SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Ferry Grill & Chill

ROCKY HILL, Conn. (WFSB) – 19 years old Sarah Bezdelovs is the new owner of the former Ferry Park Grill in Rocky Hill.

“It’s the Ferry Grill and Chill now. I definitely wanted to keep the name ‘ferry’ in it because I feel like that’s really just like this park and everyone comes here to see the ferry.”

For people familiar with the Ferry Park, a lot is still the same, but Bezdelovs is ready to make some changes.

“This is just the first season, so hopefully as I continue this it’ll grow and become more, you know, have more fun things.”

She graduated a semester early from Rocky Hill High School and hit the ground running, got her real estate license, and works at another restaurant in the area.

“I always knew after graduating high school, and I like to read a lot of books that I didn’t want to work for someone else the rest of my life. And when I saw this opportunity I didn’t want it to pass up so I really kind of took my time to like decide if this would be a thing that I wanted to do, which I knew I had to decide quickly because it was coming to when I would have to open, and then after I decided, I was like, might as well go for it.”

And she’s really going for it, she’s hiring other young adults who are also doing the same.

“Sam Wilder. He’s my head cook right now. He’s only 20. So he goes to school, he wants to eventually open up his own restaurant, so this is like a nice little start for him to get into it, but he’s also dreaming big, which I really support.”

The menu is full of options, burgers, hot dogs, and seafood

She says business has been great since the ferry grill and chill opened in May.

“A lot of people are like ‘are you the owner? Are you the owner?’ and they do ask a lot of the time, or sometimes they’ll be like oh I saw you on the paper or something, so it’s awesome. And a lot of people come here, and they already know my father or my mom from the community, so they’ll be like ‘oh you’re John’s daughter.’ Or, it’s nice because they’ll be like, ‘oh, I knew your grandmother.’ And it’s just awesome seeing like the communities such a nice small family and everyone knows each other from one way or another.”

Copyright 2022 WFSB. All rights reserved.