OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Some may still remember car hops delivering burgers, fries, frappes and other fast food fare to customers at drive-in restaurants that were commonplace 1940s, 50s and 60s. A local restaurant is using this model from the past as a creative ways to adapt to the dining restrictions put in place as a result of COVID-19.

Duffy’s Tavern & Grill on Saco Avenue has created Duffy’s Drive-In, where customers drive in, turn on their headlights, and a car hop appears to take the order. When the order is ready, the car hop delivers food to their customer’s vehicle on a tray which they attach to a window.

All the while rock ‘n roll music from the 50s and 60s plays in the background.

This is the sixth year for the Old Orchard Beach restaurant. Owner David Cluff began his foray into the restaurant business with Duffy’s Tavern & Grill in Kennebunk 13 years ago after he retired as assistant fire chief in Kennebunk.

With the coronavirus pandemic prompting the state to alter how business is conducted, Cluff said he needed to find a way to generate cash flow. The Old Orchard Beach location has been a popular venue for weddings banquets and other events — but those have all been canceled this season, he said, and curbside pick-up and delivery weren’t enough, on their own.

“I started to look for other options, started thinking about other ways of (serving diners),” he said.

The big parking lot at the Old Orchard Beach restaurant made it a perfect location for a drive-in, he said.

Cluff opened Duffy-s Drive-In the latter part of May, and even the first week was a great success, he said.

The menu is suited to food that can be consumed in a vehicle — a selection of burgers, a BLT, French dip, fried seafood rolls and baskets, clam cakes, lobster rolls, fries, onion rings, spring rolls, and frappes, soda, beer and cocktails. The menu and hours can be found at: www.duffysmaine.com.

With the ability to dine-in shuttered for the time being, Cluff is adapting to circumstances the best he can. He, like other restaurant owners in York, Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, was looking forward to opening for dine-in service on June 1 — as Governor Janet Mills’ phased approach to reopening the state’s economy originally allowed — and had ordered food and made staffing preparations for opening day for both the Old Orchard Beach and Kennebunk restaurants. He and the others learned on May 27 that the opening date had been postponed.

Now, he said, he’s looking ahead to determine what he might be able to do to provide outside service in Kennebunk.

Outside on a recent weekday afternoon, car hop Linsday LeFebvre was taking and delivering orders.

“It’s nice to be outside for a change,” she said as she retrieved a tray from customer Karl Sjoblom.

“It was great,” said Sjoblom of the experience, who had stopped by the restaurant with his wife Nancy. “Just like the old days.”

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