I think the first natural question is about running a business as a family and how you all navigate that. Is there a definitive split in the responsibilities between the three of you, or what are the challenges?

“I think it's not so much challenges…it's more like we help each other and cover for each other whenever we need to. Bentley's the Operations Manager, so she's the IT/technical person, but she also can jump behind the bar and be a bartender, or get in the kitchen and cook. We all do whatever we need to do. I'm washing dishes quite often, or clearing tables, and Tom does everything, sets everything up, and does a lot of the cooking. We are short staffed in the kitchen, so he's covering that right now. I’m doing the accounting and office work, but I’m also on the restaurant floor whenever I’m needed.

“Basically, I think being a family, it's a lot easier to just kind of meld all together to solve all the problems. We kind of have our own little areas.”

Ken’s is the longest-running restaurant downtown. I'd love to know anything about what Church Street was like back in the mid-70s, when you first opened, and what are the big changes you've really seen since then?

“Ken’s opened in 1973, and there were still cars going up and down the street. It used to be that all of us 16- to 20-year-olds would drive down the street, drive through Battery Park, and up and around. It was kind of like the “Strip.” So it was very cool. Cars were parked all up and down the street, and there were a lot of people around, and, I would say, many great businesses around.

“1980 was when the Marketplace was being formed. It started with just our block, the "Leahy Block," and the "Opera Block" just down from us. Then came the “Top Block,” and then the “City Hall Block” a couple years later. Having the pedestrian walking mall really increased business and helped make Burlington more of a tourist destination.

“What else? People could smoke inside. The drinking age was 18. Things were a lot different!

“Tom's been working there since 1973, since he was 16. I came around in 1983, after we got married.”

When you're trying to manage a restaurant with this kind of history behind it, how do you keep things fresh and modern, but still balance that with any pressure people might give you not to "mess with" the things that work? And are there original menu items still on the menu today?

“Yes, everybody has a lot of opinions! We definitely have to go with what the customers want. We used to be just pizza and a couple of Italian pasta dishes. Now, we have so many more options. Sandwiches — our Vermonter sandwich, our Chicken Caesar wrap and Caprese Sandwich — are some of our best sellers. Customers love being able to get Montreal Smoked Meat sandwiches, being so close to Montreal.

“Pizza, obviously, has always been our best seller, whether it be slices or whole pizzas. That is the number one go-to, but people love the option of the sandwiches, because a lot of our customers are regulars, and they come in a lot. Some are three times a week, so you want to eat something a little different.

“The Vermonter sandwich has been on the menu a very long time, but not since the beginning. The homemade soups have always been on the menu. Our taco has always been on the menu, and that's definitely one of our best sellers. It’s been around since 1973, it's a large flour taco, and it's a special recipe. We've never taken it off the menu, because people just love it.

“In 2012, we opened the tiki bar, Captain Tom's, and started doing frozen drinks and tropical drinks, and the customers really loved that. Salads became a big thing at some point, so we added a large salad menu. When watching sports in bars became more popular, we added 12 TV's when we renovated the dining area in 2019, and people really embraced that.”

Bonus Question: If the walls of Ken's could talk, what's the craziest story they’d tell?

“Let's just say, we used to have matchbook covers, way back when, that said, ‘Untouched by Scandal’... and that's not true anymore! (laughs). You know…40 years ago, there was the affair of the customer and sandwich maker, and the young happy couples here who ended up with a different employee…things like that. 

“Then there was the time we showed up for our 8 a.m. ‘Pub Scrub’ to find tents with employees all over the dining room…we had told them, ‘Don't be late!’ (laughs).

“But I would also say that there have been so many marriages that have come out of people working here, or customers and workers, and we still stay connected to all those people…they have children now, and have moved out of state, but they always come back in and visit and say hello.

“I definitely should've started a book a long time ago!  So much history!”