Ken's Roadside Diner

Ken Kurtyka studied hotel and restaurant management at Holyoke Community College and went on to cook at and manage a number of Massachusetts restaurants and hotels. The Greenfield native got his start in the food business at Turnbull’s Restaurant. After 25 years in information technology, Ken purchased the diner in 2015 formerly known as Skip’s Roadside Diner. In the winter, he serves as food-service manager at Berkshire East.


The owner for the last decade or so, Dennis "Skip" Scipione and his wife, Nancy, made a name for themselves preparing Polish-American lunches as well as basic hamburgers and hot dogs at Skip’s Roadside Diner. A former police officer, Scipione retired from the force and bought the Blue Moon, one of the original Worcester Lunch Carts. After selling the Blue Moon, the two decided to open a seasonal restaurant small enough to run by themselves. They bought a trailer, and outfitted it with a kitchen. They intended to serve standard diner fare until they learned that Polish food had been offered on the current Gill site for much of the last 30 years.