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Date: 2/15/2021
GRANBY/HAMPDEN – Cindy's Drive In has been a staple for the town of Granby since 1995. The restaurant is best known for their award-wining hot dogs and decadent ice cream. Hampden’s Mt. View Restaurant has also been a staple in the community for over 50 years, selling delicious fried foods, grinders, sandwiches, seafood and soft serve ice cream.
Both businesses shared with Reminder Publishing what COVID-19 brought to their businesses, and what’s in store for their upcoming seasons.
“It’s a small, cozy family run business. I’ve been working here since I was 12,” said Cindy’s General Manager Jeremiah Maloni. “It’s fun to be around and it’s great casual American food. We were voted the best hot dog in Massachusetts. Travel Channel said the best hot dog in New England.”
Along with their hot dogs and ice cream, Cindy's Drive In has burgers, grinders, grilled sandwiches, fries, clam strips, mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets and onion rings.
Maloni's mother, Cindy, the founder of the Drive In, was a homemaker. When his father was laid off from his job, Cindy had to go look for work. They stumbled upon a vacant building in Granby, and after years of hard work, she turned it into a thriving business.
“Before COVID happened, we had our best year ever,” replied Maloni. “We sold our most ice creams and hot dogs ever. We had our 25th anniversary party where we sold over 2,000 hot dogs in a day and well over a 1,000 ice cream cones. Some of our famous hot dogs are the Coney dog with chili, cheese and onions as well as our Duff dog loaded with fried onions, BBQ and mayo.”
Due to the pandemic, Cindy’s Drive In had to shut down their dining room for the whole year. Maloni said this was tough as they couldn’t have indoor seating for the summer.
“For our COVID protocols we made special drawers, door openings and microphone system so we can keep the customers and employees as safe as possible during all of this,” Maloni responded. “In terms of dining outside, we have 40 to 50 picnic tables out there and they’re all spread out. We’re on six acres, so you can sit outside and don’'t have to worry about being near anyone.”
On Nov. 2, 2020, Cindy’s Drive In closed their restaurant for the winter and will reopen in March of 2021. Maloni shared that they are hopeful they will be able to open their dining room by then.
Their online ordering was launched in October to have as little contact with customers as possible by using contactless credit card readers. Cindy’s will be testing out the system, and it will be up and running when they open in late March.
Cindy’s Drive In will also be re-introducing their cookie dough soft serves after being gone for 20 years. “It’s tough for all the businesses in the area. We hope we can return to normalcy,” Maloni said.
Former Mt. View Restaurant employee Lyndsay Pelloso purchased the Hampden restaurant with her parents, Billy and Linda Bond, in September 2019.
For over 50 years, this drive-in restaurant has been selling hot dogs, burgers, grinders and sandwiches, seafood and soft serve ice cream.
Pelloso worked at Mt. View for 19 years – since she was in high school.
She explained, “We’ve had ups and downs in terms of business for the past 10 years, but it’s a fun and place to work and a good environment to be in.”
Previous owners Matt and Heather Bean approached Pelloso's father about selling the drive in, but wanted to keep it with somebody that was well-known in the community.
“We wanted to keep the menu the same. We wanted return customers that have been coming all those years, and I think that's why it stayed open, because of their [the Bean’s] return customers,” said co-owner Linda Bond. “Toward the end of 2019, we added breakfast – many people don’t know we offer breakfast now. Especially with COVID happening we didn’t have as much indoor dining as we normally would, so a lot of people didn't come in.”
Bond said they added cheese curds and fried dough to the menu to give customers different options. Some of the items they added are items that local fairs offer that, unfortunately, people couldn’t get this year because fairs were closed.
In addition to adding menu items, Bond's husband installed a new septic system, and they were able to put a 20 foot by 40 foot tent in the back of the restaurant for customers to sit and enjoy their meal. They also put in a brand-new kitchen, as well as repainting and changing the decor of the dining room.
“In 2020, we decided to open right after St. Patrick’s Day on the 18th,” Bond mentioned. “Then on March 16, everything was closing down and we freaked out a little bit. We didn't know whether we would be able to open, and we were told we could because Mt. View is takeout.”
She went on to say, “We utilized our takeout window and did it that way. We were nervous because this is our first run at it and it did well. All the local people came out and supported us. Our takeout was huge. If we didn’t have takeout, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Bond and Pelloso planned for Mt. View to stay open until Thanksgiving. They even said they were thinking about staying open year-round, but because this was their first year, they decided not to. Ultimately, Mt. View closed its doors on Oct. 31, 2020 and will reopen the third week of March.
"We bought the restaurant at the end of the Bean’s season,”Pelloso explained. “We started off opening in the middle of a pandemic. I definitely think having the takeout was helpful, but we would have been busier had people been able to come inside. Then again people were home a lot. They weren’t traveling for the summer so we didn’t have that down time in the middle of a summer when people are on vacation. “We had a great season,” Bond reiterated. “Unfortunately, our indoor dinning slowed down when the colder weather came. We could have stayed open all year and been okay, but we decided to take a little break.”
In the meantime, Pelloso told Reminder Publishing she hopes for Mt. View to continue to be the family-friendly staple in Hampden that people go to and feel welcomed.