Spotlighting Dennis institutions
by Debi Boucher StetsonLike all Cape towns, Dennis has seen quite a bit of growth over the last several decades, with residential development accompanied by an increasing number of businesses that take care of the myriad needs and desires of the growing number of full- and part-time residents.
Some of the businesses in town, however, predate the boom, and have managed to survive and grow in the face of change. We talked to the proprietors of several long-time businesses that have become veritable institutions.
Kream n’ Kone
Angelo and Angela Argyriadis have grown Kream n’ Kone, the business they bought in 1989, from a 75-seat clam shack to a 230-seat restaurant.
Now in their fourth season at their new location on Route 28 at the junction of Route 134, the couple, married for two decades, enjoys seeing a lot of repeat patrons. For many of those customers, Kream n’ Kone is a family tradition.
“A lot of people tell us, ‘My parents brought me here, and now I’m bringing my children’,” Angela said.
When they bought the business – which, founded in 1953, had a successful history – in 1989, they were living in Worcester. Angelo was in the pizza business, Angela was with Bay Bank, and they had just started a family.
“The thing that appealed to me, at the time, was five months off,” Angelo said of the seasonal business in Dennisport. “We’d close and go back to Worcester.”
That changed when their oldest daughter – by then they had two girls – was in second grade. “It became clear we couldn’t take her out in October and put her back in March,” Angelo explained.
By then, the season had extended to the point where they were opening for February school vacation and staying open through Columbus Day – a schedule they still keep.
Angelo, like other longtime businesspeople on Cape Cod, has watched ‘the season’ grow longer over the years.
“I remember Monday and Wednesday and sometimes even Fridays in October we’d be dead – and that doesn’t happen anymore,” he said. “Now we’re probably going to open February vacation and not close until the end of October – we may actually go into a week in November, depending on the weather.” If the weather is good, “It’s totally worthwhile.”
They serve lunch and dinner, opening at 11 a.m. and staying open until 10:30 p.m., having extended their hours because people kept coming in later and later.
They have a staff of 34, including a core group of high school and college students plus about 18 foreign workers. Angelo is proud of the diversity on the staff, and knows how crucial foreign workers are. “One year we made flags representing the countries they’d come from; we had about 10 flags,” he said. “We wouldn’t be able to survive without those kids.”
Both born in Greece, Angelo and Angela met in Worcester, where their families had immigrated. He admits that after moving here, he missed the sense of community and the liveliness of Worcester. But the Cape, he said, has been a great place to raise their children, the oldest of whom is off to Boston University this fall.
“They helped out too,” Angelo said of the girls, who have both worked at the restaurant since they were old enough. Chuckling, he added, “They had no choice.”
Asked about the future of the restaurant, the couple said they have no plans to go year-round, but wouldn’t rule it out.
“For one thing, we work very hard all year,” Angela said. “And we find that business drops substantially in November because a lot of people leave to go to Florida. And it’s a gamble with the weather.”
But, as Angelo put it, “You never know.”
The Lighthouse Inn
Not many businesses can claim to date back to 1938, but that’s when the Lighthouse Inn began operating, and, still owned by the same family, it continues to thrive despite a changing market.
Originally, the West Dennis resort that became a veritable institution wasn’t going to be an inn at all. Greg Stone, the third generation innkeeper, said when his father and grandfather bought the working lighthouse, they intended to develop the land. “They were going to develop it and sell off private homes, but before they could, they took in summer guests to help pay off the mortgage,” which was at the time the largest mortgage ever granted by that bank. “So many of the guests wanted to come back the following year that my grandmother suggested, why not make it an inn?”
The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
Just down the road from West Dennis Beach, the resort quickly grew to include some 30 buildings, including a number of cottages that still retain their original charm. All told, there are 68 guest rooms.
The grounds are beautifully landscaped and maintained by a full-time gardener. The main inn has a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the Sandbar, across the road, offers entertainment.
The inn opens the week before Memorial Day and stays open through Columbus Day. In spring and fall, weddings are a big part of their business. “We do four or five weddings a weekend in spring and fall,” noted Stone, adding that in recent years, the inn has also been doing smaller weddings (up to 85 people) in July, as that month is not as busy as August.
That’s just one way that the inn keeps pace with the changing economy. Another change is the gradual expansion of amenities as guests have become more demanding.
“This used to be truly a beachside resort, with no TVs and no telephones,” said Stone. Although that has changed, the inn retains it character, with comfortable chairs and Oriental rugs in the common rooms that overlook the beach. “Certainly if they’re looking for chandeliers and glamour, we are not that. We are old Cape Cod,” Stone said. “We don’t change anything, we just improve.”
Of the 85 employees, Stone and his wife, Pat, are the only year-round employees. His mother, Mary, still works there at age 86. His father, Bob, died two years ago, after a decade of failing health in which he nevertheless continued to work and be involved in the community. “He was an inspiration to us all,” Stone said, just as his mother is “definitely an inspiration to the next generation.”
Like all Cape businesses, the inn relies on a certain number of foreign workers, but also has some college and high school students on staff. Several employees have been with the Lighthouse Inn for many years; one, now a schoolteacher, has returned every summer for 23 years, having begun working here while still a student.
The main inn’s spacious deck, overlooking the beach, is always a draw for guests when they aren’t swimming, sunbathing, playing tennis or kayaking. The inn offers a full slate of children’s programs as well.
The Stones recognize the inn’s strength lies in large part in its inclusiveness. “What sells here is not the hotel room,” Stone explained, “it’s the whole package.”
It’s been that way for a very long time.
The Wee Packet
The Wee Packet restaurant was a longtime tradition in Dennisport until it was sold several years ago and, much to the disappointment of summer visitors and locals alike, stayed closed for two years. Last year, David Shortt bought it and, despite a few obstacles, reopened what had become an institution on Lower County Road.
Shortt, originally from Dublin, Ireland, has been in the States for 11 years, and had been food and beverage manager at the Cape Cod Irish Village, where he had worked for seven years. Prior to that, he worked at Clancy’s, where he met his wife, Megan. The couple now has an infant daughter, Maeve.
Between their daughter and the restaurant, the Shortts are busy people. Megan helps out, primarily with bookkeeping, and David handles the menu, the dining room and some 35 employees – many of them Irish.
From July Fourth through Labor Day, Wee Packet serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily; come spring and fall (up to Columbus Day), it’s open weekends only. Shortt doesn’t claim to offer what the old Wee Packet did, because he bought it without ever seeing a menu – or, for that matter, any financial statements. He bought it from a developer who had purchased the property from the Briggs family, who had run it since 1953.
One big draw is a full Irish breakfast, featuring eggs, rasher (similar to Canadian bacon), and black and white pudding, which is a type of sausage.
Shortt does all the prep work and much of the cooking himself. “We make all the breads here,” he said, including Irish soda bread and Irish brown bread.
When they opened last summer, “Breakfast took off,” he said, and now he is working on building up the dinner business. The dinner menu features lots of seafood, including native scallops – probably the best-selling item, Shortt said – and lobster, along with hamburgers, hot dogs and sandwiches.
Shortt overhauled the kitchen last winter, having already freshly painted the dining room a cheerful yellow and added blue gingham curtains. The counter and chairs are the same glossy yellow they’ve always been, and since they have been freshly painted every year for many years, they’re as smooth as vinyl.
Shortt increased the restaurant’s seating by enclosing a front porch that was once used as a waiting area (benches out front now serve that purpose). To dress up the exterior, he put some lobster traps on the sloping roof. Beyond that, and a fresh coat of paint inside, he’s left it alone. “You can only put so much makeup on an old lady,” he said with a grin.
The restaurant has proven to be a draw for people who come every year to rent one of the many cottages that line the little streets stretching down to the Sound. It’s also popular among the area’s substantial Irish population.
“Basically what we’re looking for is just to be a local restaurant,” Shortt said, “a family restaurant with reasonable prices.”
A simple plan, and a good one – which seems to be working well.
Ebb Tide
Richard and Helen McCormick launched more than a restaurant when they opened the Ebb Tide Restaurant in 1959. The Ebb Tide grew to be not only a beloved Dennisport dining establishment, but a thriving business that became a career for two of their three children – and ultimately, a sideline for the third, who couldn’t stay away – and a solid workplace for employees who come back year after year.
The operation is now run largely by the second generation: Paul McCormick, who is a Dennis selectman and an adjunct professor at Cape Cod Community College; Gail Knell, also a professor at the college, where she heads the business department; and Patty McCormick, who works in banking but helps out with the family business.
The elder McCormicks are still involved in the seasonal restaurant, and their grown children welcome their input. “It’s their baby,” Gail said.
Now the family is expanding the business with the addition of the Sea View, being built on the grounds of the former Sea View Playland just up Chase Avenue from the Ebb Tide. The new business will have a longer season, from April through December (the Ebb Tide is open May to Columbus Day), and will be able to handle weddings, holiday parties and other functions. The main dining room will be able to hold 225 people, and there also will be an outdoor deck and a lounge.
The Ebb Tide seats 175, in a labyrinth of small, cozy rooms of white and blue that lend themselves to intimate fine dining.
The McCormicks aren’t at all worried about staffing the new establishment; in fact, they are happy to be opening a business with a longer season so they can offer some of their local help more months of employment.
“This is the training ground for the next property,” Paul said.
With 68 employees, the Ebb Tide uses no foreign workers – a rarity among Cape businesses. “I hardly ever advertise for staff,” Gail said.
“We pay them well, we treat them well, and they send their friends,” Paul said. “I know that this is their summer job, and I know they’re going to have concert tickets, so I say, ‘Come to me when you have tickets, we’ll work around it.’”
“They reward us 10 times over,” Gail added. “It’s all about respect and communication.”
A third generation of McCormicks has already begun to leave their mark on the family business. Paul’s eldest daughter, Mary Catherine, is 17 and works as a hostess, and his 13-year-old twins, Margaret and Paul, help out informally. Gail’s two boys, ages 8 and 9, like hanging around the kitchen, and Patty has two boys, 6 and 4.
“My kids love it here, and it makes them really social,” Paul said.
Whether any of their children will stay with the business remains to be seen, but the three siblings will likely follow their parents’ lead. “We were actually encouraged to do other things,” Gail said, “but we found we liked it here.”
Patty, a data analyst, moved away for a few years, but came back, and though her bank job and her children keep her busy, she also runs the cottages that are part of the Ebb Tide’s operation.
“It has a pull,” Gail said of the business. “This industry is unique, it’s dynamic. It’s fun and it’s challenging.”
The family members meet weekly, even in winter, and Paul said they all get along quite well. “We’ll have a discussion on whether to buy matches, say, and everybody puts in their two cents,” he added. “The decision may take a little longer, but it’s a better decision.”
It’s a democratic operation in which all family members are trained in every aspect of the operation, and respect is a byword – there’s no yelling or swearing in the kitchen.
The bottom line is that they are a family. As Gail explained, “Our parents always said, ‘Family first.’”
Originally published in the Sept./Oct. 2006 issue of Cape Business.
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