WATERVILLE — For a quarter-century, Jorgensen’s Cafe has been an anchor of Main Street Waterville, doling out coffee and sandwiches to customers and serving as an meeting space for friends and neighbors.
Through the month of August, the cafe will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with giveaways and specials on food.
Ginny Bolduc, who owns the cafe with her husband, Steve, said their original idea was to offer a sandwich from the original menu each week of the month for the original 1990 price.
But when they went back to check, they found out the cafe had a limited and basic selection of sandwiches that boiled down to a choice between turkey, ham or roast beef.
Instead, the cafe will highlight one of its own sandwiches and put it on the menu at 1990s prices, although Bolduc conceded they hadn’t quite figured out how to calculate the discount.
The cafe will also hold a drawing for someone to win 25 free sandwiches and is working on a coffee deal with a similar theme. A banner will hang out front of the cafe to mark the anniversary.
On the first day of November, the couple will celebrate eight years of owning the cafe. They are its third owners.
Since they bought it, the Bolducs have made a few changes, like adding Kennebec Chocolates and gelato. However, the cafe is pretty much the same as it’s always been, and that’s the way the customers like it.
“We have tweaked the menu some, but people don’t like taking away their favorite sandwich,” Bolduc said. Ditto for coffee. With more than a dozen kinds to choose from, the cafe sometimes tries to discontinue a variety that isn’t selling well, only to have a few people ask to bring it back.
“Business is good, and we don’t want to change it that much,” Bolduc said.
Over the years, the couple have seen Main Street businesses come and go. It was particularly sad when Al Corey’s Music Center, one door down from the cafe, closed after its owner’s death in 2003, Bolduc said.
But lately, there has been a resurgence in activity on Main Street. The Sensory Gym, an indoor kids’ play center, is slated to open next door soon, and the cafe is planning a kids’ menu to cater to new families.
Colby College’s plans to buy and redevelop some vacant downtown buildings and possibly create residences for students and staff on Main Street also give Bolduc optimism for the cafe’s future. College students already make up a lot of her business, to the point where there is a slump in June, after classes end and before summer tourists arrive.
“We notice that when students come back in September, it’s a huge boost in our business,” Bolduc said. “It will just be that much more, having them live downtown.”
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