The founders and majority owners of Mario’s Italian Restaurant are leaving the company, but the restaurant that has been a fixture in Lexington for decades will remain the same. Mark, James and Nikiforis Miminos, the longtime owners of the American Food Holding Corporation, the holding company that controls six restaurants in Massachusetts including Mario’s and Jimmy’s Steer House in Arlington, plan to sell all of their shares in the company to longtime operational manager Antonios Karapatsas. 

According to Karapatsas’ application to the Arlington Board of Selectmen to the transfer the common victualler license for Jimmy’s Steer House, included in the agenda packet for the June 5 Arlington Board of Selectmen meeting, Karapatsas will acquire the shares the Miminos own in all six of the restaurants for $5.85 million. The Arlington selectmen approved the transfer at their June 5 meeting.