Loons on a Limb sold, will shut doors April 30 after a quarter century serving breakfast to Boca Grande

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Sue and Jay Spurgeon opened Loons on a Limb in 1982, 10 days after they were married. They proceeded to make the restaurant a tradition for many visitors and locals while raising three daughters and creating a second family from those they worked with.

On May 1, Loons on a Limb will close, to be re-opened in the fall under new ownership.

The business wi been purchased by a man who has local ties, said Sue. He does not wish to be named at this time. He approached them about the sale, Sue said. The restaurant was not on the market.

“We always thought it would happen when it happened, and it just happened,” Sue said. “It wasn’t totally out of the blue, but it happened really quickly.”

Renovation will take place over the summer and the business is scheduled to re-open in the fall. It will still be a restaurant, but other than serving dinner Sue isn’t sure what will be on the menu.

“They intend to serve dinner, but I don’t know about breakfast and lunch,” she said. “The rest is up in the air. We thought it might be open through tarpon season for breakfast, but he decided to close and renovate.”

When Sue and Jay opened the restaurant as Loons on a Limb 27 years ago, it was owned by Camille Heverly and was called Sheer Folly. Heverly owned it for a year and a half, then sold it to the Spurgeons.

The business was named after the loons that migrate to the island and swim through the Bayou. When Sue’s friend, an art director, sent them a logo she had created with loons sitting on a limb, they liked it so much that the name stuck.

“In those days, all the names were funny,” Sue said. “The Temptation, Laff-A-Lott, Pink Elephant. Now there are more upscale names around here, and it sounds kind of funny.”

The couple lived in the apartment above the restaurant until their third child came along. Then they purchased a lot across the street and built their current home.

All Sue has to do is look out her window to see the restaurant. That, she says, is the hardest part.

“That’s going to be tough,” she said. “I told Jay we’re going to have to get some really big bushes to put there. You know how they say it takes 15 times of not doing something to break a habit? This will take thousands, to not head out the door and turn right.”

Another sad goodbye will be to two very loyal employees and friends. Mary Hunter has been with them for 25 years. David “Smitty” Smith has helped out whenever he was needed since Loons opened, pinch-hitting in the kitchen for Jay.

Sue counted off the people that she considers vital to the restaurant’s success over the years.

“Our daughter, Natalie, I have to give her credit where it is due,” Sue said. “Smitty, who has been with us over the years whenever we needed him. Mary, who has been here 25 years. Joy Lucia started this year, and she’s been great, too.”

Sue thinks back and says, “The staff, in general, is what has kept this place going. We’ve had people that worked for us for long periods of time, which is unusual in the restaurant business.”

While the couple has received various offers on the business in the past, Sue said the potential buyers usually walked away because of the amount of work it takes to make a small restaurant successful.

“It gave us a great income and helped us raise our kids, so we’re very lucky,” she said. “We’ve had some people who wanted to buy it, hire a manager and full staff, then just stand back and watch things happen. This is a mom and pop business, you need to get in there and work to make things happen. You’ve got to work really hard.”

Now, Sue is wondering what direction her life will take. Jay has ideas of his own, planning to go to his property in northern Florida, do some work on it and possibly raise quail commercially for hunting clubs. Sue is not sure what she will do next.

“I have no idea what I will do,” she said. “I’m not even going to think about it until it happens, otherwise I’ll get all upset. But I’m not retiring, I have another 10 or 20 years of work left, anyway!”

Jay and Sue’s daughter, Kate, left for the Navy on April 22. She is now in Chicago for boot camp, and her job classification will be a linguist. She will be stationed in Monterey, Calif.

“All of this happened at once, in about 10 days,” Sue said. “The planets are aligning, I guess.”

Thea, the couple’s oldest daughter, is studying to be a nurse in Boston. Natalie is still at home.

On April 30, the restaurant’s last day, Sue said it will be business as usual with a full menu.

“Over the years we’ve been here every morning,“ she said. “We have a 7 a.m. club, local people that work on the island, fishing guides bringing in their parties … it’s been our bread and butter over the years. We want everyone to know what‘s going on, so they don’t just come down and find we’re not here. We want people to come in and say goodbye, too.”