Eleanor Briggs of Hancock now owns Fiddleheads Cafe for the second time, and the restaurant is preparing to reopen on Memorial Day weekend.

In the 1990s, Briggs first bought and started the downtown Hancock cafe, which Steve and Betty Zakon Anderson ran for a decade. 

Sherry Williams owned Fiddleheads for the last 18 years, and the eatery has been closed since the beginning of this year after being on the market since 2021.

“It is a part of Hancock that I treasure,” Briggs said, explaining that it’s a central gathering place in town. She ultimately decided to buy the business again because she didn’t want the town to lose the cafe.

“That would have been really sad to lose Hancock’s little beating heart,” she said.

Chef Samantha Rule, who has worked in food service for 25 years, will manage the cafe. Most recently, she worked as chef at Aldworth Manor in Harrisville, and before that ran the Harrisville General Store for more than eight years. Rule will lease the business name and building, and she and her family will live in the apartment above the cafe.

Briggs and Rule are renovating the interior of the space, and Rule has created a new menu. She said people should expect to see menu items like sandwiches, salads, various entrees and espresso drinks. They will sell Terra Nova Coffee, which is brewed in Keene, and for Rule, using locally produced foods is a passion. She has been in contact with local farms and is working to create partnerships.

Rule said once the restaurant reopens, they will be open seven days a week serving breakfast and lunch, and she hopes to get a beer and wine license and serve dinner a couple nights a week once they get off the ground. 

Rule explained that for her food is a form of acceptance and nourishment, physically and mentally. 

“It’s important to be part of a community,” said Rule, “You learn so much about somebody by what they order for breakfast – you become part of their routine.” She said running a local cafe creates provides a unique connection to people in town and she wants to serve “really good, special food.”

Briggs and Rule both said the community response has been incredible and overwhelming.

“People are just so excited and pleased and thankful that it’s still going to be there,” said Briggs.

Rule said, “People I don’t know, just walking by, are so so supportive. It’s very exciting to be able to be a part of a community in that way.”