The Galloping Goose Bakery and Café may have a new owner, but her face is one that’s familiar to regulars of the local eatery. Owners Dale and Tammee Tuttle sold the restaurant to current manager Lisa Lockhart and her family.

The closing of the sale took place over the weekend with Monday, April 2, being Lockhart’s first official day as owner.

The “Goose,” as it’s more affectionately called, is situated at 153 US Hwy. 550 in Ridgway near the intersection with Colorado Hwy. 62. Lockhart has been the manager of the Goose for the last couple of years.

“I was here when it was the San Juan Bakery, and I worked for Tammee at the True Grit,” Lockhart said in an interview on Thursday.

The Tuttles also own the True Grit Cafe at 123 N. Lena in Ridgway.

Running the Goose will be a family affair for Lockhart, with Lisa’s husband, Charles, and mother, Shirley Slater, involved. And as any café owner will attest, there is plenty of multitasking to go around.

“It’s all going so fast,” said Lockhart, after returning from the kitchen to clear more tables during a brisk lunch.

The Lockharts plan to continue the café in essentially the same format, with a few additions such as a tri-tip and chicken barbecue on Saturdays and “maybe a fish fry or spaghetti night, using my grandmother’s recipe,” Lockhart said.

Breakfast dishes feature items such as eggs Benedict or Florentine, and a build-your-own-skillet that includes two eggs and hash browns topped with Swiss, cheddar, pepper jack, or feta cheese. Other choices with the skillet are smoked bacon or ham, chorizo, sausage, tomatoes, avocado, salsa, spinach, Kalamata olives, sautéed onions, bell peppers, or sautéed mushrooms.

The Lockharts plan to install a new coffee bar, which will include some organic brands, situated to the right of the baked items case just inside the entrance.

The café, which contains nine booths and four tables, will also utilize a patio with five tables and capacity for another 25 patrons to accommodate the overflow Sunday business.

“On Sundays we really rock here,” Lockhart said.

Tammee Tuttle told The Ouray County Watch on Thursday that “dialogue” began in 2005 about a possible purchase or business association with Lockhart.

“We’re very excited for Lisa, Charles and Shirley to take over our business and look forward to a long relationship with them,” she said.

Described by Tuttle as a “very cooperative and noncompetitive relationship,” the Lockharts will continue to distribute their popular bread pudding to the Grit, andthe Grit will continue to provide homemade salsa with green chili sauce to the Goose.

The hours of operation of the two businesses will complement each other, according to Tuttle. The Grit is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for lunch and dinner while the Goose is open for breakfast and lunch, 6 a.m.-2 p.m., every day.

“It is a great cross-family experience,” Tuttle said. “I think that is what small town communities are about. It takes a community to make a community.”