BRADFORD, Vt. — The owner of Hungry Bear Pub and Grill is seeking site plan approval from the town’s Development Review Board to expand the restaurant, including adding additional restrooms.
Lori Bard Pelletier, the grill’s owner, will present her application at the Development Review Board meeting on May 4.
“We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time,” Bard Pelletier said in a phone interview, noting that the restaurant’s two single-stall bathrooms are about 50 years old and often need repairs.
They’re also tucked away at the back of the restaurant, making it difficult for customers to access them, Bard Pelletier, a Bradford resident, said.
She plans to tear down the front portion of the restaurant to build an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant family bathroom, a men’s bathroom with two stalls and a women’s bathroom with two stalls.
She hopes the renovation will bring in new customers who wouldn’t typically eat at the restaurant because the bathrooms weren’t suitable for their needs.
On top of adding new bathrooms, Bard Pelletier also plans to add two permanent exits to the building, located at 776 Lower Plain, next to the Jiffy Mart gas station.
The expansion would add 700 square feet to the roughly 2,000 square-foot restaurant. Bard Pelletier would use some of that extra space to add a billiard table. Bard Pelletier doesn’t know how much the expansion will cost yet, but she estimates it will be in the ballpark of $200,000.
Originally from Connecticut where she ran a number of restaurants, Bard Pelletier, 53, moved to Bradford in search of a quieter life. She purchased Hungry Bear from former owners Richard and Terri Hume eight years ago.
Established in 1971, Hungry Bear’s menu consists of casual fare, with a rotating list of daily specials. Monday’s specials ranged from chicken noodle soup at $6.50 a bowl to an “All American Smash Burger” consisting of two pressed burger patties, American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and sauce on a garlic butter roll with fries to “Sriracha Chicken Mac and Cheese” for $20.
The kitchen’s hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with the bar open an hour later throughout the week.
Once the town approves the renovation, Bard Pelletier expects to begin construction after Labor Day.
The restaurant will remain open during that time, with two doorways erected to accommodate the lack of a main entrance.
The May 4 Development Review Board meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Room 26 on the second floor of the Bradford Academy building at 172 North Main St.
