Warren’s Station restaurant sold to former employee | News

Warren’s Station restaurant, a Fenwick Island institution since 1960, has been purchased by Caroline Wetzelberger, 29, former director of operations with the DiFebo’s restaurant group.

Warren’s Station has been under continuous ownership by the Mumford family since 1971, when Jeff and Paula Mumford, two employees, bought the place from Warren Johnson. The senior Mumfords then offered the iconic restaurant to their son Scott, who has worked there for what would have been 30 years in 2025.

The deal was funded by the Wetzelberger family, residents of Fenwick themselves, and will close on Jan. 2, 2025. The terms are being kept private, between the two families.

The Mumford family had Wetzelberger on their short list of potential buyers, they said, as they wanted to sell to a local Fenwick family and, ideally, to a former employee.

Caroline Wetzelberger started working as a server at Warren’s Station at 16, in 2011, and later worked there as a manager, for a total of seven and a half years, through high school and college.

“I was a sophomore at Worcester Prep in Berlin [Md.] when I first started at Warren’s Station. Then in 2017, I worked briefly at Our Harvest in Fenwick, just after college at U.D.”

Wetzelberger earned her degree in hospitality and restaurant management at the University of Delaware from 2013 to 2017 before going to the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, Calif., for her graduate work.

“My parents, who live on Route 1, still live in our original house about a mile away,” said Wetzelberger. “I live in West Fenwick, on Route 54.”

“I worked mostly for Elise and Scott Mumford, who joined Warren’s Station in 1995, and that’s who I am buying the restaurant from next week,” she said. “Their way of managing and owning a business was so admirable to me. They had a way of setting high expectations.

“I was there originally at age 15, before I even got my driver’s license, as a busgirl and prep cook, because I have always worked. It can be challenging to keep people focused at that young an age and to support the restaurant on a good, common goal.”

“They allowed us to have fun. These people are some of my best friends from childhood, and many team members of Warren’s Station are still my best friends,” she added. “Warren’s has a legacy of pride in our great community of Fenwick. We will bring back some of the current employees, if they want to come back.”

“As a graduate from the Culinary Institute of America and the University of Delaware,” Wetzelberger said, “I am passionate about hospitality, and was always seeking connections here in the hospitality industry. I pride myself on my intuition, my ability to think independently and my capacity to develop effective strategies for long-term success.

“My culinary training is solid, and I am putting it to good use. Everything will be made from scratch” going forward, she said. “There is an existing carry-out, and we are knocking down some walls right now to make that easier — you can come get a coffee to go,” she added of the renovations taking place this week.

Fred Wetzelberger, Caroline Wetzelberger’s father and the president of Paradise Properties for more than 20 years, assisted in the transaction.

“It is a great restaurant, and everyone involved at Warren’s Station ever has worked their way up in the business. I have lived in Fenwick since 1986 and raised our children here. We are very excited for Caroline, and it is a family affair, because our other daughter is the interior designer coming in.”

“Caroline is a proven performer, and they really wanted to sell to a family connection,” said her father. “I heard some rumors that Scott was ready to move on after his 30 years at the place.”

“Now, they are passing the keys to someone who worked for them for a long time,” Caroline Wetzelberger said.

“The Wetzelberger family shares our dedication to the values of quality and service that have made Warren’s a community staple for more than six decades,” said Scott Mumford — who, along with his wife, Elise Mumford, has led the restaurant since 2002.

“We’re proud to pass the torch to Caroline and the Wetzelberger family,” said Scott Mumford. “This is an evolution, and we believe the restaurant is in excellent hands.”

Caroline Wetzelberger said she hopes to keep some of the traditional menu items while scaling up the cuisine.

“For drinks, we will be offering fresh juice cocktails, higher-end espresso and latte, both for in-restaurant dining and carry-out,” she said. “The Station will serve breakfast and lunch all day — including new items, like eggs benedict, crab benedict and more. Our dinner service is from 4 p.m. to closing, and we will offer coastal casual cuisine, including seafood. But I am for sure going to keep their traditional turkey dinner on the menu.”

“We are elevating the menu but also keeping the same favorites,” she said. “I love pie, and Warren’s is known for its great pies, so you will find them here. I started baking with my grandmother as a young girl, and that is a fond memory. I plan to expand on it, though. That pie-making with grandma was my true start.”

“Customers will see that we are making our plates more upscale,” she aded. “It brings back lots of memories to see the inside come to life.”

“My sister Victoria and her Balongue Design is an interior design firm that is doing my interior work now,” said Wetzelberger. “She is based in the Villanova area. They do a lot of work with Philly restaurants, and she is super good at design. We want to create different seating areas. You can be more formal, seated in a romantic area, or be seated in the new refurbishment of the older place that is for walk-ins. We want to be appealing and also accessible.”

High hopes for Fenwick’s generational changes

“Fenwick is really coming in to a new era,” said Wetzelberger. “There are a lot of young people like me who are interested in owning a business. Oceanside has changed hands. Surf’s Edge has had an ownership change. The sushi place is owned by somebody who once worked with me.”

“This is about our community, and with this size of our large building, we have to host the community events,” added Wetzelberger, who has innovated as operations manager at DiFebo’s Market with cooking demonstrations.

“We will have a breakfast with Santa next year. We are going to propose a tree-lighting ceremony for Fenwick and would be happy to host it here.”

“There is a farmers’ market here on Friday mornings — here in our parking lot — and I want to expand that and see more vendors,” said Wetzelberger. “I went to Napa Valley for culinary school, originally, for the fresh vegetables and wine, and those farmers’ markets are a destination.”

“The word ‘community’ has to be part of our brand and tagline,” she said.

“My dad has been in property management for a long time,” she added, “and he knows a lot about real estate, and he saw this opportunity. Since I moved home from California, we have looked for a good opportunity for our family. It just meant total sense to buy out Warren’s, to the property-business side and from my culinary work.”

“I want people to come for breakfast, or a romantic dinner, or even just be able to come here for a quick bite for lunch before dinner,” she said. “We will have our old customer and then more millennial people coming. You will get a different experience.”

“We are adding the full bar. I am not as focused on it, but it’s an added benefit, so they can have a glass of wine or cocktail. That is a necessity these days in the restaurant business,” she said.

“We will have a private dining room for larger parties. People are looking for that type of space in this area for family beach weeks, and I plan to call it the Family Room,” said the new owner.

“We may do some catering in the future,” added Wetzelberger. But, first, she has to rebuild the restaurant and establish its new offerings.