Spotlight On: Lou's
Perhaps no other local business is as nationally recognizable as Lou’s Restaurant and Bakery. Opened in 1947, the family-run business has developed deep ties with both the Hanover and Dartmouth College communities. When I sat down to talk over the phone with owner Toby Fried, I got a unique perspective on just how this humble restaurant gained its wide renown.
Lou’s retains the name of its original owner, a Marine by the name of Lou Bressett. Having just returned from World War II, Bresset wanted to realize his dream of owning a restaurant and bakery. At the time, a local church owned the property on which the restaurant is currently located, but it was happy to make Bressett an offer that he couldn’t refuse, says Fried. According to the restaurant’s history, Lou’s opened its doors on April 11, 1947. Offering great prices and delicious foods, the restaurant thrived for quite some time.
Nearly 40 years later, Bressett retired and sold the business to Dartmouth alumnus Bob Watson. As a student, Watson had fond memories of visiting Lou’s. After returning as a “big shot” from a career at IBM, Watson came to acquire the restaurant. Watson kept the same breakfast and lunch menus, and added authentic Mexican food to the dinner menu.
Indeed, Fried says the Mexican food was almost “too authentic.” Because there was no other Mexican food in the Hanover area, Lou’s became an extremely popular Mexican restaurant by night, offering stews and tacos among other traditional foods. When Fried and his wife Patty Fried, moved to the Upper Valley, Lou’s was one of the first places that they ate.
Originally an engineer, Fried became interested in the bakery business, and sought to find such an enterprise in the Upper Valley. Meanwhile, Watson was trying to get out of the business. Fried decided to lease the bakery portion of Lou’s. When it came down to negotiation, however, Fried quickly realized that it would be impossible to own just part of the business, and struck up a deal with Watson to slowly buy the establishment. Within 10 years, he’d finished paying it off and become the official owner.
Now, after 21 years of ownership, Fried finds working at Lou’s to be one of the most rewarding aspects of his life. His favorite part about owning the restaurant is hearing his customers’ stories. One story jumps out from the rest.
“If you walk into Lou’s, there’s a new picture of a Dartmouth student who lost his scholarship,” Fried begins. “Lou put him through school through work. Recently, he walked in the door in his 60s, never knowing that that picture was up.”
Fried continues the story by pointing out that this individual was immortalized through the restaurant, and he never had any idea. When he saw that image, he was touched. And even though Lou’s was renovated seven years ago, so much of the restaurant remains the same to this day.
“People like something to look back to,” Fried said. “Lou’s is one of the few things that’s still left for people that were here years ago.”
Nik Medrano ’14, a Lou’s regular, speaks of the warm, welcoming atmosphere that is an integral part of the business. Used to visiting Lou’s about twice a month, Medrano gained a new perspective of the restaurant when he had to observe the dynamics of the restaurant for an engineering project.
“It harkens to a past era, represents great values and the waitresses are so energetic,” Medrano noted.
He further observed that the clientele consists largely of Upper Valley residents for most of the morning, up until about 9:30 a.m., while students enter later in the day. Fried said that students mainly come on the weekends. The restaurant itself is only open for breakfast and lunch. Fried remarked that most of Lou’s revenue comes from the restaurant and catering side of the business, as opposed to the bakery.
Lou’s doesn’t currently employ Dartmouth students. But back when the restaurant had a dinner menu, there were plenty of Dartmouth student employees.
Because of Dartmouth’s academic schedule, Lou’s does sometime experience a lull, Fried said, and he has tried to use this to the business’ advantage.
“We’re trying to get the word out that when Dartmouth is not open, there are less people in town, less traffic and more parking,” Fried said. “More locals do venture out then.”
Fried and his wife consider themselves to be caretakers of the property that has now become synonymous with Dartmouth. People come from all over the place, according to the owner. Wherever people are, somehow Lou’s gets connected with the Ivy League school, so that anyone who’s been to Dartmouth has probably also heard of Lou’s. Fried says that he’s heard of people who are sitting next to someone on a plane, and upon remarking that they’ve visited Hanover, immediately ask, “Have you been to Lou’s?”
Hanover is perhaps in this way different to other college towns, in the blending of the town and the academic institution.
“In some college towns, you have students and nonstudents, but we don’t have that sort of division,” Fried said. “Here, Lou’s is both Dartmouth’s and Hanover’s.”