“That’s what got me started in the restaurant business,” Welton said. “My parent’s restaurant was formerly an old hotel.”
In addition to working in the restaurant, Welton also lettered in football, track and wrestling before graduating from Miamisburg High School in 1972. After graduating, he continued to work in his parent’s restaurant. Thanks to an interfering mother, he met his future wife, Trisha, his mother’s hair stylist.
“She kept telling me about her son and that I needed to meet him,” said Trisha Welton, who grew up in West Carrollton and graduated from West Carrollton High School in 1968. “I wasn’t interested, but then I was out one night and I met him on my own.”
The couple had a long-distance relationship for two years after Welton left to study at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. The couple eventually married in 1978 and moved to Kettering. Trisha continued her work as a hair designer while Welton held a chef position at the Meadowbrook Country Club before becoming executive chef at the Moraine Country Club. He also worked part time with the former Dieter Krug, owner of The Inn, which later became L’Auberge.
In 1983, the Welton’s opened TW’s Restaurant in Miamisburg after extensive remodeling, much of which they completed themselves. They also had the old downtown building listed on the national registry for historic buildings.
With the birth of their son, Andy, they became involved in fundraisers to benefit children like the annual Christmas Children’s Brunch that raised money for the Children’s Medical Center of Dayton.
“He literally grew up in the restaurant business,” said Trish Welton, of her son, who graduated from the Miami Valley School in 1999 and earned a degree in business from Colorado State University before joining the family business.
The couple sold TW’s in 1991 after receiving an offer they said they couldn’t refuse. The new restaurant is named The Chimneys. Meanwhile, the Weltons opened Welton’s Restaurant in Kettering, along with a catering business at the same location.
“The catering business just kept increasing by word of mouth,” Welton said. “It just kept building.”
In 2005, the couple decided to close the restaurant and focus on the catering business. They also moved the business to Bellbrook to be closer to the home they’d lived in since 1992, and the backyard that they had certified as a wildlife habitat to protect birds and animals.
Their location at 10 W. Franklin St. has a tasting room so customers can sample food before placing orders for weddings, birthdays, corporate functions, graduations and other parties.
Welton continues to support local groups like the American Field Service by volunteering to teach cooking classes and donating the proceeds to AFS. He is a past board member of the American Institute of Wine & Food, the Miami Valley Restaurant Association, and the American Culinary Federation, which named him Chef of the Year in 1989.
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