By Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com

        “This is not a restaurant. This is part of Springfield; this is the people’s restaurant. That makes me passionate to do my job every day.”
        It was past two o’clock in the afternoon, and Andrew Yee had just taken a seat in the Student Prince’s Heidelberg Room to chat with PRIME about his role in preserving the 80-year-old downtown Springfield icon. A waitress came in to double-check the settings for a reservation, and Yee took a moment to make certain everything was in order for what he explained was an important client.
         As managing partner of the Student Prince/The Fort and go-to person for the Yee family’s other Pioneer Valley restaurants  – including the Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee, Johnny’s Tavern in Amherst and the South Hadley trio of Johnny’s Bar and Grille, Johnny’s Tap Room and Iya Sushi and Noodle Kitchen  – Yee is well-versed in what it takes to run a successful house.
        But to him the Student Prince is something different. The restaurant, he said, has a reputation that transcends its Pioneer Valley roots, garnering a nod as one of the top 21 iconic restaurants in the country from Gourmet magazine.
        It’s also a place – and a cuisine – he knows intimately.
        “I’ve been a frequent customer here for 30-plus years,” Yee said. “I knew it very well.”
        That made last June’s announcement that the Scherff family was shuttering the famed restaurant like “losing a family pet,” Yee admitted.
        “It wasn’t just the restaurant, it was a part of Springfield, a part of tradition we [were] losing,” Yee said. “We lost the Lido, we lost Ciro’s, and we lost Silvano’s. I said to myself ‘we’re not losing another’.”
    When, a few days later, Yee said he heard Peter Pan Bus Line’s President and CEO Peter A Picknelly was buying the restaurant, his reaction was.     “That a boy!”
    That news, he added, was also what ultimately brought him to the helm of the Student Prince.
    “Forty-eight hours after he announced publically on the news [that he was buying the restaurant], my phone rang,” Yee said.  
      He answered, and heard the voice on the other end say, “Andy, this is Peter Picknelly. I got your name from a mutual friend of ours.
        “I said ‘Hold on Peter, let me get a chair because I know this is going to be a long conversation’,” Yee recalled.
        It wasn’t far into the conversation when Yee realized Picknelly, too, had a strong emotional connection with the Student Prince, having visited the restaurant countless times over the years with his father, Peter L. Picknelly, and more recently, with his own children.
        “I think the first 15 minutes we were both smitten about the idea” of saving the Student Prince, Yee said. “We both knew we had to do this.”
        Turning that idea into a reality, however, became a monumental undertaking with a very tight time schedule. The public, he said, demanded the restaurant reopen as soon as possible.
        “We got this place done in 6 ½ weeks; it should have been a 16-week project,” Yee said of the renovations. ‘I’ve been doing restaurants all my life. I know how long it takes, how much it costs. It’s a labor of love.”
        The Student Prince reopened on Thanksgiving Eve 2014, welcoming patrons with all the important aspects of the familiar, old-world atmosphere still very much in place.
        However, “The menu was a bit of a challenge,” Yee explained. “People eat so much lighter, so much healthier,” he said.  “We had to listen to the public but then again, not spoil the charm of the old favorites which we continue and proudly serve.”
        The menu and atmosphere aren’t the only Student Prince traditions Yee feels charged with upholding. There are other hallmarks, such as the carolers who entertain during the holiday season.
        “I think Peter and I shared the same experience, our eyes welled up a little bit,” Yee said. “Seeing the people literally crying after ‘Silent Night’ was sung, it was the most gratifying and enjoyable thing that I ever witnessed in my career as a restaurateur. It was amazing to see all the tradition unfold.”
        Those carolers, Yee added, were returning for a sold- out “Sound of Music” performance in late May.
        But overseeing operations at the Student Prince isn’t about just the tried and true. Yee has ensured the restaurant also meets the needs of 21st century patrons doing business in new ways.  The restaurant is wired for Wi-Fi – which is free for patrons – and on the day PRIME visited he was immersed in another renovation, converting the restaurant’s former deli on the corner of Main and Fort streets into a function room that could host 40 guests for a videoconference, a  shower or a private party.
        He’s also got plans for new traditions  he feels will blend well with the restaurant’s reputation as a place to meet and eat. For example, he’s arranged to have local Frank Sinatra tribute artist Patrick Tobin entertain in September at a reservations-only “Steaks, Sinatra and Martinis”dinner show. Yee said the restaurant is also working with WHYN AM Radio and morning host Adam Wright to create a once-a-month breakfast forum where guest speakers from business, government and the community will talk about current topics. The plan is late June for the first talk.
        “We had a host of events [in the past] that made the Fort famous, political fundraisers to civic organization fundraisers to gatherings both social and professional. It’s really the meeting place of Springfield if not the region,” Yee observed. “I have a lot of meeting places, but this one is pretty cool.”
        Acknowledging that even an establishment with as sterling a reputation as the Student Prince has obstacles to overcome  – he’s currently offering free valet parking to make it easier to visit the restaurant despite downtown parking problems – Yee is confident the city’s positive prospects will mean good things for the Student Prince, too.
        He cited plans for market-rate housing across Main Street from the restaurant, the Union Station project, Changchun Railway Vehicles’ plant slated for the former Westinghouse property in East Springfield andof course, MGM’s South End casino as evidence the city is making a comeback.  Mayor Domenic Sarno, he added, has been a champion of the city and the great things it has to offer – and a cheerleader for preservation of The Student Prince.
        As for his role, he’s still a bit in awe of what he’s been handed.
        “I’m just a curator of the restaurant,” Yee said. “[When we took over] people thought here come the Chinese Hu Ke Lau people, that we were going to ruin the charm.
        “We enhanced it, and we upheld the tradition,” he added.