Mount Vernon — Jeff and Norma Boucher, owners of the Parkside Restaurant & Tavern, recently repurchased Flappers Bar & Grille. Jeff Boucher is really enthused about reopening in downtown and looks forward to seeing old and new customers.
Boucher originally purchased Flappers in 1997, and in 2006 he sold it to Andi Franz. “I then ended up selling [Flappers] and buying Parkside Restaurant & Tavern, which I am still heavily involved in,” said Boucher. Although he is the new owner of Flappers, he and his wife, Norma, are still the owners of Parkside and will continue to hold community functions there.
“I know people are sort of questioning that I am not involved in it, but I did not sell Parkside Restaurant & Tavern. My daughter and son-in-law help me run it and my wife and I are also involved in both [establishments],” he said.
Boucher explained there were two main reasons he brought Flappers back. “I guess I brought it back because I heard a lot of people saying they missed it like it was, the crowd changed. [And] Andi, I know — the owner I just brought it off of — she wanted to sell it, wanted to get out of it, so I figured she wanted to sell why not buy it back.”
Despite renovation being done to the inside of the building, Flappers will reopen on Friday. “We are doing some painting and cleaning it up,” he said. New chairs and furnishings have also been added, but no other major changes are expected. Boucher is looking into possible changes to the menu, though for the time being the menu will remain the same. “We are going to run the menu as it is now, but we will be probably doing some different things [in the future]. I did hire a new kitchen manager, Steve Boucher, which is one of my family members — my nephew. He has 20 years of experience in the restaurant business.”
He has also brought back some of his former employees and hopes the changes will bring back old and bring in new clientele.
“I want people to know that we are still heavily involved in Parkside Restaurant & Tavern. It is still a family-run business and so will be Flappers Bar & Grille,” he said.
