Perennially mega-popular brunch spot Dottie's True Blue Cafe is changing hands, marking what will hopefully be a new but similar era for the 24-year-old restaurant. Longtime fans might see some changes, however, since this means that longtime chef-owner Kurt Abney, a.k.a "Dottie," will no longer be in the kitchen. Abney insists, though, in a handwritten note posted to the restaurant's door this week, that "We are doing everything possible to make this a seamless transition."

Eater caught the news today, noting that Abney bought the restaurant when he was 32 and he's now 56, and clearly doesn't want to be working behind the line at a bustling breakfast and brunch place much longer. He says in the note that he's "partnered with a young couple who love the business as much as I do," and they plan to "expand and improve Dottie's offerings."

We first learned that Dottie's was for sale a full two years ago, not long after the restaurant abruptly closed for about a week for "personal reasons." At the time, Abney told the Chronicle, "I need to think if I want to die by the grill, or have some freedom."

The restaurant has been a consistent fixture in various tourist guides, both at its former Jones Street location and the current, expanded location on Sixth Street, where it moved in January 2012. A longtime vegetarian, Abney has specialized in homemade breads and baked goods as well as veg-centric breakfast items, like the spiced black bean cakes he's been serving for over two decades with eggs.

As Abney told Eater in 2013, he ended up going to pastry school, at Tante Marie's here in SF, following the sudden death of his partner after they had sold everything to move to Paris in 1992 and open a cafe. He explained that after 20 years in the kitchen, he knew he needed a change. "It's just... you're not meant to stand for 12 hours a day for 20 years. It begins to take a toll."

Now it sounds as though Abney has agreed to stay on in some capacity as part of the deal, and he says he'll be transitioning to doing more "branding and product development," whatever that means.

Maybe they'll start mass-marketing that chipotle jelly?

Previously: Oh No!!: Dottie's True Blue Cafe Up For Sale