Frobie’s, Dracut’s “café for cravings,” is under new ownership. But you may not notice.
The café at 101 Broadway Road, in Dracut’s Village Square plaza, won’t change much, at least not right away. New owners Evan Zgonis and his daughter, Stephanie Shanahan, know the establishment has a loyal customer base, and they want to ensure that those customers keep coming through the door.
So you’ll still see the bagels, the pastries, the smoothies, the breakfast sandwiches, the ice cream. Heck, if you get there early enough, you may even see former owner Evan Themeles drinking his coffee in his usual spot. (Evan owns the entire Village Square plaza, and his son and daughter-in-law, Dan and Stephanie Themeles, ran Frobie’s since it opened in 2014.)
The new owners of Frobie's both worked for the family business, Olympia Tile + Stone in Needham, before taking over the café. Stephanie also worked weekends as a waitress at Lowell’s Owl Diner, which is owned by her husband’s family.
“I worked for Olympia for 17 years, and Dad worked there almost 35 years,” Stephanie said. “Now we’re taking on something totally different.”
Know what else is different? The commute. Stephanie lives in Dracut and has a three-minute ride to work now. Her father, a Lowell resident, has twice that, which, on a good day, is about one-tenth of his former commute to Needham.
They took over the café on September 7, and the change-over went without a hitch.
“A lot is going to stay the same,” Stephanie said. “We have a lot of good ideas. We’re thinking about putting a few more lunch items on the menu, definitely soups, maybe high-end deli-meat sandwiches. And we’re going to extend the hours we’re open to 3 p.m., to get the after-school crowds.”
Her dad has restaurant experience as well, having owned Deli-icious in Westford, in a space now occupied by Paul’s Diner, from 1986 to 1990.
Evan Zgonis said a major reason he wanted to buy Frobie’s from his longtime friend, Evan Themeles, was “to fulfill my daughter’s dream.”
“When I owned Deli-icious, Stephanie was always so eager to help. Of course, she was only 4 or so at the time. But this is her dream. The opportunity came along, and I thought I’d do it for her. I decided to start a new career at 72.
“It was also about getting back to my roots,” Evan added. “I’d been working in the Newton-Wellesley-Needham area for 30-plus years. I never saw daylight here. I was up early to drive to Needham, put in a day’s work and when I got home, it was dark. Now I have a six-minute ride to work. Plus, I like the customer-service aspect. I like talking to the customers and seeing them happy.”
The planned hours for Frobie’s Café will be Monday through Saturday, 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sunday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. For more information, call 978-455-7789, or email Frobiescafe@gmail.com.
CAPTION: Father-and-daughter team Evan Zgonis and Stephanie Shanahan are the new owners of Frobie’s Café in Dracut’s Village Square Plaza, 101 Broadway Road. (DRACUT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PHOTO)
