Don’t worry, the pot roast won’t be leaving the menu. And neither are the Dune Fries.
The Cottage Cafe Restaurant & Pub, a part of the Bethany Beach dining landscape for almost 30 years, is pretty much staying the same as it’s always been.
But, there is one big change coming to the family-friendly site: New owners.
Founders Tom Neville and Brent Poffenberger, who started the restaurant a year after opening their flagship site in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1993, announced on Tuesday they have sold the business to Rehoboth Beach-based SoDel Concepts hospitality group.
The restaurant group runs 16 other food operations in Sussex County, including two Bluecoast and Matt’s Fish Camp restaurants and two Surf Bagel locations.
Scott Kammerer, president of SoDel Concepts, said there will be few if any changes to the 240-seat Cottage Cafe. He said menu favorites such as the No. 1 best-selling dish, the Cottage Pot Roast as well as the Dune Fries, a signature appetizer featuring a heaping mound of hand-cut potatoes, cheese, bacon and scallions, will remain.
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“The Cottage Café is family-friendly, and it will stay that way,” Kammerer said in a prepared statement. “They don’t make coastal restaurants like this anymore, and we are proud to continue Tom and Brent’s legacy.”
Kammerer said SoDel’s interest in the restaurant came because it is in a fast-growing area and has a loyal following.
Neville and Poffenberger began their Cottage Cafe restaurants soon after graduating from Shepherd University in West Virginia.
“We did everything,” Neville said. “We worked 80-hour weeks. But the hard work paid off.”
The Cottage Cafe in Ocean City is no longer in operation but the partners say they will continue to run and operate the Bethany Boathouse at 39817 Hickman Plaza Road in Bethany. The pair opened the beach-side, open-air restaurant that resembles a U.S. Life-Saving Station in 2015.
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Poffenberger said the partners sold The Cottage Cafe to spend more time with their families.’
“We feel fortunate that a local family-owned company like SoDel Concepts is interested in The Cottage Café. It’s important that we leave it in good hands. We are confident that SoDel will continue the tradition of great service to our guests, and, maybe most importantly, they will take care of our staff,” he said in a prepared statement.
Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com and follow her on Twitter @pattytalorico
