In 1975 Gene and Dana Coletti, along with Gene’s brother Don, his sister Ann and her husband Jeff Faller opened the doors of the Old Daley Inn Restaurant. The restaurant was located in the historic Lansingburgh section of Troy, and its staff was a collection of friends and family, as our company still is today.
Old Daley was known to be one of the best prime steak and seafood restaurants in all of Troy. We became widely known for the piles of king crab, prime rib and the famous Chicken Teriyaki that is still served to this day. The energy of the restaurant was its claim to fame, and is why it became the top spot in the Capital Region for 28 years. Friendly, outgoing and old school service oriented.
Jim Pettit joined the restaurant at age 16 as a dishwasher and soon would rise through the ranks of every position in the company. In fact it was Jim who began running the ‘famous’ Chicken Sandwich carts in Albany, and 32 years later these carts are still a hit selling around the city! It wasn’t until 1999 did Jim and his wife Stephanie become the catering wing with Gene, with their eyes on expanding this sector of the business.
Marty Keary became part of the team at the young age of 22 as a busboy, but soon moved into other positions including caterer, waiter and bartender. Jim and Marty had been grown up together and saw the The Old Daley as their second home and family. To this day, we are one big family. We love each other and move forward with this positive energy in all we do.
In 2001, Marty joined Jim and Gene as partners. The trio decided to move into catering exclusively and Gene sold the restaurant. Old Daley Custom Catering moved to its new home at 2 Northern Drive, several blocks north of the old restaurant. A state-of-the-art catering kitchen was built and soon Old Daley would become the second largest caterer in the Capital Region. A large expansion and growth soon led to the search for an event venue of our own. The Crooked Lake House would become that special place. In 2010, we began resurrecting this beautiful treasure known far and wide. The wedding business became very vigorous and soon, Old Daley on Crooked Lake became the number one wedding venue in the area! Marty’s wife Jan became director of sales and under her and Steph’s amazing leadership built a team of smiling professionals to serve with our unique, friendly philosophy. This historic, lakeside property is so amazing, we as a company could not be more blessed to have such a place to call ours.
Our story is one of friends and family pooling talents and creating atmosphere of excellence in the fine art of hospitality. Our goal is always the same, to create an amazing experience for our customers we soon call friends. It’s the only way we know.
