Tuk-Tuk Thai To Move To MacArthur Boulevard In Bourne
Tuk-Tuk Thai will be moving from its original location at 254 Shore Road to a new building at 808 MacArthur Boulevard.
The Thai restaurant will be closing its Shore Road location and taking the place of Jimmy’s Diner, a classic 1950s-style eatery that has been on MacArthur Boulevard for a few years. Tuk-Tuk Thai has been operating at its Shore Road location since November 2017. It quickly became a community hot spot, swarmed with people during its first week open.
The restaurant is run by Peter Blake and his partner, William Blake. Peter is a Bostonian who was raised in Jamaica Plain, while William is a native of Thailand. The two met in Hawaii and have gone back and forth between the Bay State and the big island for nearly a decade.
The Blakes officially became the owners of 808 MacArthur Boulevard last Thursday. The reason for the move, Peter Blake said, was the need for a bigger kitchen, but it was important to the Blakes to stay in the same area that they have been operating in for the past 4½ years to cater to their loyal customer base.
“The kitchen is certainly bigger,” he said, “and the indoor dining area will be a little bit bigger also.”
In addition to indoor seating, Tuk-Tuk Thai will offer outdoor seating. But rather than table service for customers, Peter said, the restaurant is opting for a counter-service style operation, a decision he made due to staffing issues.
“I really don’t have any employees to be able to do that,” he said. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing has been an increasingly problematic obstacle for business owners who are experiencing an uptick in business with a downsized staff.
“I used to have [an] in-house delivery service every night we’re open—we’re open five days a week right now—but I’m down to just two nights that I have in-house delivery, which is Fridays and Saturdays,” he said. “The other days I use the service called DoorDash.”
The move is on hold for now because the restaurant is awaiting final permits from Town Hall, including a transfer of liquor license.
Ideally, Peter would like to open the new Tuk-Tuk Thai location this month, but is unsure if that will be possible due to pending permits.
“There’s a lot of permitting going on,” he said. “But it’s in the process, everything’s in the process and everything just takes probably a little longer than one would like.”
The difficult part, however, is finding tradespeople who have availability to do the necessary work on the diner. All things considered, Peter said that the permitting process has been rather quick and that the Town of Bourne has been very accommodating.
“William, myself, and our extended family are very happy and excited to start this new chapter in our lives,” Peter said. “It has been a strange last few years but we are very optimistic for the future.”