Former diner employees land at Newport restaurant: 'It’s like Bishop’s Diner is living on'

NEWPORT — Bishop’s 4th Street Diner shut down for good in August after a property battle with its landlord, but remnants of the eatery's legacy live on at the Hungry Monkey on Broadway, where former employees, pieces of equipment and even longtime regulars can be found.

“Honestly, I was really hoping he would be able to stay there because he’s a good guy and the staff there are great and it was really their home,” Hungry Monkey owner Jim Quinn said. “Fortunately, my wife and I were able to give them a new home.”

Quinn hired four former Bishop’s employees to join the Hungry Monkey a few weeks before Bishop’s was set to close. Quinn said he lost his entire staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and had struggled to find sufficient employees for the Hungry Monkey since.

He reached out to his friend Steve Bishop once it became apparent Bishop’s diner would not be able to stay open.

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“Bishop’s was one of the places I frequented myself,” Quinn said. “The people were always friendly and courteous and knew what they were doing, offered a nice presentation. So I thought, 'You know what? I’m going to see what they’re doing, if they have any other offers, what their plans are.' … And I was very fortunate when they told me they would like to come over.”

One of the staff members Quinn was able to hire, general manager Jennifer O’Loughlin, recalled the feeling when she and her staff realized they would have to say goodbye to Bishop’s 4th Street Diner. The aluminum dining car and the workers within its walls had became a second home and family to her.

“I worked there 20 years, so that was already a hard pill to swallow, knowing that at 46 years old, I was going to have to find another job,” O’Loughlin said.

Transition from Bishop's to Hungry Monkey wasn't easy

Initially, O’Loughlin turned down Quinn’s offer but was later convinced by Quinn and her fellow staffers to give the restaurant a shot.

“I had no plans, zero plans of ever being back in the industry,” O’Loughlin said. “I didn’t want to do it. I only did it because it was Bishop’s — Bishop’s was my family. I didn’t think anything could compare to it.”

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O’Loughlin, joined by former Bishop’s waitresses Rebecca Bishop and Taylor Delhanty, gave themselves about two weeks to test the waters and see if Hungry Monkey was a good fit. It was not an easy transition, O’Loughlin said, as the three had grown accustomed to the workflow of the North End diner.

There, orders were always handwritten, the menu and kitchen familiar and the regulars consistent.

Eventually the trio got into their new groove and were later joined by a fourth former Bishop’s employee, cook Michele White. The four now have worked at Hungry Monkey for about five weeks.

“Jimmy said, 'Do what you want,' and that’s all we needed to hear,” O’Loughlin said. “We just started figuring things out. Still to this day, we’re figuring the computer out, because it’s confusing, but we feel really good about it.”

Their former regulars at Bishop’s also discovered where their favorite servers have gone and made Hungry Monkey their new regular dining spot. O’Loughlin fondly recalled one longtime Bishop’s customer messaging her after they learned she had started working at Hungry Monkey, and two others finding out where she had gone by walking past the restaurant while she was working.

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“It’s nice that everyone’s so welcoming to us,” O’Loughlin said. “We almost feel like we’re at the diner, just a different spot.”

Equipment at Bishop's now at Hungry Monkey

For Quinn, the four staffers are not just new additions to the Hungry Monkey team, but a way to help keep alive the community and legacy of Bishop’s 4th Street Diner.

“Sadly, to see it go, I feel like a little bit of Newport has gone now, too,” Quinn said. “To be able to have the girls working with us is really nice and we were fortunate to actually purchase some of the things from Steve himself, from the diner, and it’s like another little piece of the diner is with us, in our establishment.”

Among the equipment Quinn acquired from Bishop’s was a motorized compression unit for the walk-in refrigerator, a sandwich cooler and pieces of silverware.

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“It’s like Bishop’s Diner is living on through it’s equipment inside the Hungry Monkey as well as the staff itself,” Quinn said. “I was happy I was able to do that, and happy Steve was able to accommodate us in that way, too.”

While the physical diner car has since been sold and plans are in place to move the historic structure across state lines, Quinn said he and a few others already have started planning a road trip to follow the diner car to wherever it ends up and eat there one last time.

“It’s just to say, 'Hey, one more time, let’s go see the old Bishop’s 4th Street diner and see where it is,'” Quinn said. “Hopefully once the new owners get it set up in the new location they like and get it back up and running, that’s going to be the plan.”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: The Hungry Monkey in Newport hires former Bishop's diner employees