GILL — In the two decades since the Wagon Wheel Restaurant opened its doors, owners Carolann Zaccara and Jon Miller have seen both the positives and negatives of starting a business full-time.

“There’s been a lot of positive things,” Miller said. “The business succeeded; 20 years, and nothing can kill it.”

Miller’s perspective comes from the restaurant having weathered turbulent times.

“There was a number of issues starting up,” Miller said.

Prior to the restaurant opening, Miller stayed in Gill working to convert the old convenience store at 39 French King Highway (Route 2) into a dining area before the end of the summer, and Zaccara stayed in Connecticut to assist with her father’s restaurant.

When opening day finally came, a neighbor was called in to perform an emergency repair so the restaurant could have access to water.

“That was kinda stressful,” Miller said.

The restaurant was limited in staff, too, with four full-time workers including Zaccara and Miller each working 70 hours per week.

Within the first three years, Miller said the restaurant lost money, which he and Zaccara expected based on the advice they had received from the Franklin County Community Development Corporation.

“We got out of the red the second year, but we really made only $7,000,” Miller recounted. The owners made sacrifices to make ends meet. “I had to sell my baseball cards, we had to refinance our house, that kind of stuff.”

Then, major construction on the Turners Falls-Gill Bridge further affected business. Still, despite the four years of bridge construction and financial loss, the Wagon Wheel Restaurant stayed open. Next, it was the COVID-19 pandemic — a challenging time for many small businesses — that threw another curveball at the restaurant.

“I don’t know which one was worse, the bridge or the COVID,” Miller said. “It knocked us out for seven to nine weeks completely, and then we could open partially for someone to come in.

“We still haven’t really recovered,” he added, noting the business had to scale back its hours and has not returned to the pre-pandemic hours.

Yet, the business prevailed.

“The bridge didn’t put us under, but it almost did. COVID-19 did put us under, and yet it just seems like it’s somewhat bulletproof,” Miller said of Wagon Wheel Restaurant.

Zaccara and Miller say they owe the ability to continue the Wagon Wheel Restaurant to a couple of factors. For one, they thank their employees who’ve stayed with them for years, along with a new, younger generation of employees.

“We’re seeing the next generation of kids coming through,” Zaccara said. “It’s the kids that were little babies [when we started] that are working for us now.”

Secondly, Zaccara and Miller say generations of customers have created a place for themselves at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.

“We do have a lot of community support, locals, two, three times a week,” Zaccara said. “The process of keeping our employees and keeping them happy while keeping our longtime customers. It keeps them coming back to eat good food.”

Providing examples, Zaccara said a family of 10 across three generations would come in once a month for a family breakfast, a regular named Stan orders a breakfast meal the restaurant now refers to as “The Stan” in his honor and one man comes in daily for a lobster roll. Outside of Gill, families traveling along Route 2 from Boston make it a point to stop at the restaurant as part of a tradition.

“A lot of them have been coming here for many, many years,” Zaccara added.

This continued community support along with the time spent molding the restaurant into what it is today serve as sources of inspiration for Zaccara and Miller.

“One thing that keeps me going is, as I said, I don’t think anything could knock this place down,” Miller said. “We put 20 years of our life building this thing so it runs nice. This is the baby — we built it, so we keep it running.”

Wagon Wheel Restaurant is open on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. For more information, visit wagonwheelgill.com.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com.