Restaurants set the table for change | Special Sections … – Conway Daily Sun

CONWAY A wise sage once said the only constant in life is change and that is especially true when it comes to the restaurant industry, with five years being the norm for a restaurant to make a go of it or not.

Now, four local landmark eateries, which have bucked that trend by several decades or more, are for sale, with their retirement-age owners setting the table for change.

Mind you, except for Cafe Noche, which is set to close tonight, theyre all still very much open, keeping a thriving pace at that.

For them, its business as usual, serving up excellent fare and libations, with the hope that whoever buys these establishments will carry on their proud legacies.

Realtors and restaurateurs interviewed note its a generational change and a coincidence that many of the valleys leading restaurateurs seem to be reaching retirement age at the same time.

As Mark Lahood, new owner of the Inn at Thorn Hill Spa/Forty at Thorn Hill Restaurant and Christmas Farm Inn and Spa in Jackson, noted, There is nothing unusual about restaurants being put up for sale after their owners reach retirement age. In this case, its just unfortunate with the timing of all of these at the same time. These are institutions that have contributed a great deal as a whole to the valley and it's sad to see them make the move but all of them should be thanked for the contributions they have made over the years.

So, which beloved local landmark eateries are for sale?

The venerable Red Parka Steakhouse and Pub in Glen (which dates back to 1972) has been listed by co-owners Terry OBrien and her mother, Jean Melczarek, with Earle Wason Hospitality Associates of Portsmouth and Meredith for $1.2 million.

Opened in 2004, May Kellys Irish Cottage in North Conway has been listed by Marie and Patsy McArdle for $1.75 million with Theresa Bernhardt, Gerry OConnell and Sharrene Henderson of Keller Williams Coastal and Lakes & Mountains Realty.

Just south of that thriving business on Route 16 is Delaneys Hole-in-the-Wall now celebrating its 29th year and once the site of the Snug Harbor. It was listed by owners Dick and Lanette Delaney and Mary Ellen Delaney with David Cianciolo and Ed O'Halloran of Badger Peabody and Smith for $4.5 million starting last September but as of early April, they dropped the price to $3.9 million.

In Conway Village, Tom Kugel has announced he is closing Mexican eatery Cafe Noche after tonight.

Im lucky because I have financial security and I dont have to (run a restaurant) as I own real estate, including this building and the one next door (formerly a hair salon), said Kugel. Its been a fun 30 years and we have enjoyed it and appreciate the support of our customers and all of the hard work of our staff. I am 67 and I just have things I want to do while I am still young enough to do them.

He is looking to either sell the business or lease the restaurant space for another use. His broker is Jay Polimeno of Sunbelt Business Brokers of New Hampshire in Woodstock.

Meanwhile, May Kellys is currently closed for a vacation break but will soon reopen for its usual steady business. But yes, it is for sale.

Were advertising May Kellys in Boston and in Ireland," said O'Connell.

"Im from Ireland and it is the most authentic Irish restaurant Ive been to here in the States. Patsy and Marie have been at this for over 40 years, first in Ireland and then in Boston before North Conway and they are ready to retire. Its a great establishment and a great setting. As for the next chapter, you never know just where the next owners will come from. But Patsy and Marie are very much still in business they are having new kitchen equipment installed while they are on break, OConnell added

It's never easy letting go. As the Red Parkas OBrien told the Sun, Selling a huge part of my life is hard. But it is time. Im not younger than springtime anymore and this is a business for youth with lots of new ideas and energy. Our hope is that someone will love this crazy place as much as we do.

For O'Brien, it's in the blood. Her daughters Sandra Iacozili and Seana Leger are both in the field, with Seana working in Wyoming and Sandra working as a co-owner with her father Bob Wentworth at 302 West Smokehouse in Fryeburg, Maine. OBriens parents the late legendary Dewey Mark and former wife Melczarek, now 90 co-founded the restaurant in 1972 with Lois Hatch and Hatchs then-husband, the late Al Nelson.

The Parka, as loyal legions of visitors and locals alike call it, set the example of how to give back to a community, hosting hundreds of fundraisers for worthy causes while keeping live music alive and lively on weekends.

Mark was the visionary who with Wally Campbell founded the Valley Originals, the group of independent local restaurants.

The goal was to leverage costs for independent restaurants by coalescing into one larger organization. That works for lowering food product prices, always a tight margin in the restaurant business, and pooling advertising all the while of following the Parkas tradition of giving back to the community.

The organization last year raised more than $350,000 for more than 200 local non-profit organizations and causes.

Campbell serves as the Valley Originals executive director. Dick Delaney is its president.

For the Delaneys, Lanette and Dicks three grown children are now all out west in Colorado and Idaho. The Delaneys are are doting grandparents, and Dick told the Sun although they will miss their many friends/customers here in the valley, they want to be close to their grandchildren for the next phase of their lives.

We will come back to visit all of our friends in the valley for sure, as we love the valley, said Delaney, who worked as a bartender at Horsefeathers for years before co-founding Delaneys in 1994.

Delaney said customers are both supportive and sad about their pending plans.

Customers are happy for us and say weve earned our time but they add that they just wish we werent selling, said Delaney. Like OBrien, he said they hope that whoever buys their business retains the atmosphere and food offerings but those decisions, of course, will be up to whoever buys it.

In addition to their restaurant being for sale, the Delaneys story also involves the land next door, on which their former house stands.

They sold the house and lot to the Flatbread Company, which will eventually end its lease with the Berry Companies at the Eastern Slope Inn to move to a new facility on the former Delaneys house lot.

As the Sun has reported, the two-story, 1930s-era, 2,883-square-foot house and 2.14-acre adjacent lot just south of Delaneys Hole-in-the-Wall was sold by the Delaneys last October for $1.5 million to Flatbread Company.

Although at the time the buyer of the restaurant was kept secret, representatives of Flatbread last May had received conditional approval from the planning board for an 8,726-square-foot, 207-seat restaurant but returned in December to request reducing the size to a 7,020-square-foot, 187-seat restaurant and for approval to move the house to the southeast corner of the lot to use it for three employee apartments rather than raze it.

The board found the proposal to be an insignificant change, ruling that full site-plan review was not necessary and applauded the saving of the structure, especially for employee housing.

Fast-forward to last week, when work got underway to clear trees and prepare the house for the move to a new foundation.

Shawn Bergeron of Bergeron Technical Services told the Sun in December that the new restaurant will be located on the existing site of the house. It will extend out over the banking with a walkout first floor on the west side that will allow for four double-occupancy employee housing units with each unit having its own restroom, toilet and shower and a common kitchenette and common lobby area.

Were very pleased with the plans to save the house, said Dick Delaney. We share many community values with Flatbread and we think they will be a great fit for the community.

Flatbread Construction Manager Anthony Grenon told the Sun, while giving a tour of the house last week as clearing commenced on the site, that his projected timeline, pending all permits from the town, is for construction work on the restaurant to start in late May, with a completion date before summer 2024.

He said Flatbread is having discussions with the Berry Companies on renegotiating its lease for an early termination, as there are still three years left on it. Its all a very collaborative (ongoing) conversation, said Grenon.

Meanwhile, brothers Alec and Ace Tarberry of the Berry Companies are working to repurpose the former Olympia Sports/former Carroll Reeds store in North Conway into a new food hall that will offer food to go during the day and a tap room, along with nighttime entertainment part of the new generation of entrepreneurs in North Conway Village looking to add some new energy.

In other developments, Mike Simone recently received approval from the planning board for a food truck to be located this season on the former Raffertys Restaurant site on Kearsarge Road.

Interviewed this week, Campbell saluted the hard work of all of the local members of Valley Originals which includes not only Delaney's and the Red Parka but also Cafe Noche. He cited inflationary factors as one of the current challenges for restaurateurs, a point also raised by Mike Somers, president of the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association.

But staffing remains the key challenge for restaurateurs and everyone in the hospitality business, Campbell and Somers said.

Due to COVID, they noted, many restaurant workers opted to get out of the industry and its weekend and nighttime hours. Others had senior family members at home, making the workers reluctant to put them at risk by possibly exposing them to the virus.

Having fewer employees led many restaurants to be open for fewer hours each day and to decrease the number of days they are open so they dont burn out their staff by overworking them. Somers notes that due to staffing shortages some eateries also reduced their menu offerings.

Other changes included adding outdoor dining, a must during the early COVID summers. It proved to be very popular and has been extended by local towns, including Conway.

Positions such as dishwashers and line cooks have been hard to fill, with the Red Parka advertising for a starting wage of $20 an hour for dishwashers.

As mentioned earlier, another reason restaurateurs are scrounging for help is lack of workforce housing.

Some affordable housing projects are underway, such as the Avesta project for rental housing in Conway.

Settlers Green developer Robert Barsamian also recently received a variance from the Conway Zoning Board of Adjustment at their April 19 meeting for a proposed rental housing project at the site of the former North Conway Drive-In in North Conway, but in the meantime, theres still a 2 percent unemployment rate and few places for workers to live.

Thats why the move by Flatbread to create employee housing is being lauded as visionary there is hope that in updating the towns master Plan, more incentives will be included for developers to build employee housing as part of their projects.

Behind the housing shortage that is connected to the employee shortage is that the number of properties that once provided housing are now used for short-term rentals.

With the updating of the master plan, with the revision of the towns zoning ordinances to follow, there is hope that the housing crunch can be addressed.

Meanwhile, the valleys restaurants forge ahead, adapting to staffing shortages, adjusting their hours and all the while delivering their hearty fare.

The Wentworth, the Inn at Thorn Hill, the Christmas Farm Inn, all in Jackson, and Margarita Grill in Glen (now called Pro Tune, it's a a bar/restaurant and bicycle tuning shop) have all been sold in recent years.

Meanwhile, such independently owned establishments as Almost There, Beas Cafe, Banners Restaurant, Vito Marcellos Italian Bistro, Merlinos, Hooligans, Horsefeathers, Deacon Street, Barley & Salt, Lobster Trap, Wicked Fresh Burgers, Black Cap Grille, the Red Fox Pub and Grille, Whitneys Village Inn, Shovel Handle Pub, Maxs at the Snowvillage Inn, Fiesta Jalisco, Moat Mountain Smokehouse, Muddy Moose, Priscillas, Chefs Bistro, the Notchland Inn, Shalimar of India, Peking Sunrise, Taste of Thai, Thai Nakornping, Bangkok Cafe, 27 North, Stonehurst Manor, Hobbs Tavern, Sea Dog Brewing Co., Tuckermans Tavern at the New England Inn, J-Town Deli, Thompson House Eatery, Yesterdays, the Sunrise Shack, White Mountain Cider Co., the Oxford House, Josephs Spaghetti Shed, J-Town Deli, Elvios, Abenaki Trail, Top of the Ninth and the Shannon Door now in its 70th year, and owned by Tom and Tess Mulkern, the king and queen of local restaurateurs, and managed by their daughter Nora Bean carry on the valleys tradition for great food and warm hospitality.

The Wildcat Inn and Tavern of Jackson was for sale, but co-owner Stu Dunlop told the Sun that he and co-owner David Peterson changed their minds, noting that we like to test the waters every few years, but we took it off the market.

When we did that, my wife, Lynda, said she was glad. I asked her why, and she said because she wants us to be the Tom and Tess Mulkern of restaurateurs for our generation, said Dunlop.

Last call for the current generation of restaurant owners? Not for everyone just yet. But the table is set for local restaurant ownership changes to come.

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Restaurants set the table for change | Special Sections ... - Conway Daily Sun