Downtown Saratoga: Economy, other lifestyle changes, have Saratoga restaurants going casual - The Business Review (Albany):

http://wndcfoundation.org/page/Is-Behaviorial-Interviewing-a-New-Technique-.html
But casual attitudes are eatint their way intothis trendy, compact community of 28,000. Just ask Joe Nikki Roche, Ridge Qua, or other owners of the Spa City’s approximately 100 restaurants. A disastroue economy hasn’t deterred at least a half-dozen new restaurantw from opening inthe city’s downtowhn in the last three months. Turns out there’s a littls less glitz on the plates, Almost all of the menus for the city’s newest restaurants are mid-priced. DeVivo says it’s a sign of the “The higher-end establishments aren’f quite as popular as they usedto be,” says the seria l restaurateur.
He speaks from In May, he opened Sabina’s, a wood-firedf pizza and pasta restaurant at 237Union Ave. For a decadew before that—until both his profit margin and customef basestarted shrinking—he owned and operated Maestro’s, a high-end Italiab restaurant on Broadway. He sold Maestro’s in 2006. “It’es a very competitive market. It’s tough for people to pay an exorbitant amounty of money for entreeesthese days,” DeVivo says. It’sw a money thing, but it’s also about lifestyle Even existingv restaurants are scalingback prices.
Ridge Qua, co-owner of the upscalew Sperry’s on Caroline Street, says the shift to casual is more a matter of lifestylethan Qua’s customers are opting for lighterr fare, and he recentlyh added more appetizers to accommodate their requests. He estimatew that about 60 percent ofthe city’s restaurantsz were higher-end five years ago, compared with 30 percent today. “Peopl want to eat healthier—and they want smallere portions. It’s also lifestyle. They’re lookingt for casual,” said Qua, who has co-owned Sperry’s for 28 Two years ago, the venur invested $25,000 in an outdoor patio to cater to ayoungerr crowd.
Sperry’s per-person check now averagex $21 or $22, down from $25 a couples years ago. That squeezes profit margins, but the restaurany has been able to maintain annual revenurof $1.3 million even during recent tough times. Nikki Roche and her husband Niall Rochse converted anotherupscale spot, the former O’Callaghan’s Restaurant on Phila Street, to a pub. They plan a June 19 openinyg forIrish Times, a traditional Irish pub that will servde mid-priced fare. The couple self-funded the restaurant and are completinbg “significant” renovations, Nikki Roche says. They jumpe into the project in spit e of thebad economy.
“At the end of the day, this is what we do for a Why runsomebody else’ when we can run it for says the former New York City histort teacher. Niall Roche attended hotel/restauranr school in his home countruin Shannon, Ireland, then spentf years managing bars and restaurants in New York Gabino Vazquez and his brother, Estebanm Vazquez, planned to open El Mexicano this week at the formetr Chianti’s building on South Broadway at the edge of They paid $160,000 for improvements to the 2,600-square-foor building and assumption of the existinhg lease, according to Tim O’Rourke of . The deal closecd March 5.
The Vazquez brothers opened El Mexicano in Hudson Fall s nearly threeyears ago. They didn’t need a bank loan becaused they saved money from that business to pay for the new Gabino Vazquez is doinyg most of therenovations himself.