WESTBROOK – On Tuesday morning, Jessica Bearor drove for close to an hour to get a hamburger and fries.

Bearor, 27, a Westbrook native, has fond memories of late-night trips to Don’s Lunch, the popular food truck that has become an institution on Main Street in Westbrook.

Now, Bearor lives in Limerick, but when she heard that the eatery was being bought and reopened by the same family that started the business in 1976, she had to come back for old time’s sake.

“I grew up with Don’s Lunch,” she said.

The truck held its grand reopening at noontime Tuesday at its location at 517 Main St., and Bearor was the first customer.

“Now we know that if we ever come through late at night, we can always stop and get something to eat,” she said.

Within moments of re-opening, there was a line of hungry diners, some carrying out the truck’s traditional burger-and-fries fare in cardboard boxes, some eating on small picnic tables under umbrellas. As 1950s-era rock ‘n’ roll tunes played through speakers, children waved signs at passing vehicles, and friends and well-wishers honked horns as they passed by.

Jim Richards, 46, is in charge of the relaunch. He started working at the truck for his father, Don Richards, for whom the eatery is named, at age 11, working the cash register.

Richards said his father ran the truck until 2000, when he decided to retire. At the time, Jim Richards was working as a bus driver for the Portland School Department. His wife, Gerri, was working from home, but Jim Richards was the breadwinner, and with three small children, it didn’t make sense to take the chance on trying to take over the family business.

“I was pretty sad when it happened, when I couldn’t buy it,” he said.

One of the truck’s employees, Bill Bombard, bought it, and ran it until this year, when he put it up for sale. Now, Jim Richards said, his children are older. Amber, 16, and Ashley, 17, are students at Westbrook High School, and eager to help run the truck. Justin Richards, his oldest, is 21 and a student at Husson University.

Gerri Richards, who works at Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution in Westbrook, said her husband asked what she thought of him buying the old family business.

“I said, ‘You know what? Let’s just do it,’” she said. “I told him I would support him all the way through it.

The truck offers all the old fast-food favorites, from steamed hot dogs to French fries to the truck’s signature “Big One,” a quarter-pound double cheeseburger.

“We went back to the basics,” Jim Richards said.

Don Fredette, 62, used to come to the truck under its original owners, and looks forward to coming back now that they own it once again.

“If it’s going to be the same as the old, old days, it’s going to be great,” he said.

Before the Richards family took it over again, Don’s Lunch had cut back hours, closing at 8 p.m. Now, it will be open from 11 a.m. to midnight on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

“He wants to get back the late-night business,” Yvonne Richards said of her son.

Bearor said she remembered the personal service, where they call you by name to tell you the food is ready. The place knew how to treat regular customers like her, she said.

“They knew exactly what we wanted,” she said.

Bearor’s husband, Sean Bearor, 26, used to live in Standish, and remembers Don’s Lunch, too.

“My dad used to work in the area, and we used to stop by,” he said.

When asked if he plans to come back, he said, “Oh yeah, over and over. The food and the service -– it doesn’t get any better.”

The Richards family has hired some15 people to help work the truck. Bryan Canan, 43, who used to work for the family, is making French fries again.

“It’s taking some getting used to again, but I’m in the swing of it,” he said.

Jim Richards’ father died in 2004, but even though he won’t get to see his son take over the family business, Gerri Richards said she thinks that somewhere, he is smiling with approval.

“He’d be pretty darned proud of him I think,” she said. “I know he would.”

Jessica Bearor, 27, of Limerick, is the lunch truck’s first customer after it reopened Tuesday at noontime. Bearor grew up in Westbrook, and is glad to see the family that started the eatery back in charge of it again.
Jim Richards, 46, opens up Don’s Lunch Tuesday after buying the truck about a month ago, bringing the business started by his father in 1976 back into the family again. (Staff photos by Sean Murphy)