The Black Forest Inn is really the only place in Hamilton to get traditional Bavarian food. People come from as far away as Rochester, New York for the schnitzel. But the Hamilton landmark has been sold, although the new owners, who took over in December said that won’t change.

The Black Forest Inn had been in Wolfgang Schoen’s family since 1967. He and his wife Gabi took over from his parents 25 years ago. The restaurant sold in December to a Hamilton company called Forge and Foster.

“The reason why we sold it was we are going on in age. We don’t have any children that can take over.”

Wolfgang and Gabi say it was a tough decision and that they’ll miss the friendships they had with their customers.

“We want to thank our loyal customers over the years that stayed with us through good times, tough times, they became part of our extended family at the black forest inn.”

Forge and Foster owns a number of other Hamilton businesses and restaurants and was excited to add the Black Forest Inn to the list.

And all of the staff have been retained, which was important for Wolfgang and Gabi.

“Some staff are there for 30 years, they are part of our family.” Wolfgang and Gabi say they plan to take it easy for a bit, running the restaurant was a busy job.

The first big thing they plan to do in their retirement, is take a trip to Mexico.