Newly Renovated Shippy's Restaurant Reopens in Southampton Village

After a temporary closure that lasted for the better part of a year, a Southampton Village icon is back in business.

Shippy’s, the Windmill Lane bar and restaurant that has been an institution in the village since the 1950s, celebrated its grand reopening on July 3, welcoming longtime devotees of the traditional German restaurant back inside after a renovation and revamping under new owner John Betts.

Betts, who grew up in North Sea, purchased Shippy’s last June from former owner Nick Nielsen, who ran the restaurant for years after taking the helm from his father, Adolf “Ed” Nielsen. The elder Nielsen purchased the restaurant from its namesake, William “Shippy” Casgrain, who first opened the doors for business in 1954.

Betts returned to Southampton Village recently after a long career as an executive for McDonald’s. His career with the world famous fast food chain began when he worked as a teenager at the McDonald’s on North Sea Road. He climbed the ladder all the way to his most recent position as president and CEO of McDonald’s Canada.

While he was ready to retire from the corporate world and return home, Betts said he did not hesitate to purchase Shippy’s when he found out it was for sale, and has relished the opportunity to give the restaurant the glow up it deserves while maintaining the traditional elements that have made it such a beloved institution in the village for decades.

“The very nature of Shippy’s is, it’s an icon,” Betts said earlier this week. “It was a great opportunity to take something very special and preserve much of what it stood for in terms of great food, great portions, great prices and a comfortable place people felt great about visiting.”

Betts said that in renovating the building and interior, and updating the menu, he wanted to strike a balance between staying true to the traditional feel and aesthetic of the restaurant and the favored menu items people relied on over the years, while also giving both the interior and the menu a fresh look and feel.

“The objective was to be that place that could provide comfort and familiarity and great taste and do it in a way that it’s going to be good for the next 50 years,” Betts said.

In terms of the interior upgrades, the basic floor plan remained the same, with new seating booths and tables, that were in keeping with the tavern type of feel. New lighting, including 1920s-era Parisian street lamps over the bar, has been added along with several antique and reclaimed features, including previously hidden antique reeded mosaic glass windows and a table with reclaimed wood from an old ship, courtesy of Lumber and Salt in Jamesport. The interior design was led by Karen Gorman, along with the team from Lumber and Salt and Recycled Brooklyn.

As for the menu, the mainstays will of course still be the main event at Shippy’s with the ever popular schnitzel dishes still prominently featured. The menu will be a mix of Shippy’s classics along with new items, like the Shippy’s “smash burger” and the Coopers Beach fish sandwich. Betts said there will be an emphasis on sourcing local ingredients and offering different seasonal menu items, which means some of the traditional Shippy’s classics might rotate in and out depending on the season.

The bar will also feature a 10-tap draft beer selection.

Executive Chef Burton Pratt will work with his team in an expanded kitchen with fully upgraded equipment. The kitchen and waitstaff is a mix of newcomers and longtime Shippy’s employees.

Shippy’s will also avail itself of what has become a new post-pandemic tradition in Southampton Village: offering outdoor dining in a biergarten area behind the restaurant that will feature picnic tables.

In its first weeks back open, Shippy’s was only offering dinner, but Betts said he expected to be open for lunch before the end of the month. He also added that all the sought after menu items from what was always a very expansive menu will make appearances at some point, and urged customers to check out the Shippy’s website and social media channels for updates to the menu.

“That allows us to take a menu that was very large and focus on it in a way that gives us great tasting quality with a time frame where we can produce it in a quality manner,” he said.

The effort it takes to keep such a beloved restaurant successful and live up to the expectations people have for it is not a challenge Betts needed to take on at this point in his life and career, but he said purchasing Shippy’s represented an opportunity for him to fulfill a desire he’s had for a long time.

“For me, being able to do something with a local institution and make that a lasting gift to the community is the thing that really motivated me,” he said, adding that a portion of every purchase made in the restaurant will go back into a fund he has created to help support local charities.

Trying to live up to the sky high expectations many people have for Shippy’s — especially those who have had several generations of family members frequent the restaurant over the years — hasn’t always been easy over the last year, Betts said, but any challenges they’ve faced have been worth it, especially when he listens to the stories of customers who are returning and sharing with him what Shippy’s has meant to them over the years.

“We’re committed to living up to what’s a very high bar in terms of memories and warm moments people have had here with their families over the years,” he said.