LEWISTON – A Lewiston couple who ran an Old Orchard Beach restaurant for 19 years is bringing their good-deal business savvy to Webster Street.

Doris and Stan Pelletier (yes, the man who started the towing business) bought C and J Hall in 2004, but it was only a few months ago that they got a catering/liquor license and began marketing the hall for functions. The couple is banking that their package deal for weddings, anniversaries and other events will appeal to cost-conscious revelers.

“We want it to be as perfect as can be, whether you’re rich or poor,” Doris said.

On Thursday, the hall was set up for a wedding with 160 guests. Banquet tables were covered with a heavy white pique cloth, anchored with mirrored candle centerpieces. A disco ball spun over the recently refinished oak floors, and wedding streamers swung from the walls and ceiling.

The hall would take on an entirely different look the day after the wedding. The set-up for the DJ at the head of the hall will be replaced by an altar, the tables put away and chairs arranged in rows in the center of the dance floor.

Twice a month between 50 and 100 people show up at the hall to celebrate Mass in Latin. Nuns from Our Lady of Carmel Missions have booked the hall for the Mass for the past eight months or so. Regular customers, the nuns have their own key.

“If you can’t trust them, who can you trust?” quipped Stan.

An affable man, Stan clearly enjoys his new role managing the hall and staffing the bar during events. He sold the towing business seven years ago after decades of running it 24-hours/seven-days-a-week. Nowadays he spends his time around people who are celebrating, rather than bemoaning whatever crisis disabled their cars.

“People are happy when they’re here,” he said. “I really enjoy myself.”

The couple tinkered with retirement when they sold Pierre’s, the Old Orchard Beach restaurant near the pier. Neither missed the 120-hour work weeks during the summer, nor the stress of planning for restaurant patrons.

“I had a breakfast buffet that was very successful – 200 to 300 people in the morning,” said Doris, who does all the cooking at C and J. “But you never knew about dinner … it was always a guess.”

But retirement was a little boring. When they heard C and J Hall was available through a foreclosure auction, they put in a bid – without even seeing it.

Natives of Lewiston, they both were familiar with the place from country line dances, functions and toy auctions it hosted over the hall’s 35 years.

“It always had a good reputation,” said Doris. And they knew the owner, Claude Gendron (the “C” of C and J, who ran the hall with his wife, Jackie).

“This place was immaculate when we took it over,” Doris said.

All it needed was a full-service food and beverage option to take off. Once the Pelletiers got their catering and liquor license, they were ready to launch the hall.

“It’s so hard for people to have affordable weddings nowadays,” said Stan. So they purposely settled on a package deal they consider reasonable.

The fundamentals: a hot, sit-down meal (“my boneless, skinless chicken with homemade gravy is our biggest seller,” said Doris), the hall, DJ, bar service, champagne toast and decorations for 100 guests for $2,000.

The Pelletiers are pleased with their latest investment. They hope to continue making improvements to the hall, including some exterior work to cinder-block facade and resurfacing the parking lot.

“From the outside, it doesn’t look so great,” said Doris. “But you know, we’re not allergic to improvements.”

“And when it’s decorated like this,” she said gesturing to the dance floor, “it looks wonderful.”