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| Windham resident Dan Drouin will operate a new sports pub and restaurant at the site of the former Buck's Naked BBQ Restaurant which closed in Windham in May. The new restaurant will employ between 25 and 30 people and Drouin expects it to be open by October. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
The owners of a
popular Westbrook restaurant will open a second location in Windham in the fall.
Dan Drouin, who operates the Stockhouse Restaurant & Sports Pub in
Westbrook, hopes the new location will be open by sometime in October.
Drouin and his
wife, Jennifer, will operate the new location under a slightly different name, and
with a different slant. Instead of a sports pub theme, Stockhouse Restaurant &
Sandbar Pub is intended to highlight its location in the Lakes Region, having a
little fun with the theme to create a “lake vibe,” Drouin said.
Stockhouse
Restaurant & Sandbar Pub will go into the space formerly occupied by Buck’s
Naked BBQ, which closed in late May after indoor dining was delayed in Maine
due to the pandemic. Drouin said he is leasing the space, with an agreement to
purchase down the road. “It probably wouldn’t be an easy venture right now as a
restaurant to purchase a building,” he said.
The new
restaurant will employ between 25 and 30 people. Drouin said that the current permit allows
for 130 seats inside, though during COVID restrictions there will be less
indoor seating.
“We’ll lose
anything I can’t socially distance,” he said, estimating that they would end up
with about 75 seats indoors.
According to Drouin,
there are 20 seats outside on the deck and he is also asking for the permit to
be extended to the front porch, which would offer approximately 20 additional
outdoor seats.
He said if they
can get on the agenda for the next Windham Town Council meeting on Sept. 8,
they Either way, he said, the restaurant should be
open by Nov. 1.
hope to open early in October. If they have to wait until the meeting on
Sept. 22, he said, that will push the opening to later in the fall.
“I can’t think
that we would not be open by then,” Drouin said.
Drouin has
looked at other locations for a second restaurant in the past few years, he said.
He chose the space in Windham because he liked the building and enjoys the
community. Drouin lives on the Windham/Standish line off White’s Bridge Road.
“I looked at the space and immediately my wife
and I both felt like that space would fit us,” Drouin said. “Even with what’s
going on with the pandemic I think we can get it off the ground and going, and
as things get better that will allow the restaurant to grow with us.”
His experience
in the Westbrook location makes Drouin confident they can operate safely under
the COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ve learned
a lot in the last few months in Westbrook and we’ve been able to maintain a
pretty high volume with making sure that we’re doing everything safely,” he
said. “I think if you’re consistent, people appreciate the fact that you’re
trying to create a safe environment, and we’ll do the same thing in Windham.”
The menu in
Windham will be the same broad offerings as they offer in Westbrook, Drouin
said, including burgers, wraps, pizza, home cooked specials like shepherds’ pie
and turkey dinners, and wings. Because there’s a smoker still at the Windham
restaurant, Drouin said that in Windham, once he is comfortable knowing how to
smoke wings, he will add those to the wing lineup in Windham.
Drouin said
their goal is to provide another family friendly eatery with affordable prices,
good food, and a good selection of beer. He said he plans to keep things as
consistent as possible, with food and drink specials, and some entertainment if
they can do so safely under the current restrictions. <
