“I actually know everybody in here right now,” Sherre Faulkingham said of the packed house at her new restaurant, Sherre’s Kitchen, in Wiscasset. “They’re all customers I’ve waited on for years.”
Faulkingham has been a server in the area for over three decades and has lived in the town all her life. She said she has worked at “almost all the places” including Hunters Breakfast II and the Cracked Egg, both of which operated in the same location where Sherre’s Kitchen now sits. She also spent decades developing a following as a server at the Miss Wiscasset Diner, and most recently worked at the Marketplace Cafe.
Faulkingham said opening her own place was the next step. She had been offered the option to take on the location three times in the past 10 years but said it was never right until now.
Sherre’s Kitchen opened in May on Route 27, “the second busiest road in Wiscasset,” according to Faulkingham, and her former customers came out in spades to cheer her on. She’s been seeing week-over-week growth ever since.
“It’s been supporting itself from day one,” Faulkingham said. “I can’t ask for more than that.”
That growth and ability to self-sustain are critical to Faulkingham. The restaurant is her retirement plan, and she expects to keep it going for the next 15 years until she is financially ready to stop working.
“There’s no retirement in waitressing,” she said.
Faulkingham intentionally kept the menu familiar and accessible but prides herself on the unique specials she runs daily.
Customers can order traditional favorites, like steak and eggs or ham-and-cheese omelets, or indulge in two different hash offerings — homemade corn beef hash, or Sherre’s house hash, a combination of hash browns, peppers, onions, jalapeno, and cheddar cheese, all topped with homemade sausage gravy.
That sausage gravy is her secret weapon. Made fresh daily, it’s thick, savory, well-seasoned, and loaded with meat, and it makes the restaurant’s loaded tots a standout dish.
Other popular items include bacon-stuffed pancakes and breakfast sandwiches served on French toast or miniature waffles instead of English muffins. Eggs Benedicts of various combinations are often listed on the specials board.
When Faulkingham can source fresh crab, she makes not only crab Benedicts, but crab omelets and crab rolls too.
While there is no lunch menu, Faulkingham said the restaurant does have a handful of standard options available such as Reubens, fish sandwiches, burgers, or BLTs.
“Places like this are three-fourths breakfast, one-fourth lunch,” she said.
Faulkingham has a good grasp on what she needs to do to succeed. She sat down with her distributors and went over every item on the menu to ensure that her prices were right where they needed to be to keep her in business without unduly impacting her customers’ wallets. She doesn’t want her customers to go away hungry, but she’s cognizant of the effect of food waste on the bottom line.
Her years in the service industry have honed her ability to retain customers. Word of mouth has brought customers through the doors but she also knows the value of catering to their needs.
“If customers want to swap something out or change something, we do it. It makes the customer happy and keeps them coming back,” she said.
Staffing is an issue for Sherre’s Kitchen as it is for so many establishments. Head cook Heath Genthner travels from Waldoboro six days a week, even working Tuesdays when the restaurant is closed to be able to complete the food prep for the week.
Faulkingham is the restaurant’s only full-time server. She has a second server most days and a third on Sundays. A sign on the door advertises the dishwasher position she’s been trying to fill for five weeks. Another sign encourages patience.
According to Faulkingham, its hard finding help but friends and family have stepped in when she needed them out of the goodness of their heart.
“I feel very blessed for all the help given me,” she said.
Jerry and Joan St. Germaine have been frequent diners since Sherre’s Kitchen opened.
“She’s a great person, a hard worker. That’s why we support her,” said Jerry St. Germaine. When the location became available, “everybody was saying to her ‘That’s your opportunity. Give it a shot,’” he said.
“The two-by-fours are awesome,” said Jodi Russo, of Pittston, who came for breakfast multiple days in a row.
That particular special gives diners two each of four items: eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes.
“It was just such a great deal,” Jay Russo said.
For Faulkingham it’s the specials and the atmosphere that keep people coming back.
“Us girls on the floor, we joke with the customers a lot and we just try to … make sure everybody has a good time when they’re in here,” she said. “Great food and a laugh. That’s the goal.”
Sherre’s Kitchen, located at 560 Gardiner Road in Wiscasset is open year-round from 6 a.m. to noon Wednesday through Sunday.
For more information, call 687-8347 or find the business on Facebook.
