New owner of Country Corner Café: “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”
By Dan De Federicis
Earlier this month, Long Island native Julee O’Callaghan purchased Country Corner Café from longtime owner Roseann Hotaling, who started the popular breakfast and lunch eatery at 25 Church Street back in 1991.
Those who are familiar with the café’s popular menu and experienced and friendly staff could be forgiven for not noticing the change in ownership. O’Callaghan, expressing appreciation and respect for what Hotaling has built over three plus decades, vows to preserve what the founder created. “There are so many loyal customers,” she noted with an appreciative smile. “It is so important to keep that.”
O’Callaghan has significant restaurant experience and worked for 16 years for the high-end restaurant chain Morton’s, with stints at several of the company’s locations in the metro NYC area and the Midwest. She started as a cocktail waitress and worked her way up to assistant general manager. She also worked for Nordstrom in their restaurant division. Most recently, she worked for Apple but left the company just before she closed on Country Corner Café.
The sale was limited to the restaurant, as the building is owned by a third party. So how did this downstater end up owning a restaurant in Saratoga Springs? Life’s transitions tend to push new doors open. In this case, O’Callaghan and her husband Mark’s triplets all went off to college in August, two at Ohio State and one in South Carolina. The new empty nesters had traveled to Saratoga Springs semi-regularly in the past, but when they came in September Julee wanted to look at purchasing a dog-friendly Bed and Breakfast.
She looked at some B&Bs, but they didn’t seem like the right fit. One morning during their visit the couple found themselves dining at Country Corner Café, and Julee noted something seemed familiar about the restaurant. She suddenly remembered she saw it for sale online. “You should buy it,” Mark declared. Flash forward a few months, and buy it she did, closing on January 4th.
Her respect for Hotaling doesn’t mean there won’t be some tweaks and a few personal touches. O’Callaghan indicated there will be “subtle” changes to the dining room, and a buffet/bar has been removed from inside the eastern entrance to allow room for a seating area. “If it’s pouring rain I don’t want customers waiting outside,” she said. She will put her own stamp on some of the specials, with a focus on supporting local food providers. She also wants to support local artists by displaying their work in the café. “But for now, that’s as far as I am going,” she noted.
The genuine respect O’Callaghan has for Roseann Hotaling is clearly mutual. “I am absolutely blessed,” the newly-retired Hotaling declared. “Julee is the perfect person, and I hope all patrons continue to support her.”
Hotaling started the café in the westernmost portion of the nearly 200-year old building in 1991. It had room for just 19 seats. She expressed great pleasure that the entire staff was carried over by the new ownership. “They have wonderful relationships with customers,” she noted. “They all have their own following.”
Hotaling recalled how she eventually expanded within the building, to the restaurant’s current footprint, to add capacity. She ran a second location for a number of years on High Rock Avenue in the Spa City. Asked about the decision to sell the restaurant, she told Saratoga Report that she is of retirement age and would like to spend more time with her three grandchildren. She will continue residing in the area. “My biggest joy has been the relationships I have built, which has created a huge family,” she said. “I hope to see them out in the community.”
Julee and Mark O’Callaghan are renting an apartment a short drive from the restaurant, and Mark helps out by hosting on the weekends. Asked last week to sum up the initial week plus of ownership, Julee noted she purchased the eatery nine days earlier and hadn’t had a day off since. “These are the best nine days of my career,” the new restauranteur noted with a big happy smile.
Saratoga Report wishes Julee success going forward, and Roseann a well-deserved retirement.