NORTHPORT — Doris and Ed Moran didn’t know what type of business they were looking for when they decided they wanted to move from Ohio “back east to Maine,” only that they were on the hunt for a business for sale in the area and that Hideaway Diner happened to be for sale.

The pair took over the business in 2001, and said things have been going well since

In an effort to attract new customers, Doris said the restaurant has expanded its menu to include pizza and fried chicken, which they’ve offered for roughly the last six months.

The bread, including the pizza dough, is all made on premise by Ed, which he says is his favorite aspect of the job. The Morans also make homemade barbecue sauce for their baby-back ribs.

Doris enjoys “handling and visiting with the customers and getting to know everyone,” she said.

Harbor Hill brings busloads of residents at least once a month, and Doris said she knows them all so well she: “pretty much knows what to get all of them. They can even have beer or wine!”

She said she feels close to many of the people who visit the diner, remembering an elderly woman who loved coming to the Hideaway so much her son elected to have her bereavement be hosted by the Hideaway because he thought she would have liked it.

In addition to serving breakfast throughout the week, and dinner Friday and Saturday, the Hideaway will cater events that people want to hold at the Hideaway.

“We host the Snowmobiler’s Club,” and during winter storms they open before the 7 a.m. open time so that Central Maine Power workers can eat and be on the road when they need to be.

“We live just upstairs,” she explained, “so we come down if someone wants us to open.”

A few years ago the Moran’s decided to branch out beyond food, opening Moran’s Gift Shop in one of diner’s expanded areas, which took place in 2003.

“We just had leftover space after the expansion, and decided to open the gift shop,” Ed said. The shop contains work by at least eight different local artists, he said.

Erica Thoms can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com