Staying Fit
The Rupperts’ cafe is open during school summer break.
RYAN DONNELL
Raymond “Cappy” Ruppert: My family owned a hardware store in Washington, D.C., but business in the neighborhood dropped off, and the store eventually closed.
Molly Ruppert: In the ’90s, my son Paul and I turned the vacant warehouse into a 120-seat theater and an art gallery. We also opened a foodie restaurant by taking over the first floor of Cappy’s real estate office and making him move upstairs. The restaurant became pretty well known, and we sold it to the chef.
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Cappy: We raised our kids in D.C., but we’ve had a summer cottage an hour away, near the Chesapeake Bay, for the last 50 years.
Molly: To be honest, the idea for our current restaurant on the bay was an accident.
Cappy: We have a little boat and would pass by the building on our way to the beach. We’d see this shuttered restaurant, with docks sinking into the water more and more every year.
Cappy: In 2013, we saw that the property was for sale. So we said, Oh, this is a project. I had just finished 54 years in the construction and property management business and was ready to retire.
Molly: But I like starting impossible businesses, and he likes building impossible buildings.
Cappy: We ran into lots of trouble with the plans and the engineering. We didn’t break ground until 2018, and it took two years to rebuild after that. Then we opened in the middle of the pandemic and couldn’t find any help. But we’ve got six children and 18 grandchildren, and we pressed many of our grandchildren into service. That’s why we’re open only in the summertime. Kids go back to school after that.
Molly: I jokingly told my children, “I know you are grateful for what I’ve done for your children. None of them are going to want to go into the restaurant business.”
Cappy: The kids have learned a lot over the last couple of years, though.
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