• Jordan Barry ©️ Seven Days
• Matt Birong (left) and Scott Collins

Vergennes breakfast and lunch spot 3 Squares Café is about to have its 17th birthday. In January, it will also have new owners for the first time in its history.

Rep. Matt Birong (D-Vergennes) and his wife, Danelle, will sell the brick-and-mortar part of the biz to Scott Collins and Jody Hayes. The Birongs will remain partners in 3 Squares' food trailer-based events business, which operates during the legislative offseason.

"I always told myself that I'd sell when the belly fire was eroded," Birong told Seven Days. "COVID eroded the belly fire."

The new owners plan no major changes for the popular spot on Vergennes' main drag, and the staff will remain, Birong and Collins said.

Birong had been quietly shopping the restaurant to potential buyers for a year and a half. He's known Collins for more than 20 years, since Collins interned for him at Burlington's Waiting Room as a New England Culinary Institute student. Collins and Hayes were looking to start something of their own, Birong said, with 3 Squares' model in mind.

While catering a wedding with Collins, Birong gave his longtime friend the full pitch.

"I said, 'Instead of doing a copy, why not buy the original?'" Birong said.

"I knew the conversation was coming," Collins added. "We thought about it for real, and there's no way it doesn't make sense. We see ourselves as stewards of this brand, because it's such a big part of the community."

He and Hayes have owned a food cart in Portland, Ore., but this will be the Bolton couple's first restaurant. Since moving back to Vermont in 2016, Collins has worked at Stowe's Edson Hill and Waterbury Center's Zenbarn. A year and a half ago, he stepped away from his job as director of food and beverage at Bolton Valley Resort to work in financial advising "and clear my head," he said.

Collins and Birong will run the 3 Squares events operation together out of the restaurant, but it's now a distinct business.

"I'll have two clearly defined seasonal jobs," the legislator said with a laugh.