LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Hershey Farm is rebuilding its Pennsylvania Dutch-style restaurant after it was destroyed by a devastating fire earlier this year.
The Jan. 10 fire burned the restaurant in East Lampeter Twp. to the ground. According to fire officials, it was caused by roof maintenance work.
The Hershey Farm complex includes a restaurant and inn. Within weeks of the fire, the inn reopened and owners began plans to rebuild the restaurant.
The new restaurant has an improved design that includes an indoor passageway between the restaurant and the inn. Instead of several levels of dining, the new design only has one. There will be more smorgasbord seating, 4,500 to 5,000 square feet of retail space and a café.
“When you live with a structure and a building for how long, you make do, you make it work, but there’s always in the back of your mind, wish we could do it this way, you wish we could do it this way. We now get an opportunity,” said Deryl Stoltzfus, partner and owner of Hershey Farm. “So in that sense, we feel very fortunate, very blessed to be able to do that.”
The restaurant’s closure put a strain on Lancaster County’s tourism industry, which attracts 9 million visitors and $3 billion in economic impact each year.
This past summer, some large tour groups with advance reservations at Hershey Farm struggled to find Pennsylvania Dutch-style eats for their busloads of tourists.
“We worked with them to educate them about different options that they had,” said Joel Cliff of Discover Lancaster. “We still have about anywhere from eight to 10 smorgasbord restaurants.”
The new Hershey Farm restaurant will be able to seat up to 400 people at a time. Cliff said the additional capacity will be helpful next spring when the tourism season begins anew.
“Right next door, starting in March, will be Sight & Sound’s new show, Daniel, which we expect to be a really great draw and bring in a lot of folks,” Cliff said.
The restaurant is expected to open in May 2024.