EAST MIDDLEBURY — Chas Lyons was a longtime customer of East Middlebury’s historic Waybury Inn.

His wife, Halina, used to work there.

Now they own it — together with business partner and Waybury Inn chef Tony Petri.

“It’s nice to continue the legacy that is the Waybury Inn, what it’s offered during the past 200 years and hopefully will carry forward to the next phase,” Chas Lyons said of the recent acquisition of the business from the Sutton family, whose steady stewardship included numerous updates that have enhanced the 457 East Main St. property while preserving the 1810 building that includes a 144-seat restaurant and a dozen guest rooms.

Last summer Lyons heard the Suttons had put the inn on the market. He became intrigued and knew Halina would be, too.

“My wife has always aspired to own an inn,” he noted.

But it was a dream the couple couldn’t make happen on their own.

Enter Petri, who two years ago became the Waybury Inn’s head chef and was interested in pooling his resources with the Lyons clan to secure an ownership stake.

The trio talked it over during conversations that became more serious as weeks and months went by. It helped that Chas and Tony had known each other for years; Lyons (class of 1996) used to coach Petri (class of 2009) on the Middlebury Union High School cross country running team.

The group put together a financing plan and closed on the property purchase on May 9.

Chas Lyons was born and raised in Middlebury. Longstanding residents in our area will remember Chas’s dad, the late Greg Lyons, who ran the “Lyons’ Place” store at 54 College St. in Middlebury.

In addition to working at that family business, Lyons has worked in construction, was co-owner/operator of Frog Hollow Bikes in Middlebury, was a house painter, a fix-it guy, and toiled at a couple of local restaurants (including Fire & Ice),

In addition, he worked for 30 years at Ripton’s Rikert Outdoor Center, primarily as a trail groomer, instructor and events planner.

Lyons believes his varied work experiences translate well to the inn business, in terms of planning special events and being part of the hospitality industry.

“I feel equipped to do the job. Being (at the inn) feels ‘normal’ to me. I learned a set of skills to be able to do a wide variety of things that need attention,” he said.

Halina Lyons is Polish by birth and was adopted at a young age by a family in the Lake Placid, N.Y., area. She worked in the hospitality industry in Lake Placid before moving to East Middlebury around 20 years ago. The Courtyard by Marriott Hotel and the Middlebury Inn were among her first Addison County employers, followed by a support role at the Vergennes office of former optometrist Dr. Melvin Simmons, and then Middlebury’s Optics Ltd.

She met her future husband around 18 years ago. The couple has two young daughters — Aurelia,10, and Beatrix, 6 — who they hope will someday play a role in running the inn.

While the first three months on the job have required negotiating a learning curve, running an inn has been as satisfying as Halina imagined it would be when she first harbored that dream as a child.

“We’re a big team and we support each other,” she said of the 20 full- and part-time employees. “There’s something about bringing people together and having a ‘home away from home’ feeling.”

Petri praised the former Waybury owners for being devoted to the inn’s restaurant and building its catering business, which Petri now knows inside and out. And being part of the ownership team gives him a chance to put his own imprimatur on the food operation.

“We all looked at it and knew with some modern touches, we could ramp things up here,” Petri said.

Sure enough, the inn’s food sales numbers are up roughly 20% since the acquisition, while there’s been a noticeable bump in the lodging segment, according to the new owners.

As far as the restaurant goes, Petri will continue to add new items to the menu while maintaining customer favorites, such as fish & chips, seafood crepes and mushroom Wellington. Petri’s own creations have included a mediterranean cauliflower dish, chicken harissa and a smoked eggplant parmesan

“We’re kind of melding old and new into one,” he said. “I’m slowly putting my tastes and experiences into the menu and balancing that with what they’ve been doing here.”

Petri also wants to increase gluten-free and vegetarian offerings to reflect the dietary needs of a growing segment of the clientele.

Assisting Petri in the kitchen is a seasoned staff.

“We have an experienced team that’s been here for years,” Petri said, citing among others pastry Chef Donna Siebert and sous chef/sauté cook Christian Grollier.

Chefs routinely use a pinch of this or that while cooking.

Right now, Petri is pinching himself.

“It feels great. I never thought my journey would be so circular, buying — with my cross-country coach — a restaurant that I grew up next door to,” Petri said. “This is the realization of a dream I’ve had since I was 18.”

THE TO-DO LIST

The Lyons-Petri team has some ideas in mind for the inn. They include:

• Offering breakfast service to non-guests.
• Capitalizing on the inn’s reputation and surroundings to attract more weddings and special events.
• Making the inn, its pub and restaurant as more of a destination for skiers using Rikert and the Middlebury Snowbowl.

“Middlebury College’s has made investments in the Snowbowl … that are going to draw not only more locals past our door, but more visitors,” Chas said, citing ski-and-stay packages and apres-ski opportunities.

• Adding more live entertainment, beyond the current Friday night piano offerings.
• Capitalizing on the inn’s connection with the “Newhart” TV show that used the Waybury as its Vermont backdrop for the fictional Stratford Inn, around which the sitcom was based. The Newhart show (1982-1990) starred the recently deceased comedian Bob Newhart, supported by castmates Mary Frann, Tom Poston and Julia Duffy. The Waybury owners want to build some special events — like trivia contests and offerings reruns of the show — to attract Newhart devotees.

The Waybury Inn is one of two iconic East Middlebury business to change hands this year. The Independent last week interviewed the new owners of Goodro Lumber.

Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].