A New Oswego Business Bills Itself as ‘Fast Casual Style Novelty Eatery”
By Stefan Yablonski
Q: When did you start?
A: The building fell in our lap. Emily found it was for lease. We got together, arranged our time to make it work. We opened in July.
Q: Why this business?
A: We’ve wanted to open a restaurant as long as we can remember. We’ve been in the food industry at one point or another; we’ve never owned or operated something like this.
Q: How much did you invest?
A: That’s one of the good things. A lot of supplies and equipment came with the building. We ended up investing right around $20,000. That’s really not that much to invest in opening a restaurant.
Q: How big a staff?
A: You’re looking at it — just the
four of us.
Q: What do you serve?
A: At night we have a munchies menu — smash burgers, hot dogs, sausages that kind of food. Smash burgers are unique, people love them.
Q: Your best sellers?
A: Gyro, classic smash and million-dollar smash. For cold food, novelty — Dubai strawberry cups, berrylicious Açai bowl and waffle pops.
Q: Looking to expand?
A: Yes, more seating in the back. We want to convert the upstairs into a lounge — that’s our vision for the future.
Q: How has business been?
A: More than we expected! It’s been phenomenal. It’s community over competition. Other small business owners have given us suggestions. We try to offer things that other places don’t. We’re not stepping on other people’s toes.
Q: More staff?
A: You have to get the doors open first. You have to see what’s selling, how much money you are making before how many people can you hire. We didn’t expect to have to hire people so soon. But things are doing so well so soon. We need people. We didn’t want to just open and hire someone, then cut their hours or let them go if business wasn’t doing well. We decided to bite the bullet and suck it up for a couple months. None of us have had days off since we opened.
