Kettle Cove Take-out and Dairy Bar, the popular summer ice cream destination on Route 77 in Cape Elizabeth, will begin this season under new ownership – a Spanish teacher at Cape Elizabeth High School.

Fran Cook, the 69-year-old retired bus driver who has owned and managed the business for the past 13 years, said he was selling for general health reasons and was looking forward to spending time with his family, who all live in the area or New Hampshire.

The new owner will be Mark Pendarvis, who has been talking about buying the shop for three years.

Before Cook purchased the business, he was a driver for Greyhound Lines. Cook said the idea of traveling farther than New Hampshire doesn’t appeal to him.

“I’ve put in my million miles,” Cook said. “I like sleeping at home.”

The small white building, which was once a lobster pound, is now decorated with a brightly painted rainbow and ice cream cones. Kettle Cove has become popular spot for the tourists and residents alike who spend time at the various beaches in the area.

The business has always offered a menu of fried seafood and similar fare, but it was the hard-pack ice cream that Cook made on the premises that gained the business a good reputation among his summer patrons, some of which make an effort to come back year after year for favorite flavors such as Pumpkin and Needham.

But, don’t worry, Cook said. “It’s going to continue about the way it has been … no big drastic changes.”

Mark Pendarvis, the new owner, said he never considered stopping the hard-pack ice cream that Cook made so popular. “That’s not going to stop. … The ice cream will still be the ice cream,” he said.

Two years ago Pendarvis worked with Cook over the summer and learned the “secret recipes” and techniques that Cook used to make the ice cream.

A Spanish teacher at Cape Elizabeth High School, Pendarvis said he began thinking of buying Kettle Cove Take-out and Dairy Bar one winter evening three years ago when he drove by it and saw a light on. He had been trying to decide what to do with his summers at the time and the ice cream and fried seafood venue piqued his interest.

Pendarvis decided to stop and walk through the foot deep snow to check it out. Inside, Pendarvis found Cook working away on something the shop. When he inquired whether Cook was interested in selling, Cook said he had been thinking about it.

It took three more years until a deal was struck, but Pendarvis said he was determined to buy the business.

“If I don’t do this I’ll regret it,” he told himself. Pendarvis has always wanted to go into business. His father was a successful businessman in the Philippines – where Pendarvis spent the first 14 years of his life – and in Oregon.

Pendarvis said not much was going to change with the business, though he and his wife do have some ideas for the future, which he wouldn’t go into detail about. He will also offer 24 different flavors of soft-serve in addition to the hard-pack and there would probably be some changes to the menu to simplify it, he said.

Kettle Cove Take-out and Dairy Bar should be open soon, Pendarvis said, just as soon as he gets his license from the state.

Cape Elizabeth High School Spanish teacher Mark Pendarvis is the new owner of Kettle Cove Dairy and Take-out Bar.