Commack Breakfast Reopens

Commack Breakfast is getting a new life after the sudden death of its former owner, Peter Fedden. 

When Fedden, 29, was killed in a car crash in July, Commack Breakfast, where the former owner had worked since he was 16, shut its doors. Without Fedden, it appeared that Commack Breakfast might not survive. However, when the business was put up for sale shortly after, calls began rushing in from local residents who wanted to get the deli up and running, in the same way that they had grown to love it.

One of those calls came from husband and wife, Bill and Christy Hender. Bill graduated from Commack High School and now teaches and coaches at Kings Park High School. Christy, who grew up on the Commack side of the Half Hollow Hills School District, said that she and her husband had been customers of the deli since they were kids and that Bill had been riding his bike to Commack Breakfast since the eighth grade.

She said that owning a deli was one of Bill’s goals ever since he worked at Commack’s Pastrami and Friends as a teenager. When Commack Breakfast went up for sale, Bill got his chance.

While the Hender family has taken ownership of the breakfast and lunch stop, customers will find all of their old favorites on the menu. 

“We’re keeping everything the same,” Christy said, pointing out a framed photo of Fedden sitting on a shelf. “We’re keeping his memory alive.”

Commack Breakfast reopened Nov. 29, but the deli isn’t the only new start for the Henders. The family has 1-year-old baby boy and another one on the way.

“We’re a local family – we’re keeping that tradition,” Christy said.