On my return to the United States I found myself involved with two problems that caused me much grief. Alex Stephens, the manager of the restaurant, was ill. I visited him at his apartment. I asked him what was wrong and he replied, "Mr. Boudoures, you're killing me." This was something I never expected. I was shocked. I asked him, "What do you mean I'm killing you?" He responded by telling me that, "You've been so terribly good to me that I've tried to work hard to take good care of the place, and it's killing me. I cannot stay on the job any longer. As soon as I get well I'm giving you notice and quitting." I was sorry to lose him. However, the man's health came before anything else. The result was that I was deprived of his services. After that, were it not for the faithful performance of my wife in supervising the dining room and taking cash, together with the hard work of Jim Baldas, I would never have been able to achieve the things that I did.

Unfortunately, my partner, George Paulson, became ill at about the same time. He was operated on several times before and this time he was told by the doctors that he would have to quit work and leave the city. The climate was detrimental to his health. He bought a small home in Boyes Springs in Sonoma County and moved there. He left me to run the business on my own and there was little else that I could do.

Back in 1937 I had sent a visa to my younger brother, Frank Boudoures. At that time he was working as inspector for the police in Thessaloniki, Greece. His visa was approved and he arrived in the United States in August of 1937. I arranged to have my friend, Peter George of San Francisco, meet him at the boat in New Your and to bring him to Syracuse, where I was attending an AHEPA Convention. I bought a car and we drove home together from Syracuse. He remained with me until 1942, when he enlisted in the army and served in the South Pacific. In late 1945 he returned and came to work for me at the restaurant. While he was a help to me, he was young and inexperienced. The real work was done by Paulson and Stephens. When they left, it all fell on my shoulders. (Peter's brother Frank Boudoures was born in 1912, one year after Peter arrived in the United States. Their mother was almost fifty years old when Frank was born).

Business had begun to decline. Each year I had to deal with wage increases combined with an increase in the costs of our materials. As a result, we had to raise our prices. Each time we raised our prices, our volume went down. We were operating a popular restaurant, catering to white collar workers, and some well-to-do business people. But most of our customers were clerks who found it difficult to pay the increased prices. In addition, a number of other restaurants opened up in the area and in the city in general. While the population of the city was declining, the number of restaurants increased. It became impossible to continue to have the fine success that we had enjoyed for the past ten years. I had all I could do to take care of my business and to satisfy my obligations.