LISBON — A welcome change is coming to town next month, as two friends who are mothers get ready to open a new breakfast and lunch spot in an old familiar space — the former China Inn at 222 Lisbon St.

“I always wanted to have a diner,” confessed Desaray Hayes, who sold her food trailer to make Two Moms Diner happen.

Jess Hoyt is her business partner and their story goes back before the COVID-19 pandemic. Hoyt, who has seven children, was working at Chummy’s and Hayes, who has five children and a foster child, started working there. However, the pandemic was too big a blow for Chummy’s and it closed.

Fast forward a couple of years and Hayes was running Auntie D’s food trailer, part of which will make its way to the new menu at Two Moms.

“We had a steak and cheese that everybody loved and my stuffed waffles — those are really, really popular,” Hayes said.

Stuffed waffles? How about a strawberry cheesecake, pumpkin pie, apple pie, or strawberry rhubarb? There’s talk of biscuits and gravy and the legendary Babe’s Burrito. “That one was really famous,” she said.

There will be healthier items and gluten free products with Hoyt taking the lead there — with 20 years of experience with celiac disease. Mary Graziano of Grazi to Go fame is baking the gluten-free products.

The renovation work is mostly done in the small but ample dining room that will seat 37, and the women have put their own touch on the inside. Once the weather is warmer, the moms plan some outside tables and chairs with the Sabattus River as the backdrop.

Both women have plenty of restaurant experience and will share the front- and back-of-house duties, with the help of a line cook or two. The diner has secured a wine and beer license so it can offer Mommosas for a little weekend fun.

Ross Cunningham is Lisbon’s director of economic and community development and says Two Moms Diner is just what the city was looking for.

“It’s absolutely key to our long-term plan to get more businesses in this part of town,” Cunningham said. “… These two food service experts (will) step up and open something that has been requested since the day I started this job three years ago.”

Cunningham added that everybody was saying they needed a diner.

Some equipment repairs and other upgrades are in the works and the new diner is scheduled to open in mid-to-late February. It will be open Tuesday to Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We’re really excited to bring more life to this part of town,” Cunningham said, adding more projects are poised to come to Lisbon in the near future.