‘Heavy hearts’: Here’s why beloved Back Street restaurant abruptly closed in Sanford

SANFORD, Maine — Paul Pelletier was given a choice: keep working 65 or 70 hours a week, managing a popular restaurant full-time, and live for six months more, or retire, slow down, and enjoy a longer life moving forward.

Pelletier heeded the advice of his doctor and chose the longer life — one in which he and his fiancée, Jill Brown, will get married and spend the coming years traveling to places they have never been.

And so, in a decision that seemed abrupt to some customers, Pelletier closed Back Street Sanford on School Street on June 30 and is now focusing on the heart-related health challenges he has been facing for about three months.

During an interview at the restaurant on July 11, Pelletier said he made his decision days after experiencing his latest “cardiac event.”

“Running any business can be stressful,” Pelletier said. “But the restaurant business, especially since COVID, has been extremely tough.”

Pelletier announced the closure on social media, saying the decision had been made with “heavy hearts.”

“We have been so fortunate to serve not only this fantastic community but also surrounding communities with various businesses since 1985,” Pelletier said. “We have enjoyed our time in business and would like to thank all of our customers for their loyalty, support and patronage over the years.”

Brown said the decision was an “incredibly painful” one for her fiancé to make.

“We had many employees — quite a few very good employees,” she said. “And to make a decision like that so abruptly, and to not be able to open the doors, was very difficult for Paul.”

Pelletier’s decision caps a career of nearly 40 years spent owning and operating well-known stores and restaurants in Sanford and neighboring communities such as Lebanon and Dayton.

That convenience store that used to be on Mill Street in Springvale? That was the first business Pelletier bought in 1985, when he was three years out of Sanford High School.

Trains in Lebanon — the store that eventually expanded to include a popular bar? That was Pelletier, too.

In all, Pelletier said, he has owned nine businesses over the decades and employed between 500 and 600 people.

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Back Street Grill property on the market

Pelletier bought Back Street Grill at an auction in 2018. He spent three months renovating the place, transforming the upstairs into a larger, brighter bar and giving the dining area on the first floor a new touch. He reopened it as Back Street Sanford, keeping what he could of the popular spot’s original name.

The restaurant became known for its versatile menu, with the haddock sandwich, haddock nuggets, teriyaki prime rib, and lemon chicken salad among the most popular items with customers, Pelletier said.

Pelletier said he is going to miss his employees and customers. Judging from comments on social media, they’re going to miss him, too.

Between Back Street Grill and Back Street Sanford, a restaurant and bar have been at that brick building at the corner of School and Bodwell streets for 25 years. For decades beforehand, the spot was the location of Gene’s Bakery — a local landmark that had delicious maple squares, as Pelletier recalled during his interview.

Back Street Sanford is currently on the market with Town Square Realty. Pelletier said he is selling the building for $999,999, which he said is roughly $300,000 lower than the market rate.

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Pelletier said the building is “turnkey-ready,” there for someone who’d like to buy it and jump right into continuing the location’s long history as a restaurant. He added he’s making a few improvements in the meantime.

“Somebody can come in, buy some product, and (be) ready to go,” he said.

While the building also might be suitable for other kinds of businesses, Pelletier expressed hopes that it will continue as a dining destination — ideally, one owned and managed by a local individual, who has experience in business and as a cook or a chef. He said Sanford needs a restaurant as big as Back Street in its downtown.

“We can hold 156 people in here, with the two floors,” Pelletier said. “Once you reopen the place, it’s going to fill back up again ... People will be ready to come in and enjoy good food again.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Back Street Sanford owner closes popular Maine restaurant