The “Coming Soon” banner outside Beepa and Lulu’s finally came down on this week after the COVID-19 pandemic put the restaurant’s opening on hold for more than three months.
“It’s about time,” Peterborough resident and Bennington Police Chief Bret Sullivan said. “We’re so excited.” Sullivan and his wife, Lisa, own the restaurant, and they’re the eponymous Beepa and Lulu, names their grandchildren gave to them.
The restaurant was originally supposed to open March 16 when state emergency orders closed restaurants to indoor dining. The Sullivans opted to postpone the opening until they could open with some amount of indoor seating, and held off an additional week since the parking lot was scheduled to be repaved, Bret said. “We want to open when the time is right,” he said, for the sake of their employees and customers.
Friday was that time; the Sullivans opened up Friday morning and were treated to a full parking lot, packed picnic tables and a dining room full to 50 percent capacity under the state’s guidelines for Hillsborough County.
The Sullivans live in Peterborough and are lifelong natives of the Monadnock region. Bret grew up working in a variety of local restaurants, and the couple said it was always their dream to open something up, and that they were studying the region’s needs as they waited for just the right spot to become available.
The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and is working on a menu of mimosas and other breakfast cocktails. One point of pride is options for a number of dietary restrictions, Lisa said. The menu features alternative milks and gluten-free options as well as traditional standbys.
Patrons can dine inside, outside at picnic tables, or get takeout, Bret said. There’s an express counter inside where customers can call in orders for soup and sandwiches, and children can prepare build-your-own pizzas, which are cooked while they wait.
All the staff they’d hired in March held on, Bret said, and that he was excited to have a team that could match any breakfast and lunch restaurant in the state, he said.
Is there crossover between Bret’s work as a police chief and running a restaurant? Even though his two jobs bring him into contact with people in very different circumstances, basic people skills go a long way in both professions, Bret said: being courteous and treating everyone the same is a recipe for success.