Stowe inn owners buy Michael’s on the Hill

Oct. 5, 2023  |  By Aaron Calvin  |  Stowe Reporter staff writer

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Michael’s on the Hill overlooks Vermont Route 100 in Waterbury Center. Photo by Gordon Miller

After several years on the market, Waterbury fine-dining stalwart Michael’s on the Hill has been sold to the owners of Stowe’s Brass Lantern Inn.

The restaurant on a hill overlooking Vermont Route 100 in Waterbury Center initially went on the market in 2019 with an asking price of $1.4 million. Andrew Kohn and Don Jones, the married couple who acquired the long-running hotel on Maple Street in Stowe last year, announced their Michael’s purchase in late September for $1.2 million. 

There are no immediate changes planned for the restaurant, Kohn and Jones emphasized in an announcement. 

“We are excited to join the Michael’s family and continue to offer the same great food, service, and ambiance that have become the benchmarks for fine dining in Vermont,” Kohn said. Opened in 2002, Michael’s was built on its titular Swiss-born chef Michael Kloeti’s pedigreed resume and operated alongside his wife, Laura. The restaurant’s seasonally shifting menu incorporates a wide variety of locally sourced ingredients for a well-crafted but unfussy offering. All of Michael’s current staff plan to stay on under Kohn and Jones and two key employees have been elevated to leadership roles. Eric Griffin, a 12-year veteran at the restaurant, is now general manager and event director, while Jeff Thibaut, Michael’s “right-hand man” and executive sous chef, according to the Kloetis, will take the lead in the kitchen and replace his departing mentor.

Along with the success of Michael’s, the Kloetis also supervised the rebranding of Crop Bistro and Brewery in Stowe to Idletyme in 2015 and helped shepherd the Stowe restaurant into stability before turning their focus fully to their Waterbury restaurant in 2017. 

“Our children are grown up, and we’re ready for the next chapter in our lives,” Laura Kloeti told the Waterbury Record in 2019 when the couple put their restaurant on the market.

Brass Lantern Inn owners Donald Jones and Andrew Kohn, with their children in the inn’s sitting room. They have recently acquired Michael’s on the Hill in Waterbury. Photo by Gordon Miller

“We look forward to our next chapter, whatever that may be, and seeing you around town,” the couple said in a statement announcing the sale. 

Kohn and Jones took the reins at the Brass Lantern Inn last summer from its longtime owners, Mary Anne and George Lewis, and have been busy modernizing the hotel and hosting various events.

Kohn and Jones came to Vermont from Ohio partially due to concerns following a surge in Republican political power and the promotion of social and education initiatives that they felt threatened their safety as gay men with two adopted Black children, as discussed in an earlier Stowe Reporter profile.

Looking ahead, Kohn said they are looking forward to their new venture running Michael’s in Waterbury. “It is an honor to be trusted with such a valued institution, and we will continue to grow the restaurant, ensuring our hospitality becomes legendary in Vermont, and across New England,” Kohn said.

This story was first published in The Stowe Reporter on Sept. 28, 2023.