MERRIMACK – Three area restaurants will combine their bakeries into the former home of Swan Chocolates, and their owner says this will improve not just the pastry and bread, but the cooking in all of his restaurants.

“We have a baker and pastry chef at each place, and I’ve always wanted to kind of consolidate them,” said Michael Buckley, who with his wife, Sarah, owns Surf and MT’s Local restaurants on Nashua’s Main Street and Buckley’s Great Steaks in Merrimack.

“This is the perfect time to get them out of those kitchens, get more room for the chefs downtown.

“It’s a big strain on the kitchen to have baking – it takes up a lot of
room. It’s been so busy at our downtown restaurants … it has been hard to fit it in.”

Buckley said the building at 436 Daniel Webster Highway, often called the Abbott’s Building because it housed Abbott’s Market for many decades, will do baking for only the three restaurants at first.

By August, he hopes
to have it open to the
public for retail sales, as well.

“We’re not in a huge rush,” he said. “We’ll get the baking schedule down for the restaurants first.”

The building, along the Souhegan River adjacent to a fire station, is also adjacent to Buckley’s Great Steaks.

Theresa and Michael Anderson operated it as a high-end chocolate shop for 11 years, but they closed it in September for personal reasons.

Prolman Realty announced the sale of the 4,168-square-foot building on Friday.

According to the Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds, the selling price was $440,000 for the real estate and $25,000 for business property.

Swan’s Chocolates did some baking, as well as making chocolate, so the building will be adjusted easily, Buckley said.

“We bought most of their old equipment,” he said.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531, dbrooks@nashua
telegraph.com or @GraniteGeek.