When the bright lights of reality TV choose your business for a TV show, it’s like winning the lottery, Chatterbox Cafe owner Lynn Malone says.

Earlier this month, the cast and crew of Food Network’s “Restaurant: Impossible” took over Malone’s Windham restaurant for a three-day, $10,000 facelift to improve everything from the Chatterbox staff to its decor.

“I consider it a blessing,” Malone said. “Who wouldn’t want a group of experts to come in and work with you for three days? … That kind of knowledge is invaluable to any business owner.”

But even winning the lottery takes some getting used to.

Days after celebrity chef Robert Irvine and Food Network TV crews left the restaurant, Malone took some time to ensure that her waitstaff, and her restaurant, reflected the lessons learned on the show.

Two mornings after taping finished, Malone opened up the 4 Cobbets Pond Road cafe for what she called an “exercise,” only to shut her restaurant down a few hours later.

“It’s such a short time to reopen and make sure that everything is running smoothly, according to what you learned,” Malone said. “You do need to have a dress rehearsal to say, ‘Here we go, this is our new way.’ Of course, it’s hard to make sure we’re going to do everything right the first day.”

The short opening and closure allowed Malone a “dry run” before facing the 250-300 customers the Chatterbox normally gets each weekend, she said.

And the public attention surrounding her TV appearance was sure to bring in more people to eat, she said.

“I want to make sure I am spot-on from now on,” Malone said. “I don’t want to give my customers excuses. I want to give them what they’re paying for and looking for every time – that’s part of what I learned about being part of the show.”

The Chatterbox Cafe was open two years before the Food Network graced her restaurant, Malone said.

Malone, who opened the cafe as a widowed stay-at-home mother of five, started the business as a way to move her family forward from her husband’s death, she said.

“I had no business background, but I’m a people person, and losing my husband to malignant melanoma, I really felt that I wanted to get the message out to people that they really need to stop and smell the flowers,” Malone said.

Malone’s son Shane, 24, is the Chatterbox’s executive chef, while sons Tristan, 19, and Zach, 16, work there with her. The restaurant gets its “Chatterbox” name from Malone’s son Derek, 12, she said.

“Obviously, we’ve come a long way in two years, but we just happened to learn the business while we were running it,” Malone said. “It was a little difficult, a lot more than I expected.”

The Chatterbox Cafe had a strong breakfast and lunch selection before, but since “Restaurant: Impossible” visited, they’ve added new dinner options to their menu, Malone said.

And while the kitchen will have a better handle on their later menu, Malone will have a better handle on her workers, she said.

“I think it’s just taught me so much about management, that now I know to make sure that I’m constantly correcting things, situations, as they unfold, instead of waiting until the end of the day,” Malone said.

A new staff structure should also keep things running smoothly, she said.

“Now that we have the systems in place, we have something to go by and follow,” Malone said. “I think that it’s going to make it so much easier and alleviate a lot of the chaos that we may have experienced in the past.”

The first test run after the TV crews left was a bit chaotic, though, Malone admitted.

“I had to regroup and just say, ‘OK, I have to deal with this situation right now and address it so I can give my customers what they want,’?” Malone said. “That’s the name of the game, that the customers are satisfied and enjoying themselves, and that I have enough staff to handle the influx of the business that I’ll now have.”

Malone said she’d likely hire an additional four to six people to join her staff of 14 to be able to handle the increased foot traffic, generated by curiosity around the show.

“It’s definitely created a new buzz, people saying, ‘What’s the Chatterbox? Where’s the Chatterbox? Let’s go see that restaurant,’ and that’s great,” Malone said.

But those who frequented the cafe before also will like the new look, Malone said.

“I thank my loyal customers so much who’ve been with us through the thick and thin,” Malone said. “They’ve really sustained me and my business and grown with me. (When we taped the show) my customers were crying with us. … They were as much a part of it as we were.”

With a few days of work, Malone said she was excited to open up her new restaurant as a new owner to go along with it.

“I feel like I’m a big girl now in big girl restaurant,” Malone said. “I did before, too. It’s just given me a whole new confidence in really learning my business and gaining the respect that I needed to run a successful business.”

The “Restaurant: Impossible” show featuring Malone’s restaurant will air later this winter. The show usually runs Wednesdays at 10 p.m.

For more information on the Chatterbox Cafe, call 505-4581.

Maryalice Gill can be reached at 594-6940 or mgill@nashuatelegraph.com.

Follow Gill on Twitter (@Telegraph_MAG).