September 24, 2020

by Elisa L. Zuckerberg, Founder of HearItThere.com

As difficult as it has been for everyone the last few months, it’s been especially hard on small businesses, particularly owners and managers of restaurants/pubs and certainly, music venues.

We know that independent musicians and bands are suffering and HearItThere.com has been doing its best to support them by sharing live-streams and information about their outdoor shows. We’ll being talking more about their challenges in the next article. This blog explores the local establishment where they perform. Local musicians and bands rely heavily on these places to connect with their fans and find new ones.

I spoke with two Hudson Valley business owners, Matt Crossett, co-owner of The Yorktown Grille and Drew Claxton of the BeanRunner Café in Peekskill, New York. These venues are primarily restaurants, but also offer live music as a way to draw new customers and give local musicians the opportunity to perform. Fortunately, and for now, both places are weathering the storm and have stayed open using both practical business strategies and creative endeavors to encourage business. Given the current challenges magnified by New York State mandates permitting only “incidental music” and no advertised events, they’re still holding on.

Matt Crossett is the Yorktown Grille’s co-owner, along with his brother Bob. It is predominantly a restaurant and sports bar, but also present live music. They’ve been in business for over five years and before the pandemic had a steady flow of regulars and new visitors. Matt told me that Yorktown isn’t particularly a big music town, but their customers love coming in to watch a game or hear the local band. Matt spoke with me about managing the pub through the first weeks of the pandemic and the prospect of moving into the winter months.

Elisa: I had a great time at the Grille last week and I noticed you had a pretty steady stream of customers. Joe Luckenbill and Plasm had a nice spot outside and the music seemed to work out pretty well. How are things going right now business-wise?

Matt: It’s a complicated situation. In general, we’re down from the year before, but doing some business.

Elisa: Matt, how did you get through the first couple of months of the pandemic when so many other places closed temporarily or permanently?

Matt: We never closed and stayed open for take-out pretty much the entire time. Except for the first night and the uncertainty of it all at the beginning when no one knew anything. We waited until we could open and did right away when we could. We had to cut staff and then started cleaning and renovating. We improved the bathrooms even though the people working on the project understood that they couldn’t get paid right away. We weren’t making money until the end of May and couldn’t get unemployment. At that time I worked in the kitchen and offered a limited menu and survived doing that. We did make enough to pay our insurance though.

Elisa: How about rent?

Matt: Fortunately, our landlord was lenient with rent. They demanded full rent but were willing to take what that they could from us. The hope is when we re-open and are profitable, we could pay the back rent. Aside from the Dollar Store, we’re an anchor tenant, which he didn’t want to lose. The Town of Yorktown has been very supportive too which has been helpful.

 “We just need to get through it. Stay open at all costs. Follow all the rules.”

Elisa: When colder and inside, what will that be like?

Matt: We’ll know what the winter looks like in the next couple weeks. Schools opening will be indicator. If they open and doing fine, we can stay open. We will have to be creative though. We’ve already gotten better and cleaner. We’re getting a new tent with solid sides for the outside which we feel will make everyone safe. Once inside, everyone will have to wear a mask at all times unless they are eating. I don’t like to be confrontational with customers, but people don’t want us to close, therefore I insist that they follow the rules. I often say to those who aren’t wearing one, “Yo, it’s not my law, it’s the governments law.” I can lose my liquor license if I don’t follow the rules. We know the entire late-night crowd. They follow the rules and it’s not an issue.

People want to be social. They’re going crazy and want to GET OUT!” 

Elisa: I’m curious about how the music fits in. Does the entertainment bring in customers? Before COVID and now?

Matt: Yorktown isn’t a big music town and is a pet project of mine since I’m a musician. We’re doing music, but it’s hard to do. Right now we only have one or two musicians perform at a time. I don’t like cover bands and just like to bring good artists and pay them. And since people won’t pay a cover, it limits what we can do. Good thing is, patrons are good at tipping. Local musicians want to perform and at this point consider less money is better than no money. We probably won’t be able to do music once we’re fully inside though. What really matters is how the disease goes. 

Hopefully, there will be a vaccine soon and people will go out again. We’re getting better. Our great town and people are why we can do this. From the beginning, our town came out and said they want us here and to stay open.

 (We’re) just trying to stay open and make it through and be one of those places that comes out on the other side.

Elisa: Thanks Matt. I look forward to hanging at The Yorktown Grille and will help spread the word about your special place.

Visit Yorktown Grille and have a drink and great wings, salads and more! It is located at 347 Downing Drive in the Yorktown Green Shopping Center in Yorktown Heights.

“We weathered the worst of the storm and are starting to come back.”

~ Drew Claxton of the BeanRunner Café in Peekskill.

My second interview was with Drew Claxton of BeanRunner Cafe in Peekskill, New York.

The BeanRunner Café,  located in the heart of Peekskill’s historic and artists’ district, opened over 13 years ago in 2007. The owner, Ted Bitter, and his wife Drew Claxton, took 4 years and most of their savings to restore an old and abandoned hair net factory into a cafe and jazz club. Before the pandemic the BeanRunner had music three to four times a week and their operating hours were 8:00am – 6:00pm most days and 11:00pm on weekends to accommodate the music.

Elisa: I’m so glad that BeanRunner is still in operation. The last few months must have been very challenging, but you’re still here. What did you and Ted do since March that helped keep you going?

Drew: A couple of things. When the shut-down came, we did not really shut down. We cut down the number of employees, reduced our hours and secured a PPE loan that helped us get through the worst of it. We did take out, mainly curb-side pickup, and when things began to open up for outside dining, we sat people on our back patio.  What helped a lot was “Peekskill Walks,” a community group that coordinated with the businesses and asked to the City of Peekskill to close Esther Street (temporarily). Ray Blue, a local musician who runs a not-for profit called “Cross Cultural Connection” organized a live jazz series on Esther street which is outside the BeanRunner.  The City was very generous and issued a permit because they understand that musicians have been hard hit, that live jazz was central to our business, and that, given COVID, this is the only way for live music to happen.  There is no cover for these shows and donations for musicians are accepted.

Elisa: What about the music moving forward?

Drew: I’m not sure we’ll be able to be a live music venue going forward. Our mission has been to make jazz music and other genres of live music available to everyone. Before the pandemic we had music three times a week. Our food menu is very reasonably priced so customers could come and eat and afford the charge at the door. The cover collected all went to the musicians. At capacity we can fit 60-65 people in BeanRunner. Right now I’m looking at realistically, social distancing 25-30 inside and NY State COVID regulations don’t allow venues to charge for live music or to advertise live music. Not being able to charge or advertise, we’d have to fully cover the cost of musicians, which can’t be done at our price point.

Customers like our place because it was a listening room and we are very fortunate to get great internationally-known musicians. If in my lifetime we get COVID under control we can start up again, advertise, charge a cover… but it may take even longer for people to feel comfortable. People are shell-shocked right now and understandable wary.

Elisa: How long do you think it will take?

Drew: At least six months up to a year… when it finally rolls out. We’ll have to take it day by day. This winter when people move inside we will probably go back to shorter hours and stay open until 4:00pm for breakfast and lunch. When it comes to music, if we have it, there won’t be any wind instruments, or brass and all the musicians will have to wear masks.

Elisa: Getting back to how you weathered the storm. What did you do about rent?

Drew: We own the building but have a mortgage. Fortunately, the cafe isn’t our only income, we have two tenants upstairs, and an artist studio downstairs. So that helped tremendously.

Our curbside pickup sales were enough to keep one full time and one part time person employed, to pay the insurance and electric. But some did come out of our pocket too.

There are a couple of other things we did. Ted started an initiative for those in crisis called the “pay-it-forward” program, for those who could not afford a meal. People in the community would come in and buy food or donate money and  people who were out of work or just in need of a meal could get that meal for free. Others paid what they could.

I also quilt and had a closet full of material. I learned how to make reusable face masks and an additional six women in the community helped me make them. The BeanRunner became the distribution center for free masks. People would come in for the mask and donate to the pay-if-forward program so someone else could eat.

Elisa:  Is the pay-it-forward program still in progress?

Drew: No. When the worst of the crisis passed and the money donated ran out, we ended the program.

Elisa: Thank you for your time. I’m looking forward to coming by, picking up a mask and a delicious cup of coffee and sandwich. Good luck to you both!

BeanRunner is located on 201 S. Division Street Peekskill. For more information about the goings on at the BeanRunner join the mailing list: BeanRunner.com

Author’s note: While the weather is nice, we’ve had the opportunity to hear music outdoors, which has been great. For those of us who enjoy music all year round, the next questions we will be asking are:

  • What is going to happen moving into the Fall?

  • Will patrons feel comfortable eating and listening inside even if all the state protocols are met (social distancing, limited capacity)?

  • Now that school is open, will we see an uptick in COVID-19 numbers and

  • Will places begin to shut down again?

There are a lot of unknowns and in the meantime, we should all do our best to support our local businesses, especially those who are keeping LIVE MUSIC alive!

Comments? Email: info@HearItThere.com

Elisa Zuckerberg is Founder of HearItThere.com