Archie's Grill in Shelburne to close

Dick Hess, owner of Archie's Grill in Shelburne, will close his business July 18, he said.

Hess will sell the business to Vermont Donut Enterprises, which plans to open a Dunkin' Donuts in the Archie's location on U.S. 7, according to Hess and Ari Souliotis — owner of Vermont Donut Enterprises and an Archie's customer.

"I'm a basic burger and milk shake type of guy," said Souliotis, 32. "I don't try to be too daring and go outside the box."

Many people are burger types at Archie's, the restaurant Hess opened five years ago. He is closing his business for personal health reasons, and to spend more time with his family, Hess said.

"Archie's is my love," Hess, 63, said. "I love to cook. I can talk with my customers. They can see what I'm doing. It was inter-related, all part of the plan."

The business sold quickly after Hess decided he could no longer run it, he said. "He (Souliotis) came in and hit me the right day," Hess said.

Hess is a former owner of Queen City Tavern who worked for about a dozen years as a salesman for food companies. Five years ago, he decided to stop his sales job and return to the restaurant business.

"I just needed a change," Hess said. "I was without a job for about a year, and decided to take my own 401K and start it again."

Hess says he no longer has the stamina to maintain the kind of workload and schedule required to run a restaurant.

"The first two years, I worked all through the night, seven days in a row," he said. "I've been hands-on right along. ... It just takes too much to do it, to do it the way I like to do it."

Hess said he will focus on his family after closing the restaurant. His family will be with him at Archie's on its last day — which will be business as usual.

"I don't want to blow it up," he said of July 18. "I'm going to be upset enough to close it."

He plans to take a family trip in August, and to accompany his daughter Emma Hess to Chicago this week for a basketball tournament. She plays basketball for Champlain Valley Union High School, where she will be a senior in the fall.

"It's about me and my family," Hess said. "That's what's first."

Vermont Donut Enterprises owns and operates 17 Dunkin' Donuts in Vermont, including one on Shelburne Road near the rotary in Burlington, and a business on U.S. 7 in South Burlington. Its former restaurant in Shelburne, also on U.S. 7, serves as a commissary for the other restaurants, Souliotis said.

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Contact Sally Pollak at spollak@burlingtonfreepress.com or 660-1859.