Published: July 14, 2008 11:00 am      

Shop Talk: The Bee Hive

Shop Talk is a weekly column featuring locally owned and operated businesses. This week, we talk to Susan Gray of The Bee Hive in Franklin.

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How long have you lived in the area?

My sister (Carol Ganim) and I have been (in Franklin) for five years. My brother (Bill Zipp) just moved here. He's had an interesting background. He's a screenwriter, but he owned a restaurant in Hawaii. I worked for Hilton International in Venezuela and Puerto Rico and ran hotel restaurant programs for them, so I have front-of-the house experience.

Tell me about your business:

We've taken over immediately the management of the restaurant; we will be buying (owner Gary Cassinelli) out totally at the end of the summer. He is still on the partnership until that time.

For breakfast, we make French toast, pancakes with all kinds of fresh berries, and the regular eggs and pancakes and things. We try to buy local produce whenever possible; we use the Flying Rabbit Farm in Otego for all of our vegetables and salads. A baker from Fokish Farm in Franklin does all our desserts. All of our breads are homemade on the premises. Everything we do, we try very hard to have it done locally or on site.

We just bought a big cappuccino/espresso machine, so we're going to be doing a wide range of cappuccinos.

The restaurant had traditionally only been open breakfast and lunch, but just recently we added dinner. We're doing a light pre-theater supper for the Franklin Stage Company from 3 to 5 on Sundays, and we may be expanding to Thursdays.

We do an international menu for the light supper, and we try to do a menu for Friday and Saturday nights that is going to be friendly to local guests as well as visitors from New York city.

Our desserts are really famous here now. We have a Bee Hive special dessert, which is a meringue basket with vanilla cream or apricot-lime cream, covered with homemade fresh whipped cream with a chocolate bee hive on top with strawberries and a raspberry coulis.

We have outdoor dining on the front porch now, and we have a beautiful patio in the back, which we will open for groups of 10 or more.

Describe a typical day in your business:

I open the restaurant every morning at 5:30 a.m., and I have my regulars who come in every morning and sit at my bar. I really look forward to that exchange every morning, having coffee with them. Then I have local groups that come in and ask if they can have luncheons here; I try to accommodate them and get everything ready for them.

We've become a real gathering place for local people, as well as a place for visitors who come up on the weekends. It's a really lovely blend. The theater crowd is fascinating; they come from all over, so we have a wonderful opportunity to greet them. I speak French and Spanish fluently, and believe it or not, I get plenty of chances to use them with our customers.

How did you get started in this line of work?

We were very good friends with (former owners Gary Cassinelli and Scott Blankenship) _ Gary had a vision for this restaurant, and he and Scott made this into the most beautiful restaurant. I fed Gary and Scott and all the guys who were working on the restaurant every Sunday in my house. A lot of my recipes ended up on the menu, actually. My sister would do all the register work when they were busy, and I would come down and volunteer to bus tables and serve food and anything I could do to help.

Gary began to find that the restaurant was growing, and he was only here part-time, so he was unable to take it to the next level. We were sitting in my kitchen one night and he said, "I'm going to close The Bee Hive," and I said, "You can't do that!" So he said, "Would you be interested in taking it over from me?"

My sister's an RN with Geico, she works at home from the computer. She's extremely good with math and books, so she volunteered to do the books and things of that nature. My brother said "I'll go to the back of the house and help in the kitchen," and he's really done a wonderful job. I said, "I've always done the front of the house." So after a week of soul-searching, we decided we'll do it. We were very close growing up, yet we were all in different parts of the world. To come back together under one roof, it's hilarious. We have such a great time together.

Where do you see this business in five years?

I would really like to be open from 6 in the morning until 9 at night. I eventually would like to do dinner every evening, except Monday, when I need to give myself a break. I would like to see it go on throughout the winter so that local people don't have to drive over the mountain to go to dinner.

Describe a memorable moment in your workplace:

I think the most special part for me has been that the local people come in early in the morning. I see the same people every day, and that really makes me happy.

What have you learned from your work?

I've learned so many things. When I worked for Hilton, I was managing several managers of restaurants. This was the first time that it was hands-on for me in every respect. Running food, ordering food, doing the banking, payroll, actually running it like a small business in all of its multiple facets _ it's a learning experience, absolutely.

What is the hardest thing you have to do?

The hours. There's only one of me. I start at 7:30 on Saturday or Sunday and I stay through until we close. The first week I didn't think I could do it, but I've gotten my sea legs. Once I get down here, I'm invigorated.

The most enjoyable?

It's the interaction with the people _ it's just wonderful. I've gotten to know their names, their families, who's graduating, who's having a baby _ it's lovely. In the five years that I've lived in the village, I haven't met as many people as I would have liked, and now I'm meeting everyone. I feel a real part of the community.

How do you define success for your business?

I have a certain amount of goals that I need to see the restaurant make. The challenge for me is going to be to get through the winter with not as many tourists, so I need to really build my local business and to make sure that the menu and the hours are welcoming and accessible to the village of Franklin. That's my goal.

What are some advantages/drawbacks of doing business in this area?

Most restaurants really make their profits from sales of beer and wine and alcohol. We don't have that option.

We buy very high-quality food, we don't buy the inexpensive cuts of meat, we make our own bread. I have to be very, very careful because my margin for profit is slim. I have to manage that very carefully. It's a tightrope, but so far we're doing really, really well.

I think the hours in the evening have made a difference. We did a smashing first night for the theater (on July 6), so it was very exciting. We got hugs and kisses from a lot of people.

What sets you apart from your competitors?

The ambience is one thing. The staff is mostly local people, all from the village or town, so they know everyone. When people come in here, we haven't hired waiters from Oneonta or far away who don't know the people in town.

I think the food is wonderful, it's not like anybody else's food in the area, but it's really the people who work there that give this place its great appeal. It's extremely welcoming and warm, and we really try to get to know everybody who comes in the door. I try to greet everyone and welcome them. We really appreciate the business and we want people to know that.

What advice would you give to someone trying to enter your field of work?

I would tell them to have very good feet. You could not be an owner who is not the face of the restaurant _ you must be here when the restaurant is open, and those are very long hours. You must have stamina and you must love what you're doing, because otherwise it would be a very, very long day. That will make the difference in the restaurant. I think it's critical in a small community. If this is someone's restaurant of choice, they're not just choosing the food; they're choosing the owner. The ambience is important too, but they need to feel like they're appreciated and welcomed here. I could hire someone to open at 5:30 for me, and I could waltz in at 11 or 12, but that's not the message I'm sending to the community.

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To suggest a business for Shop Talk, contact Emily F. Popek at 432-1000, ext. 255, or epopek@thedailystar.com.