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Beloved Dennis breakfast spot Grumpy’s hits the market after 35 years
The Route 6A institution has drawn summer crowds for decades with classics like corned beef hash, grilled muffins, omelettes, and pancakes.
After 35 years of serving corned beef hash, grilled cranberry muffins, and stacks of pancakes to loyal Cape Cod crowds, Grumpy’s — the iconic breakfast stop on Route 6A in East Dennis — is up for sale.
Every summer season, throngs of cars fight for a spot as a line forms outside. Inside, servers fill coffee mugs as they quickly take orders and swing through the kitchen door carrying plates of food. On the walls, guests read colorful handwritten specials of the day.
“Everything was the way it was 50 years ago,” said Chuck Carey, the listing agent for Carey Commercial. “It’s like a Norman Rockwell village up there.”
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Carey says the restaurant is for sale for $799,000, with the land up for negotiation.
Behind the operation is owner James Manning Jr., whose family has owned the property since the 1960s. The land used to have a gas station, and his father later added a laundromat.
However, in the early ’90s, the family decided to convert the building to a restaurant due to environmental concerns about its waste, as it abuts wetlands.
“There was a vacant building, with no restaurant, and no interest from anyone opening,” Manning said. “So, my mother, sister, and myself decided we had to do something.”
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Manning brought his engineering know-how, his sister, Christine Marrs, contributed her culinary training from Johnson & Wales, and their mother, Lorraine Manning, pulled it together to create Grumpy’s.
“We grew with it over the years,” Manning said. “It got bigger, bigger, and bigger.”
He admitted the first few years were difficult, as he worked in the electric utilities at night and his sister worked as an X-ray technician to keep the place running.
In 2000, Manning decided to devote himself full-time to the restaurant and made some changes, which is when he said it took off.
Now, 35 years later, Manning said, “I’m really proud of it.”
But after taking his first vacation in years with his wife last October, he asked himself, “What am I doing?”
So, he decided it was time to put the place on the market, saying it was a hard decision because he’s put so much work into it and forged relationships with everyone there.
Manning said that for anyone who takes over the restaurant, it already “runs like a Swiss watch.”
Carey can attest to that, saying the restaurant’s success has been driven by high-level quality and regular, continuous service.
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Manning said he also has a loyal staff, including one of the original waitresses from when the restaurant opened and several cooks who have worked there ever since.
Manning wishes any new owner success.
Carey said it shouldn’t be hard to obtain, as the restaurant provides a unique opportunity because a new owner doesn’t have to start from scratch.
He said by being a household name, “you’re already there, at the top of the mountain. All you’ve got to do is drive.”
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