Beacon Room Owners Put Restaurant On The Market

ORLEANS – Sometimes it’s just time for a change.

For Kate Roche and Kim Premny, co-owners of the Beacon Room, that means testing the market after a quarter century running the popular West Road restaurant.

“It’s just probably time for us. We’re ready to start a new chapter,” Premny said when reached by phone Sunday.

The restaurant was listed for sale in December for $1.6 million.

Roche bought the former Ardath’s Restaurant in 1996. After working with different partners, she and Premny, who are married, began running the restaurant as the Beacon Room.

“The building itself is just amazing,” Premny said. “It’s got beams from the old barn that they had there, so it’s kind of a really cool space.”

“We’ve gone through some minor changes, but really the bones of it are kind of the same,” added Roche. “Even from what it was as Ardath’s, we just kind of cleaned it up.”

Roche and Premny took a well-loved breakfast spot and transformed it into a cozy lunch and dinner destination with a diverse menu of surf and turf favorites, from duck and New York strip steaks to salmon and fish and chips.

“Back in the day, diners, those were the thing,” Roche said of the change. “The little counter with the stool s-bolted to the floor, that was a thing. So when we went in and kind of cleaned that up, I’m not going to say revolutionary, but for that time it was a little bit different.”

And it worked. For almost 30 years, the restaurant offered lunch and dinner seven nights a week, building up a faithful clientele of regulars in the process. But an unsolicited offer from an interested buyer two years ago got Roche and Premny thinking about the future.

“It hadn’t even crossed our mind at that point,” Premny said. “Then it kind of sparked some thought, because we’re not getting any younger. We’ve both been in the business for over 40 years, around 40 years.”

But as things grew more difficult in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the high costs that have come with running a restaurant, the couple decided that the time had come to pursue other opportunities. For decades, they worked at the expense of holidays, vacations, weddings and family events. Now, they say, it’s time to catch up with other aspects of life.

“We feel like someone else can come in and breathe some new life into it,” Premny said. “Hopefully they’ll want to keep the same kind of vision for what we do there.”

Longtime patrons have approached Roche and Premny in recent weeks with well wishes and hugs, Roche said. But while there has been “a little bit of interest” so far, they say they’ll still be active in the business until something becomes final.

“We know people are nervous,” Premny said. “But if it doesn’t sell, then no, we are not going anywhere. We’re just dipping our toes in.”

As for life after the restaurant business when that day comes, both Roche and Premny say they plan to take time to travel. And in an unusual break from Beacon Room tradition, they envision a quiet night at home on New Year’s Eve.

“This is the night that we will never go out,” Premny said. “We’re going to happily spend it at home watching movies and hopefully make it to midnight if we can.”

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com