He says Carlos Melo, who now manages the Jillian’s restaurant and bar, also got started in the food service business working as a busboy at the Venus de Milo. “I owe a lot to Ronnie and Monte,” he added. “I grew up in this place,” said Paquette, who has a master’s degree in business administration. Owner Monte Ferris, left, and general manager Scott Paquette are seen here in the lobby of the Venus de Milo banquet facility in Swansea. He eventually worked his way up to a managerial position while going to college and continues to help out - in addition to his full-time position as assistant director of the Bristol Community College program called Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search.

Paquette, now 37, says he was 15 when he began working as a busboy for Monte Ferris and his older brother, Ronald, who died in 2009. Venus de Milo general manager Scott Paquette says soon after the pandemic alarm bell was rung in March of 2020, a decision was made to run the Venus Foods take-out business out of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill, a Somerset restaurant and bar owned by Ferris.Īnd even though Ferris shortly thereafter decided to bring the take-out business back to the Venus de Milo, Paquette says customers can still order soup, chowder and lobster bisque while having lunch or dinner in the dining room of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill. Future Venus take-out foods ventureįerris, who grew up in Fall River’s Flint neighborhood and now lives in Providence, said after selling the property he would like to find a location, possibly in or near Providence, to open Venus Foods, an in-house subsidiary that only does take-out orders. “We will continue to work with him,” Feiner said of Ferris, during a brief phone interview. Its senior vice president Dan Feiner said he knows that Ferris is intent on finding a buyer. The property previously had been listed for sale by MG Commercial Real Estate of Providence. He said he’s recently spoken to at least two potential buyers but a deal has not yet been brokered.

Ferris, 70, said he would ideally like to sell the building and real estate by the end of the year.

Venus de milo soup