The location where Newport Creamery began in 1940 is the first stop in a year-long refresh of all eight restaurants. The Awful Awful stays. So does Goldie.
Newport Creamery reopens its Middletown restaurant on Friday, May 15, after a two-week renovation. The location where it all started in 1940 is the first stop in a year-long refresh of every Newport Creamery, with a refreshed dining room, a few new menu favorites, and a brand color change you'll notice before you even walk in the door. The Awful Awful is staying. So is Goldie.
Where It All Began
There is something fitting about starting here. Newport Creamery opened its first restaurant in Middletown in 1940 at 208 West Main Road, and that location remains the company's flagship today. The brand began in Middletown, and its refresh begins there too.
Over the coming year, every Newport Creamery across Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts will get the same treatment. Eight restaurants, one at a time. Middletown is the first.
A Refresh, Not a Reinvention
Newport Creamery owner Mark Bogosian, who acquired the eight-restaurant chain earlier this spring, says the renovations are about care, not reinvention.
"These restaurants needed some love. A lot of them hadn't been updated in years, and we want them to feel fresh and comfortable again," Bogosian said. "But the goal isn't to reinvent Newport Creamery. It's to protect what people already love about it. We're keeping the heart of this place and bringing the rest up to date."
The dining room is brighter and updated, but the bones are the same. The booths, the counter, the feeling you get when you walk in on a Friday afternoon — none of that is going anywhere.
New on the Menu
Guests visiting Middletown on Friday will find a handful of additions to the menu, including:
Breakfast all day. Pancakes and eggs are no longer a morning-only thing.
The Newport Smashburger. A new addition to the burger lineup, smashed thin on the flattop for that crispy-edged, juicy-middle bite.
A new breakfast sandwich. Built for the all-day breakfast crowd.
Updated seafood options. Drawing on Bogosian's experience as owner of the Flying Bridge restaurant in Falmouth, a Cape Cod mainstay known for New England seafood.
Snowy Owl Coffee. Newport Creamery now pours beans from Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters, the Cape Cod roaster, as its house coffee — alongside a full menu of coffee drinks including cold brew.
"Newport Creamery has almost a hundred years of history, and you can't buy that," Bogosian said. "What we can do is make sure the menu and the experience match how families eat today. That means a few new favorites alongside the classics people grew up on."
The new menu items will roll out at each location as it completes its renovation over the next year.
What's Not Changing
Some things are not on the list.
"Some things you'd be crazy to touch. The Awful Awful is one of them. It isn't going anywhere," Bogosian said, referring to the thick, ice-milk frozen drink that has been a Newport Creamery signature for generations.
Goldie the cow, who has watched over Newport Creamery for decades, is also staying right where she belongs.
From Green to Blue
Longtime guests will notice one change before they reach the door. Newport Creamery is moving its brand color from its familiar green to blue.
"After a lot of back and forth, we moved the brand from green to blue," Bogosian said. "We wanted people to know right away that something here has changed for the better. But don't worry. Goldie the cow is staying right where she belongs."
The new color carries through everything — signage, menus, packaging, uniforms — and will roll out at each location as renovations are completed.
Why This Matters
For Bogosian, the renovations point back to a simple idea of what Newport Creamery has always been.
"I grew up with places like this. It's where you went after the football game, or on a hot summer night after a day at the beach," he said. "We want to bring that back. A place your grandparents can come for breakfast, and a place you can stop with friends after a night out, without thinking twice about the bill."
Visit Us
The Middletown restaurant reopens to the public on Friday, May 15, 3:00PM, at 208 West Main Road, Middletown, Rhode Island. Breakfast is on all day. The Smashburger is waiting. The Awful Awful is exactly where you left it.
We will see you Friday.
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