JONESBORO, Maine — As the Covanta Biomass energy plant closed, the White House Restaurant opened.
Restaurant owner Henry “Buck” Proctor said he worked for Covanta off and on for 29 years and learned in January that the plant was closing.
“[April 27] was my last day at work, and [April 28] we opened this place,” he said.
The restaurant is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
Proctor said business was good the first week with every seat filled on two of the four nights.
By May 4, more than 25 people had made reservations for Mother’s Day on May 8.
“Now that the local people know we’re open, I’m sure they’ll spread the word,” he said.
Proctor purchased the restaurant 15 years ago. He ran it until his divorce after which it remained closed for five or six years. While it was closed, he paid the mortgage by renting the building to Whitney Wreaths to house migrant workers, he said.
“I knew I had to do something with [the building],” he said. “I had the mortgage.”
In December 2014, at the suggestion of a friend, he decided to remodel and reopen. The restaurant was open last summer for only nine weeks, however, because not enough employees were available.
“The help ran out,” Proctor said. “They went back to school.”
This year, he said, he is pleased to report he has three experienced cooks and other experienced workers lined up for the summer. Many of them have worked for him before.
He described having enough help as a “big sigh of relief,” saying last summer’s nine weeks of operation were a “struggle.”
Because Proctor has no full-time job now, he plans to keep the restaurant open until at least the fall and possibly all year. The restaurant will be open seven days per week during the summer, but he said he was uncertain what days he will maintain in the fall.
Before he lost his job, Proctor said, he listed the restaurant for sale with a real estate agent. He would still consider serious offers but is on the fence about selling.
Part of him wants to retire and return to South Carolina to be near his father. The other part wants to continue to run the restaurant.
“In a way it would be nice to just kind of retire,” said Proctor, who will be 66 in June.
On the other hand, he said he invested about $100,000 in new flooring, plumbing, fixtures and decorations while remodeling.
“It would be really good to run this and get some of my investment back this summer,” he said.
He does not want to sell the building to anyone who does not want to actually run a restaurant there, he said.
“I’d like to see the place up and going in good hands,” he said.
Proctor recalled that while the restaurant was closed, many local people would ask him when it was going to reopen.
“We have a bunch of the older crowd that have been coming here for years,” he said, adding these are some of the same customers who came when it was open years ago.
Among them is Richard Kelley of Whitneyville, who said he is glad the restaurant reopened. He enjoys stopping for a cup of coffee and chatting with whoever is there.
“I enjoy the people. It’s real Down East,” he said.
He rarely eats out but when he does, he enjoys the hamburgers and hot dogs the White House serves, he said.
The restaurant also serves seafood, pulled pork and daily specials such as meatloaf, lasagna and chicken alfredo, Proctor said.