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Chicopee landmark celebrates 60 years

A popular restaurant had its origins as an ice cream and sandwich shop over a bowling alley 60 years ago. Reminder Publications photo by G. Michael Dobbs
By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



CHICOPEE In 1948 Charlie Dugre and his partner Sam Carrigan had an idea: take advantage of hungry bowlers by opening an ice cream and sandwich shop over a candlepin bowling alley on Grattan Street in the heart of Aldenville.

The Lucky Strike Restaurant has defied the odds in the volatile restaurant business and this year the eatery, now owned by two of Charlie's children, is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The Chicopee Chamber of Commerce saluted the restaurant last week located 703 Grattan St. since 1955.

With food trends making and breaking restaurants as well as franchised chains adding more competition, how does a single independent survive? Co-owner Michael Dugre told Reminder Publications that businesses such as his have not only survived, but also prospered by becoming part of the community and listening to customers.

A recent trip to the restaurant demonstrated the links to the community from the wait staff that are on a first name basis with many of the customers, to the drive to sign up walkers and solicit donations for an up-coming fundraiser for the March of Dimes.

When Michael and his sister Michele bought the restaurant from their father in 1985 about 85 percent of the restaurant business in the nation were independently owned, he said. Now the percentages have flipped and the majority of restaurants are chains.

Michael acknowledged the chains are good at what they do, but that businesses such as his "do a better job keeping things local." He and his sister take pride in providing jobs to Chicopee youth many times their first job and that they buy locally grown produce.

He noted that one former employee is now the manager of six restaurants in Milwaukee, Wis. "We give them a good start," he said.

When his father started off on his own in 1955, Michael said that Aldenville was still very much a French Canadian community and the menu reflected the ethnicity with items such as French meat pie and pea soup.

"We've held onto that [those dishes], but we've made a lot of changes. We are very aware of the changing preferences of our customers," Michael said.

Although well known for its broasted chicken, which Charlie introduced in 1965, the restaurant has added pasta dishes such as homemade lasagna and the menu will continue to evolve, Michael said. There is an emphasis on making the dishes from scratch from the 75 soups that rotate daily to the dizzying array of pies for dessert.

The restaurant serves about 4,000 meals a week, Michael said. He and his sister keep their prices reasonable and make their money on volume, he added.

Although Michael said he never expected to come back to the business he worked in as a teen, he was looking for a career change in the mid-1980s at a time when his father was looking to "step back." Charlie had kept a schedule of working at his restaurant from 5 a.m. to midnight for many years.

Like his father, Michael enjoys the interaction he has with the customers and although there might be a member of the family's next generation interested in carrying on the business, he said with a smile, "I'm not ready to step aside."

And even though Charlie is retired, he can't let the restaurant he founded go either. Michael said his father still comes in three mornings a week to work.

For more information on the restaurant, log onto www.luckystrikerestaurant.com.