New menu items, an expanded buffet and updated dining facilities are some of the things diners will find when they visit the reopened Happy Joe’s on Tenney Street.

Eric Ellenberger and Jamie O’Neill are taking over the restaurant, which closed back in May.

The interior is being redone from floor to ceiling; Ellenberger said he’s using local employees for all the work.

The goal is to have the kitchen ready to begin training the restaurant staff by Dec. 2, and to reopen the pizza and ice cream parlor by mid-December.

Customers will find:

— Updated dining facilities, including a digital menu system which will scroll menu choices across video screens. (The traditional paper menus will still be offered too.)

— A longer buffet along the west wall of the dining room, offering a wider selection of menu items.

— New dining choices such as burgers and melts. Traditional favorites like taco pizza (a Happy Joe’s innovation) and the Happy Joe’s Special will still be on the menu.

— Beer, which was no longer served before the restaurant closed, will be available again. There will be a small bar area for diners who enjoy a beer with their meal.

— An expanded breakfast menu, including rolls, burritos and other new items.

Three amenities the restaurant offered before, the ice cream parlor, party room and the game room, will once again be available. Ellenberger said there will be all-new games in the game room, and a bigger selection in the ice cream parlor.

Ellenberger said kids will no longer have to carry around large handfuls of paper tickets to claim prizes they won on the games. Instead, there will be a digital system, with game players receiving cards where scores will be recorded so players can use them to collect their prizes. They’ll be able to keep the cards, and accumulate points over several visits to be able to claim bigger prizes.

The buffet will not only be expanded, but will be open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to closing. The restaurant will also offer Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Ellenberger and O’Neill are new to the restaurant business, having worked in the automotive field previously.

He said Happy Joe’s management was eager to get the Kewanee restaurant re-established, since it had been a part of life here for half a century.

Ellenberger and O’Neill are committed to “growing this into the potential that it has,” he said.

Expanded hours at Happy Joe’s will be from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.