BANGOR – After 55 years of operation, the owners of Miller’s Restaurant will pack up the salad bar and turn off the off-track betting monitors – for good.

The local landmark is closing.

Owner John Miller, son of founder Sonny Miller, said Thursday that the famous Bangor eatery will shut its doors in mid-May, after the crowds surge through the salad bar for Mother’s Day, the Kentucky Derby and area college graduations.

“We’re a dinosaur,” he said Thursday afternoon in the tranquil green dining room of his restaurant. “Miller’s Restaurant at this location is ceasing its operation.”

John Miller signed a $3.8 million purchase and sale agreement Thursday morning with Penn National. The building will become the site of the 400 slot-machine temporary gaming racino that Penn National plans to open by the end of the year.

The Millers did not sign a noncompete clause during the transaction and they did not sell the use of the Miller name, so they are free to open another local restaurant.

“It’s with an extremely heavy heart that I made this decision,” John Miller said of closing the restaurant. “It’s what I love to do and it’s made us a part of this city.”

Several booths were filled with a late-lunch crowd that tackled the salad bar as Miller spoke about the upcoming changes.

The restaurant employs about 80 full- and part-time employees in the main restaurant, the Lion and in the downstairs off-track betting parlor. Miller called a meeting Thursday morning to alert them of the sale.

The owner said he hoped that many staff members would find employment with Penn National.

“My staff, even with this decision, has been extremely supportive of me and of my family,” Miller said. “They are like family, and in their reaction to this news, they were like family. There were definitely some wet eyes.”

The restaurateur said he has been mulling over the future of Miller’s for at least two years, stating that both increased gas and oil costs and the mushroom-like growth of national chain restaurants near the Bangor Mall have taken a toll on his profit margin.

“The last couple of years have been very hard,” he said.

Miller said that if his restaurant were smaller, staying in business would have been easier. Filling the 550 seats in the dining areas and the 200 seats in the OTB operation has been difficult, however.

“The Greater Bangor area just can’t support all the new restaurants,” he said. “It’s made it very hard for the independents to compete.”

Sonny Miller, 78, was in the restaurant Thursday supporting his son, one of his six children who have all worked in the restaurant.

“I started in business in 1951 with my mother and father, a $4,000 GI Loan, a third mortgage on their home and hard work,” he said emotionally. “This has been a very, very sad day.”

Movie stars, politicians and television personalities have dined at Miller’s, Sonny Miller said. Former U.S. Sen. Bill Cohen used to deliver rolls from his family bakery. Even Gov. John Baldacci was once an employee.

John Miller, who intends to work with Penn National on the transition, said that his future plans are up in the air but implied that he hasn’t given up the restaurant industry.

“Life begins at 40, and I’m there,” he said. “I’m going to take a couple of months and think about it. … My first love is the food business.”

Steve Meisner of Skowhegan loads up a plate at Miller’s salad bar in Bangor on Thursday.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY KEVIN BENNETT

“Miller’s Restaurant at this location is ceasing its operation,” said owner John Miller. The family-run restaurant on Main Street in Bangor is closing after 55 years.