Sweet Potato buys old Demma's building

SANDUSKY — A local catering company is giving new life to a building that once housed a local favorite restaurant.Sweet Potato Catering purchased 1302 W. Monroe St., the former location of Demma's Italian To Go, to use as a space to prepare food."It's not a licensed kitchen yet, but we are setting up the storage areas and hope to have it up and running for the new year," said Katie Korobkin, the owner and chef of Sweet Potato.The catering company has operated out of the old Tre Sorelle Cioccolato shop on Columbus Avenue and Monroe Street."The reason I purchased the Columbus Avenue building was that it's a beautiful location great for hosting," Korobkin said. "I still have a bit of work to do on the building and I've had a few bumps, but hopefully sometime after the first of the year I will be able to host events."Korobkin will maintain the Columbus Avenue location with the plan that the location will be used entirely for events that the company will host and cater. The food will be prepared at Monroe Street and transported to Columbus Avenue.Sweet Potato Catering's location on Columbus Avenue and Monroe Street. Chef Kaite Korobkin hopes to eventually use the property as a venue for hosting events. "The original plan was to put a kitchen into the Columbus Avenue location, but to be able to have what I needed it would've have taken up too much space," Korobkin said. "Having two buildings allows me to have the same sized kitchen, but also maintain the venue space for guests."Demma's was a popular restaurant serving some of the best spaghetti in town before it closed in 1995 when owner Providence "Babe" Demma retired."This building also has a lot of history to it," Korobkin said. "I have people telling me they remember Demma's."Demma's niece reopened the restaurant in 2012 and used many of the same recipes, but this time the restaurant was take-out only because of zoning codes. It closed again in 2015.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterSweet Potato Catering has purchased the former location of Demma's Italian To Go.