Restaurant Rockstars consultant joins partnership to buy North Yarmouth café
Courtesy / Bean Group Real Estate
Stones Cafe and Bakery, a communal hub in North Yarmouth, sold for $465,500 to a partnership that includes the founder of a consulting firm called Restaurant Rockstars.
The owner of a consulting firm called Restaurant Rockstars is part of a partnership that bought Stones Cafe & Bakery in North Yarmouth.
Salt + Zest LLC acquired the real estate and business at 424 Walnut Hill Road from Chris Cole and Mayco LLC from for $465,500. Ed Herczeg of Bean Group Commercial represented the seller and Patrice Miller of Century 21 North East represented the buyer in the deal, which closed July 29.
Salt + Zest LLC is owned by Roger and Thea Beaudoin, Miller and Mark Lynch. Miller also owns Live Solar Maine, a Cumberland construction firm focused on net-zero homes.
Stones Café & Bakery started as Fran’s more than 35 years ago.
It became Stones Grove Restaurant in 1989, then Stones Café & Bakery in 2006. Chris Cole has owned it since 2006. Stones features baked goods, local products from Spring Brook Farm Chocolate Milk and Coffee By Design, and homemade soups, sauces and dressings.
Beaudoin said he and his partners plan to continue Stones’ legacy.
Ski-area restaurants
Beaudoin and Miller have a history going back 25 years of owning and operating restaurants around the Sunday River ski resort.
That includes Matterhorn Ski Bar and Great Grizzly Bar & Steakhouse, both in Newry.
The design scheme for the Matterhorn Ski Bar, he said, was inspired by a bar in the village of Zermatt, Switzerland, which he came across while skiing the glaciers at the base of the Matterhorn in 1988.
Beaudoin got the idea for the Matterhorn in the early 1990s. He was on a job interview at Sunday River to work in the marketing department.
“I’m driving through the sleepy town of Bethel, and 25 years ago there was very little infrastructure: bars, restaurants, retail shops, condominiums,” he said. “It wasn’t well developed in relation to the number of skiers who came through town.”
Wood-fired pizza was the rage in Italy at the time. Having lived in Europe and seen those operations, he recognized an opportunity in Bethel.
He knew nothing about the restaurant business. But he and Miller were able to secure a $150,000 bank loan and find a retail space to transform it into a Swiss chalet design with the Italian pizza component on a shoestring budge.
“It was six miles from the ski resort in a rundown strip mall in Bethel,” he said. “There were three important things: food, service and ambiance. We were going to capitalize on all three. We came up with the wood-fired pizza concept, and we wanted the brick oven to be the showpiece. We put the brick oven in the middle of the dining room, so people could watch the pizza makers. It became a buzz in the local community.”
After a couple of years, the restaurant proved popular enough to allow Beaudoin and Miller to develop Matterhorn Ski Bar in a larger space in Newry, closer to Sunday River. Other restaurant ventures followed.
During Beaudoin and Miller’s tenure, Matterhorn was named “Best Ski Bar USA” by Skiing magazine and “Classic Ski Bar” by Ski magazine, and received restaurant accolades from the New York Times, Boston Globe, Frommers Travel Guides, Powder magazine, Yankee magazine and other publications.
But in 2014, he and Miller sold the properties. Beaudoin continued his adventures in skiing, climbing and traveling. With his wife, Thea, he founded Restaurant Rockstars LLC, a coaching, consulting and training firm that helps restaurant owners and operators build their brands and profits.
Restaurant Rockstars is based in Yarmouth but Beaudoin travels quite a bit, providing coaching and consulting services to restaurant owners nationwide, and speaking at industry events.
Improved efficiencies
He and his partners also began looking for a new real estate opportunity.
“We didn’t know what it would be,” he said. “We came across Stones Cafe. We kicked the tires to see if it made sense. It has two rental apartments over it and a classic New England barn that has all sorts of potential for future growth.”
The menu and overall ambience will remain the same, he explained.
“It has a reputation for outstanding baked goods – homemade muffins, scones, cinnamon buns,” he said. “That’s the calling card of this place. It’s well-known for the quality and flavor of the food.”
But there’s room for improved efficiencies. Kitchen improvements include rearranging the service line.
“When we came in it wasn’t the most efficient arrangement,” he explained. “It has an interesting interior layout, with multiple rooms and multiple refrigeration units. So we’re in the process of making things easier to help staff to do their jobs, without extra steps to go from here to there.”
Plans include applying for a liquor license, with the idea of adding items like mimosas at brunch; and adding dinner service, on a limited basis to start. But overall, “We’ll operate the café pretty much as it is,” he said.
The restaurant has about 30 employees, including a new executive chef and many employees retained from the previous owner, he said.
The partners view Stones as a great opportunity.
“North Yarmouth is exploding in growth,” Beaudoin said. “Stones is in the center of North Yarmouth village and has become the local hub of the community. People come together there for breakfast and lunch, and now all the new people moving in are discovering it.”
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