Sunday News: Billy Club worker gets sweat equity partnership, as Buffalo spots invest in people
Foundation honoring ex-Coco chef sets fundraiser, and where to go for seafood with Red Lobster 86d
In 2016, Eric Pitman helped Dan Hagen and Jake Strawser open Billy Club at 228 Allen St., following Hagen from Toutant. Two years ago, Pitman was promoted from server to general manager. Last week, Billy Club announced that Pitman, 31, was made a partner.
No money changed hands. “The attention to detail and care Eric puts into every shift and more importantly every guest interaction already demonstrated his level of ownership, and it was our responsibility to reward that type of behavior or work,” Strawser said.
“For us, I want to be a place employees can grow whether that means they stay long term with us or learn skills that allow them to move on a purpose their goals elsewhere,” he said. “For Eric, it was clear we wanted him ingrained in the fabric of who we are.”
Restaurant employees get an ownership stake in places they work is rare. Even more rare for hard work, “sweat equity,” to be accepted as payment.
Billy Club’s principals decided investing in people is smart business. It’s part of a small-scale revolution taking place in Buffalo restaurants and other food businesses, where industry veterans are creating new restaurant models.
Places like the Grange Community Kitchen group, Extra Extra Pizza, Mojo Market, and Remedy House, are investing in their employees. They’re betting that better pay, regular days off, collaborative decision-making, and even health insurance are smart contributions to their businesses’ health.
Ask any restaurant owner for their biggest problem in 2024. Getting enough of the right employees will rank high. The pandemic gave a lot of people pause to reconsider life choices, and many restaurant workers have decided there’s better ways to make a living.
The post-pandemic drought of workers willing to labor in pre-pandemic conditions for minimum wage has landed hardest on places playing by the old rules. Operators can no longer rely on a steady supply of replacements showing up on demand, like another Sysco skillet.
Pitman, born in Buffalo, was raised in Holland, where he graduated Holland High School in 2010.
Fables Cafe was his first post, at the main library in downtown Buffalo. Then Vera Pizzeria as dishie with Jessica Railey, Cameron Rector, and Jon Karel. He was working prep one night when he pinch-hit as a server. He never returned.
“What I learned from from that core group of leaders is that in a restaurant, you are curating an experience for a guest who's there to spend their hard-earned money,” said Pitman. “What the thing tastes like is an aspect of the experience, but it is not the totality of the experience. So often, it comes down to how you treat the people who come in, how you make people feel when they're in your space.”
Hagen and Strawser included him in important conversations from the start, said Pitman. “Because I’m one of the people that will be executing them, it made sense to them that my standards should be considered when deciding what the standards for the brand are.”
And as time has gone on, we've all realized that we all pretty much fall pretty close to the same page and a lot of topics. So it's been kind of this natural, cooperative effort to decide exactly who we are as a brand. And what our goals are.”
With Strawser and Hagen focusing on getting Frontier House in Lewiston opened this summer, Pitman’s promotion means Billy Club’s record of hands-on ownership can continue. Ownership on the floor, modeling standards and practices, addressing complaints, and otherwise strengthening customer ties, is a common denominator of successful restaurants.
“We're such a small operation that it is very much like a community that we have created there,” said Pitman. “And the care that they show to the members of that community is why I'm still there.”
Want fresh intel on Buffalo eating possibilities? Get Four Bites.
REVIEW: Winfield’s Pub is what happens when a master chef who’s spent decades playing to the cheap seats, finally gets to work a small room, where his riffs really resonate. A decade long track record makes Winfield’s Pub a Lackawanna landmark, a cathedral of tavern cooking done right. (Later today, for patrons.)
EVENTS: On June 2, the Conor J. Casey Foundation, honoring the former Coco executive chef, hosts a fundraising day of food and music at Wings Meeting Place, 3964 California Road, Orchard Park.
Set for 1 p.m.-8 p.m., hear live music from The Kensingtons, Ten Cent Howl, The Traitors, and PA Line. An abbondanza buffet includes Greco and Sons Italian sausage with sauteed peppers and onions, Sahlen's hot dogs, Ted's specialty condiments, and burgers. Vegetarian offering include summer vegetable and pesto puff pastry turnovers, Moroccan chickpea, currant and carrot salad, sweet and tangy broccoli salad, kale and cabbage rainbow slaw, and orchiette caprese.
Tickets, $80, include music, food, wine and beer. Cash bar available. Get tickets here.
ASK THE CRITIC:
Q: Now that Red Lobster has closed all of its restaurants, there aren’t any seafood places left worth going to? My wife and I don’t want to have to drive to Canada to get our fried shrimp and bay cheddar biscuits.
- S.M., Cheektowaga, via email
A: No problem whatsoever.
First, Red Lobster cheddar biscuit mix is widely available, like Walmart available. You can hammer those savory nugs in 14-16 minutes, without leaving home. That’s quicker than waiting for a Friday night table.
Second, Buffalo has dedicated outlets serving customers better seafood every day. Let me run a few options by you.
Hayes Seafood House, 8900 Main St., Clarence, hayesseafoodhouse.com, 716-632-1772
Run by career seafood family since 1877, my calamari standby for their New England breaded style fried seafood. Also offering a nice piece of fish done right in a dynamic menu of creative entrees, and a wide-ranging array of fresh seafood to cook at home.
Bailey Seafood, 3316 Bailey Ave., baileyseafood.com, 716-833-1973
Another long-running family operation takes pride in fryer maintenance and snappy service, with a robust online ordering and pickup business. Fine-grained ordering allows customers to ask for a single piece of fish from Bailey Seafood’s market cases, fried to order. Bailey Seafood’s Super Haddock sandwich takes the all-city fish sandwich championship.
Kenmore Fish Market, 3279 Delaware Ave., facebook.com/kenmorefish, Kenmore, 716-876-3035
Fresh seafood cooked to order always makes sense at a seafood specialist, and a generation of families in Tonawanda and beyond have adopted Kenmore Fish Market as their trusted source. Smoked tuna mac salad is one of the dishes that emerge from the operation’s active smoker. Or pick out your choice of dinner, and take it home to cook as thou wouldst.
The Market at Fresh Catch, 5933 Main St., Williamsville, fcmarket.co, 716-907-7773
What started as a poke bowl outfit broadened out into a seafood market after owner Michael Tobin got his supply lines straightened out. Now you can buy fresh seafood and ready-to-cook packages of treats like oysters Rockefeller, right across Main Street from Williamsville South High School.
More reading from Michael Chelus:
Mr. Galarneau wrote about the delicious, first-rate Mexican cuisine to be found at Casa Azul [Four Bites]
The owners of Remedy House have found that a union workforce helps grow their business [Four Bites]
Francesca told us the story behind It's Pierogi Time [Buffalo News]
Have a look inside La Fiesta Cantina in Allentown [Buffalo News]
Christa wrote about the charm of Chautauqua County and told us to dine at places like Truffle Honey, Portage Pie and more [Buffalo Spree]
Francesca's week in Buffalo food told us of the opening of La Fiesta Cantina, new dishes at Mister Sizzle's and more [Buffalo News]
Francesca also wrote about the New York Beer Project Beer Lodge slated to open in Orchard Park next month [Buffalo News]
Naomi wrote about Adrian's Custard & Beef on Grand Island [Step Out Buffalo]
For the first stop of Buffalo Eats' Lost in Transit-lation, Donnie stopped at Feature Eatery [Buffalo Eats]
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Still so glad I subscribed. But please don't assume that we all know what and where Billy Club is. Sure, I could Google it, but it would be nice to have an address provided...maybe even other contact info. (Or did I miss it?) Just a VERY mildly constructed criticism. Thanks!