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After 17 years in business, Bowen’s Pizzeria and Deli in Belfast is closing.
“It was not for a lack of wonderful customers,” said Mike Bowen, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Bridget. “It’s just the volatility of the industry, the overhead, just a lot of uncertainty.”
Rising food costs and the difficulty of finding workers played a role in the decision, he said. And so did a new opportunity.
Bridget Bowen recently graduated from the University of Maine at Augusta with a degree in accounting and was hired at the Office of the State Auditor. The job brings benefits that the couple hasn’t had before, Mike Bowen said.
“Health insurance, retirement, all that stuff which we do not have now,” he said.
The restaurant will close at some point this weekend, when they run out of food. The property is for sale for $850,000 or for lease.
“We’ve had a good run,” Bowen said. The restaurant has a strong core staff but keeping the business going in the long run was going to be an uphill battle,” he said.
“You rub two pennies together to try to make the light bill and everything like that,” he said. “And you make it, but it takes its toll on you.”
The restaurant property, located at 181 Waterville Road, was once the site of a grocery store run by Bowen’s great-grandfather.
Mike and his brother, Gregory Bowen, opened a restaurant, Bowen’s Tavern, in downtown Belfast in 2009. And the business moved into its current location in 2011.
That same year Gregory Bowen died of cancer at age 32.
Mike Bowen, who has worked as a merchant marine, said he may continue that line of work or look into other opportunities.
Since the Bowens announced their decision to close the restaurant, they’ve seen an outpouring of support from the community, Bridget Bowen said.
“We have wonderful customers and we thank them all for everything,” she said. “We really, really appreciate them.”