Published in the August 16, 2018 edition

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — Last Thursday, Kitty’s Restaurant and Lounge announced that its re-opening would take place at lunchtime on Saturday, August 11.

Via their Facebook page and email, the following announcement was made by the White family, owners of the restaurant:

“To all our loyal customers.

We thank you so much for your patience and support through this trying time.

We are so sorry that this event affected any of our customers. In 75 years of business no incident like this has ever occurred.

We look forward to serving you all again.

We will reopen Saturday, August 11th at noon!

Can’t wait to see you all.”

Those loyal customers responded in kind on the social media site, by the hundreds, offering their support, and promising to be the first through the doors at noon on Saturday. Many reminisced about the good times they’ve had at Kitty’s over the years, going back to their childhood visits, and expressed confidence that Kitty’s would rebound.

The incident referenced was a Salmonella outbreak of 19 confirmed cases between late June and early July that forced the restaurant to close July 9 while they worked closely with the local Board of Health, the state Dept. of Public Health and a consultant to determine the cause and deep clean the restaurant followed by repairs and renovations approved by local inspectors.

Three days prior to the announced re-opening, Health Director Bob Bracey told the Transcript that everything was moving in the “right direction” and he expected to be conducting final inspections at Kitty’s request “by week’s end.”

“A lot of good and positive things have been done,” he had said.

As expected, at the appointed hour on Saturday, customers were lined up outside the main door, where they were greeted by a smiling Deb Birkmaier, captured on video by the town’s roving videographer/photographer Al Pereira of Advanced Photo. The booths and tables filled up quickly.

Also captured on the video was a toast offered by Penny Morang Richards to the staff and owners of Kitty’s that summed up the sentiment of those present. “They’ve been awfully good to us through the years as a community. They’ve been good friends, they’ve been good partners in all of our efforts. And they’ve had a real tough time over the last couple of weeks. But they came back and we’re here to support them, so raise your glasses!” Richards said as the customers and staff applauded.