With students away, revenues dip for restaurants in Arlington

For the Vassar student looking for a quick bite to eat without going far, there is little not to love about the restaurants in Arlington: They often accept V-Cash, offer relatively inexpensive fares and are conveniently located within walking distance. Yet just as members of the Vassar community depend on restaurants such as Twisted Soul and Bacio's as a refreshing change from campus dining, their dependence on our business is often overlooked.

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Ira Lee opened Twisted Soul in 2007 to showcase and share cuisines inspired by his travels around the world. Originally on Main Street, the restaurant moved to its current location on Raymond Avenue two and a half years ago. This has made a significant difference in the volume of customers his business receives daily, most of which come specifically from the College.

"On Main Street we would only get 10 people a day, but we got maybe 100 people in the first hour when we first opened over here. Of course it didn't stay like that, but we could do 10 people in a half an hour here when we could only get 10 people a day there. So in this case the change in location told me that we are more of a college-orientated restaurant," said Lee.

Lee noted, "The business we get is about 80 percent college students and 20 percent community, easily."

During Vassar's winter and summer breaks, Lee closes Twisted Soul for two and a half weeks and uses that time to travel with his family. Although he would initially take a week's vacation when the restaurant was located on Main Street, he specifically cited the lull in business he experiences during breaks as the reason for extending the length of his vacations.

"It really works around the College and we realize that so we try to work as much as we can when school is in session and when breaks come around we take that as a rest too."

With only half of all newly opened small businesses surviving the first five years, according to the 2010 Census data, the importance of establishing a reliable customer base is not to be underestimated. Because his business is primarily geared toward college students, Lee tries to keep each of the menu items priced less than $10. Twisted Soul's participation in Tasty Tuesdays also helps secure the restaurant's client base while increasing the amount of business it receives on an otherwise slow day.

While Lee's business is comprised primarily of Vassar students, only 30 percent of Bacio's business comes directly from the Vassar community. Bacio's owner Gerardo Carino considers his restaurant's clientele to be mostly Poughkeepsie residents, but he does not underestimate the amount of business he receives from Vassar. The restaurant's delivery hours are extended until 4 a.m. on the weekends only when school is in session.

Carino has taken steps to advertise in various local publications in order to increase business among his non-Vassar customers. This has allowed Carino's restaurant to establish a reliable customer base within Poughkeepsie that serves as a buffer when his customers from Vassar disappear during breaks.

"A lot of my delivery guys don't like to deliver in town when it is late, so when I'm open late we only deliver to the school. We get a lot of business this way," he said.

Ken Kraft, who opened the Krafted Kup in 2007 with his wife, Janet, echoed Carino's claim that about 30 percent of his business came from the Vassar community.

"When the school goes on break, business drops by 30 percent. But over the course of time we were able to build up a base of 12-month residents that we were able to survive and stay here."

Although Lee relies more heavily on business from Vassar than do some of his neighbors, he is nevertheless satisfied with the customer base he cultivated for his restaurant.

"I think being primarily a college restaurant has its cons, but as long as you understand when the school breaks are ... you are okay," stated Lee.

Although Lee is now comfortable marketing Twisted Soul mostly to Vassar, he admits that the uncertainty of establishing a reliable customer base around the College was at first somewhat nerve-wracking. "In the beginning when you are not sure of that you get a little nervous. When Twisted Soul first came over to Raymond Avenue people were saying, ‘Don't think you can survive just from the college kids.' We heard a lot of negativity, especially since we were the new kids on the block."

Lee further stated, "But I think the con has actually turned into a positive. It actually forces us to rest, and usually in this industry that is unheard of."