One takeout, to go: Iconic Mount Moriah fry shop up for sale

C&E Takeout, a Mount Moriah institution that has been satisfying appetites for 38 years, is up for sale again. 

The business's co-owners have decided to give someone else a crack at running it, after keeping the takeout going on a seasonal basis for more than a decade. 

Cindy Batt retired from her full-time job with Bell Aliant six years ago. Since then, she's given much of her time to running C&E from spring to fall in the west coast town. She prepares ingredients, cooks, cleans, keeps business records and more.

Now, Batt and her partner and business co-owner, Chad Hussey, want to be free to do other things.

'Loose meat' 

It might seem to be a mystery why such a compact building — without even have an area where customers can sit down to eat — has been so popular, but Cindy Batt said it's straightforward.

"Obviously, the food must be great. What keeps (customers) coming back here are our fabulous onion rings, fries with hamburger meat and gravy, and homemade hamburgers."

Oh. And "loose meat," says Hussey.

Most people who order hamburgers from C&E go for "loose" ground beef, rather than patties, he said. Over the years, he'd buy patties and grill them for the few people who requested them, but has stopped doing it. 

Jumped at the opportunity

C&E was opened in 1979 by Clyde and Elsie Simmons. A member of the Simmons family bought it from them when they retired, and ran the takeout for nine years.

Then, 11 years ago. Chad Hussey saw the "For Sale" sign.

"I just jumped at it. I thought, it was there for so long, it's got to be a good business," he said.

Liked it so much, he bought the company

Hussey also came as a C&E fan, saying he ate there for many years.

Long before the building was renovated so that people could come inside the front door to be served at the counter, "there was a (wicket), and you just stepped up on a block, and at 10 years old was my first time coming here."  

Hussey buys the supplies, prepares the vegetables, and does maintenance work on the building, along with doing any other jobs that need doing.  

He says he has mixed feelings about selling C&E. Hussey will enjoy the break from the responsibilities and the long days on duty, but he could still make a living running the takeout if he and Batt chose to.

Will miss the friendships

Hussey also suspects he'll miss the fun and friendship of the kitchen. 

"I enjoy working here, and the 'girls' are kind of like a family. (Cook Gloria Hann) is kind of like one of us.

"If we're having a bad day, she gets in the middle if it. If we're having a good day, she gets in the middle of it," he laughed.

Hann has worked as the short-order cook from Day 1 when Clyde and Elsie started C&E — 38 years ago.

"They were wonderful people — and dearly missed," she said.

'You're STILL here?'

Hann added that the flexibility of seasonal work — along with great bosses, co-workers and customers — has kept her there. She has seen many of Mount Moriah's children, who ordered from the takeout, grow up. 

"And as soon as they walk into the door they look at me and say, 'You're STILL here?,'" she said with a laugh.  

"If you only knew how old that made me feel…"

Hann admits she's tempted to hang up her apron and retire, but she's taking a wait-and-see approach.

Hopes the takeout continues

Mount Moriah resident Gary Butt says he hopes the people who buy C&E are as good as the people who own it, and that they keep its reputation for serving good food. Heber Young, also from the community, says the parking lot is often full of customers and he hopes the takeout will continue when the property sells. 

Putting her heart in it

While Batt looks forward to life beyond C&E, she's grateful to the staff and customers who have made the business what it is, and says it would "break [her] heart" if C&E doesn't continue as a thriving business under new ownership.