As a supervisor at The Kraft Heinz Co. plant in the Lehigh Valley, Scott Morgan was used to waking up at 4 a.m.

His early bird schedule is a main reason he was looking to open a breakfast joint after the plant shut down several years ago.

Plans change, however, and Morgan, along with his wife, Ivette, turned their attention to the One Ten Tavern in Palmerton, which was up for sale at the time.

As fate would have it, one of Morgan’s former employees at Kraft, Lorraine Paules, told him the Covered Bridge Inn in Lower Towamensing Township may be available.

“I had a conversation with Ron (Gilbert) and Carol (Withers), who had owned the restaurant for 17 years, and, long story short, two years and 45 days later here we are set to open on Wednesday,” Scott Morgan said.

While Wednesday will be opening day for the Morgans as official owners of the property, they are no strangers to the business.

“We’ve been cooking here since June 1,” Scott said. “Ron and Carol were going to close, but we thought that would hurt the business long-term. They agreed to stay open and we did all the cooking since that point.”

The Covered Bridge Inn closed on Palm Sunday and the Morgans, who reside in Lehigh Township, have since been renovating with an eye toward Wednesday.

“I think people are excited, and that includes the customers who came here for years and others who may be new,” Scott said. “I think about 80 of the people I worked with at Kraft have come in since June 1 and more will probably be coming with our official opening. We’re going to very hands-on. We love talking to the people.”

Built in the early 1800s, the Covered Bridge Inn was along the Stagecoach route serving hearty meals to travelers. Throughout the years, many people have owned the restaurant.

Before it closed, the restaurant and bar was open Thursday from 4-8 p.m., Friday from 4-9 p.m., Saturday from 1-9 p.m., and Sunday from 1-8 p.m.

“We’re going to be open Wednesday through Sunday to start and probably eventually on Tuesday,” Scott said. “What we’re looking to do is possibly open up at 11 a.m. because we think we’re missing the lunch crowd. We also talked about staying open until 10 p.m. because we know a lot of employees at the ski area would come down and have a drink after work if we weren’t already closed by that point.”

As for the menu, the Morgans said it will consist of more than a collection of fried foods.

“We’re going to have items like chicken Parmesan, chicken Alfredo and shrimp scampi,” Scott said. “It will be a nice selection.”

The venue will not fall short on entertainment value.

Jeni Hackett has already committed to play on Sundays, while local disc jockey Layne “Doc” Roberts will return on Wednesdays.

Buying a business doesn’t come without its share of work. The Morgans chose Little Gap Landscaping for exterior improvements and more upgrades are planned inside.

“We wanted to use local contractors as much as possible,” Scott said. “Long term, we’re looking to redo the third floor and rent it out on a permanent basis. The second floor, which has six rooms and two bathrooms, will be fixed up and rented out to skiers. When Blue Mountain opens its water park, the intention would be to rent it out year-round. There is a lot of potential here and we’re very excited to get going.”