The rural Catskills have never been an easy place to do business. When the rest of the country is popping champagne corks and watching the stock market boom, the good times always seem to pass us by. And when recessions hit, the already-hungry local economy tightens its belt even further.
What can a small mom-and-pop business do to weather the storm? In Delaware County, a pair of tiny eateries are trying teamwork. For the last month or so, the Cha Cha Hut (a BBQ joint in Andes) has been collaborating with the Kaaterskill House (a coffee shop in Stamford) to do pre-ordered BBQ delivery for the Kaaterskill House's customers. From a recent story in the Mountain Eagle:
“As we have been having fairly slow Thursday nights, it was the perfect idea for us. We jumped at the opportunity,” [Cha Cha Hut co-owner Frank] Davis said. “This gives us at least Thursday nights in a new market without having to do much more than organize the orders, put them together and market the concept. We get a new group of BBQ fans and Kaaterskill House gets an additional Thursday night event. It's win win.”
[Aree] Bray, who hosts live music performances at the Kaaterskill House every Friday and many Thursdays, said if the takeout night is a success he will make it a point to invite live blues bands and performers to entertain on Thursday evenings.
“If we get enough folks sitting here to eat delicious BBQ, we will have to add some live blues I am sure,” he said.
Davis says he's interested in finding other collaborators, if the venture (dubbed "ChaChaKaat") works out:
“We would love to find people/businesses in Delhi, Margaretville, Hamden; basically anywhere outside of Andes, who want to organize something along the lines of ChaChaKaat. Our next focus is to see if we can perhaps find someone at SUNY Delhi interested in a Thursday BBQ delivery for the college,” they said.
Readers, have you seen other examples of small rural businesses collaborating in creative ways in your travels? If so, we'd love to hear about them; leave a comment, or drop us a line at [email protected].
Photo of Cha Cha Hut's house spice rub, from their Facebook page.
