ABOVE: Bean Town Grill, located at 1400 N. State St. in Fairmont, has been for sale for just over a month.

FAIRMONT– Bean Town Grill, a beloved casual upscale dining restaurant in Fairmont, was put up for sale by owners Steve and Tina Jette in May. The Jettes opened the restaurant just over 10 years ago.

They moved to town in 1996 and Steve began managing Perkins. He did that until 2001, at which point he considered getting out of the restaurant business.

“I ended up managing Interlaken and that’s when I started doing my own menu and liked doing it. It wasn’t corporate,” Steve said.

At that time, the Jettes didn’t feel like there was an independent restaurant in town that offered meals from scratch.

“That was our goal. To have a nice atmosphere. We wanted something both elegant and casual,” Steve said.

While that was what they strived to offer, they didn’t have a set goal or expectation of how long they’d own and operate the restaurant. They opened Bean Town in February of 2012.

The history of the building is that it opened as a Mr. Steak in 1979. Then after a few years it closed and re-opened as the Lucky Dragon, a Chinese restaurant. Most recently it had been the China Buffet.

“It was set up as a buffet. We gutted it and remodeled it. We added the patio,” Tina said.

As for the name, the Jettes were looking for some kind of name to pay homage to the town of Fairmont. They noticed a building in town that said bean town LLC and when they asked about it, the owner let them use the name.

“We knew the resultant was going to have old black and white photos of the town. It all fit into the theme,” Steve said.

When they first opened, Paul and Deb Baldus were their business partners. Both Steve and Paul had left Interlaken together to open the restaurant. However, the Jettes bought out their share of the restaurant in 2016 after the Baldus’ decided to leave.

Over the years, the Jettes say they’ve been blessed with great employees.

“The staff we have, we have quite a few that are still here since we opened. We have a lot of people who have been here since day one or six, seven, eight years,” Steve said.

They currently have bout 34 employees and on a weekend night they’ll have five or six cooks alone working.

Despite the loyal employees, Steve said the biggest challenge right now is the shift in work ethic. He acknowledged that other industries share the same problem of finding employees.

“It used to be when I started, if you had a waitress opening, you’d get 10 people interested for one opening. Now there’s an opening and I’m hoping to get one application,” Steve said.

The other problem is the rising cost of goods which is something other industries are also struggling with. Steve said they’ve needed to be cognizant of that and be fair about prices, while also making some money.

“Everything that goes up at your house goes up here, too,” Steve said.

While those are two real issues the Jettes have been facing, they’re not necessarily the reason they’ve decided to sell.

“The reason for selling it now is, for me it’s a lot of hours,” Steve said.

He said he missed a lot of events for his own children and now that he has grandchildren, he doesn’t want to miss out again.

“I love the business but it’s time to let someone else do what I’ve done,” Steve said.

They said they never considered having their kids take over, though three of their four kids worked at the restaurant. However, it wasn’t an industry any of them had a strong interest in going into.

Tina pointed out that Steve has been in the restaurant business for over 30 years. While he’s grown tired of the hours that come with the job, he’s looking forward to pursuing some other endeavors.

“We have our fingers in different things. We can’t sit still,” said Steve.

Tina will continue to work as a realtor at Century 21 Northland Realty. They also have a few rental properties that require their time.

The restaurant has been for sale for about a month and a half and while they’ve had a few people express interest, nothing has stuck. They don’t have a deadline in mind of when they want to be sold by, though Steve said after a time there may be some changes to the hours.

“I still think Fairmont needs a restaurant like this. We’re a big enough town that we can support a restaurant like this. Our hope is someone gets it and keeps it somewhat the same,” Steve said.

However, if they got the right offer, they’d sell it to someone who had other plans in mind for the space.

Since announcing they’re selling, Tina said people have been kind and complimentary.

“There are a lot of regulars who come here, people who seem to eat every meal here. They stuck by us through the pandemic. We feel the love for sure,” Tina said.

She added that their employees have become like family. Their hope is that whoever buys it will keep the employees and recognize that it comes with a very experienced staff.

“Maybe someone can come in and do something different operationally where they can get the time off,” said Tina.

When the right buyer comes along, the Jettes are looking forward to spending more time together and with their family.