,” said Long Valley resident and Once Upon a Table owner Charles Wasser. “We’ve been here almost 15 years and people still think we sell antiques.”   

The variety of merchandise one can find in Once Upon a Table is as varied and eclectic as the owner is himself. Charles Wasser is a self-made man several times over, and it is his ability to channel his talents nto a variety of interests that has allowed him to succeed in whatever business he attempted. When Wasser first began his career, it was as a securities attorney on Wall Street.

“I really didn’t like what I was doing,” said Wasser. “But I always had an interest and a love for cooking. I used to cook a lot as a kid.”

Wasser began taking classes and developing his skills as a chef and came across another chef with a similar story. “One of the teachers I met had also changed careers and he had his own catering business so I began working for him on the weekends and I loved it.”

Through the various connections he made, Wasser ended up getting a paid position working on pastries and cold appetizers at a restaurant on the weekend. “My shift would usually be like, 2 p.m. to midnight and I would come in at like six in the morning and would assist the chefs and really learned all of this amazing stuff.”

Eventually Wasser stopped working in restaurants and began working for a large catering company while looking to open his own business. “We were looking all over New Jersey and New York looking to open sort of a catering hall to do tea parties and small weddings,” Wasser said. “But we couldn’t really find any place to our liking. The closest was in Old Bridge, but there were zoning issues.”

Wasser was familiar with Chester because his mother-in-law had lived there for years. Purchasing their current building on Main Street, and moving his family to Long Valley, Wasser planned to evolve the space into something unique.

“The building was in disrepair,” Wasser said. “So we were going to renovate and have it be a place where half of the place was going to be food cases and the other half would be a café. Our primary business would be to sell food and do catering, but we would also sell packaged products and accessories and table tops.”

Unfortunately for Wasser, the Chester Boro government wouldn’t allow them to open up the footing to make improvements to the kitchen. So Wasser adapted the plan again. “We opened up the retail and I was doing catering through another kitchen,” Wasser said. “And we kept fighting to get seating in the café.”

Initially, Wasser was thrilled with the reception his business received, because the tourists always found them. “For years no one knew we were here and I didn’t care. Because the tourists found us. No one locally even knew we had a café,” said Wasser. “And our café makes everything from scratch. Our breads come from New York, we have all real meats. Everything here is delivered daily and the highest quality.”

Wasser admits that the changes to their business plan forced them into an “identity crisis.” After some thoughtful deliberation, they decided to flip the plan so that their primary focus was furniture and design and the food in the café was secondary.

“My wife was in the fashion design business in New York but that was brutal,” Wasser said. “But now she does design here for clients.”

As with the café which Wasser has dedicated to being as fresh and as natural as it can be, the level of quality in the furniture and design is a cut above the rest. “We sell real furniture brands. A lot of the stores are selling furniture that aren’t even wood,” Wasser said. “And they buy from the so-called discount stores from out of state.”

According to Wasser, value is not only determined by price. “Getting the best value doesn’t mean the cheapest,” Wasser said. “You could buy a cheap t-shirt but it wears out and needs to be replaced in a year or two. Value is the best quality for the price, not just the best price.”

Wasser hopes that more residents make a habit of frequenting his store and has seen modest signs of improvement recently. “We have seen some pick up in the café side,” Wasser said. “But that is mostly local business people on a lunch break. And most of our furniture business is done out of the state and out of the county.”

Ideally, Wasser would love his store to become not only a favorite eatery of his Chester neighbors, but the place they go to when they need to spruce up their home. “Sure, I can sell you a $5,000 couch and we can design an expensive room for you,” Wasser said. “But I can also get you the same couch in a different color or fabric for $1,000. We have a lot of different price points.”