! HOPE E. TROMBLEY NATE BLAIS
At the Dam Restaurant F or years, mother-son-duo Susan Chadbourne and Paul Merker dreamed of owning a breakfast and lunch restaurant near the water. When the established restaurant At the Dam Restaurant, 100 Main St. in Broad Brook, CT, went up for sale in 2019, the pair felt this was the perfect opportunity to make their dream come true. Then, the Covid pandemic hit. “We were ready to open in March 2020 and less than a week before our planned opening date, the pandemic hit, delaying the opening – with many unknowns such as not knowing when we would be able to open, when the restrictions would be lifted and if
we would be able to open at all,” said Chadbourne. She, her son, family and friends had spent months getting ready to launch the revamped restaurant. They cleaned the space top to bottom, painted, brought it up to current health standards, developed their menu, created a new logo and purchased needed equipment. “During that time many local people stopped in to see how we were doing with the renovations, asked when we were going to open,were excited to meet us as the new owners, and to see what renovations we were doing,” Chadbourne said. “That made us not only feel welcome, but we came to know the restaurant
was definitely a place where friends meet.” They forged ahead, waiting until the world received the thumbs-up to start opening up and they finally opened their doors in June of 2020. “When the restrictions were lifted for inside seating, we did open but only at 50% capacity for the first 11 months, with many COVID rules and regulations to follow,” Chadbourne said. “It was a very slow start because many people were unsure of going out to a restaurant with the ever changing COVID restrictions. We slowly but surely gained in popularity but during the beginning months, it was our ‘regulars’ who kept us afloat.” It was those regular customers that GOLOCALMAGAZINES.COM 13
