Business

Six-month-old Jaylynne, with her mother Tesla Greck, met the Easter Bunny for the first time today at Oliver's Candies. The Easter Bunny made a special guest appearance at Oliver's today and gave out candy to dozens of children who came by for a visit.

Are New York's dairy farmers being harmed by possible monopolies in the milk-processing industry?

That's one of the questions the nation's top anti-trust cop will try to answer when she meets with a group of dairy owners at Genesee Community College at 11 a.m., March 27.

The meeting isn't a hearing, but Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney will be on hand to hear directly from farmers what complaints they might have regarding alleged price fixing.

New York Farm Bureau President Dean Norton said the farm bureau has been working on getting farmers to the meeting, but he doesn't have a position on whether there are monopoly practices in the industry.

"I can't say yes or no to that question," Norton said. "There are some people who believe there are monopolies in the industry, but I don't know if there is any hard evidence to prove it. That's one thing I guess Varney wants to find out."

Sen. Charles Schumer helped arrange the meeting after learning that Varney has been working on anti-trust issues in other parts of the agriculture industry.

(via Watershed Post)

In a filing with the SEC, Batavia-based Graham Corp. announced raises for its senior executives, effective April 1, according to the Rochester Business Journal.

Pay for CEO James Lines jumps 3.8 per cent, from $265,000 to $275,000.

Three percent increases were given to Jeff Glajch, vice president–finance and administration and chief financial officer, to $216,000; Alan Smith, vice president of operations, to $183,536; and, Jennifer Condame, controller and chief accounting officer, to $132,613.

Batavia-based Graham Corp., which in 2008 saw the price of its stock drop from $50 per share to under $10 in the space of about three months, continues a string of good news in recent months.

This week Graham announced a quarterly dividend of two cents and another $6 millions in orders.

The orders have come from multiple sources around the world and include work for steam surface condensers installed in the U.S. and Asia.

The first order will be sent to a municipal waste-to-energy project in the U.S.

Growth is what most small business owners aim for, and Marc and Michelle Johnson reached an important milestone last month -- they moved from retail space they rented on East Main Street, Batavia, to a location on Washington Avenue that they own.

The Johnsons set up shop for Millennium Computers, founded in Batavia in 1997, in the former real estate office of Feary Cohen.

Marc Johnson said he had been planning for a couple of years to move Millennium into space he owned and bought vacant land on Washington next to the Cohen office a couple of years ago.

This past summer, he said, Howard Cohen called him and offered him the Feary Cohen space. It was a deal he couldn't pass up, he said.

"As an entrepreneur, you want to keep reinventing yourself," Johnson said.

While the new space is smaller, that's better Johnson said. It enables him and his staff to work more efficiently. They can handle multiple projects more easily.

It also helps that they were able to redesign the office -- which is based on a plan created by Michelle -- to suit their needs.

The office is designed, he said, for efficiency and openness, so that when needed, customers can work directly with the tech fixing or upgrading their computers.

And there's room to grow, either on the vacant parcel to the east or on the south side of the building.

"If business continues to increase the way it has over the past two years or so, I don't see any reason why we won't be able to expand," Johnson said.

In an awards ceremony themed "Simply Elegant," the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce honored its Class of 2009 with a dinner and presentation at a local hotel on Saturday night.  

Pictured above are, front row, Billie Owens, Naomi Silver, Chris Sardou, Mary Sardou, Christine Adamczak; back, Howard Owens, Gary Larde, Buddy Brasky, Tom Sardou, Steve Tufts,  Bill Dougherty, Tony Kutter and Travis Sick.

UPDATE 8:22 p.m., Monday: I should note, it was The Batavian's turn this year  to write, and WBTA to broadcast, profiles of this year's award recipients. I'd like to thank Genesee Graphics for printing, and Bill Mosman, a L.C. Mosman for framing the prints. Bill did an excellent job on was by necessity a rush order.

More pictures after the jump:

Dan "The Voice of Genesee County" Fischer, of WBTA, delivered a few opening remarks.

Tony Kutter accepts the award for Kutter's Factory Cheese Store.

Naomi Silver of Rochester Community Baseball with daughter, Desiree, 8.

Steve Tufts of the Batavia Area Jaycees with Tara Pariso and Cathryn Colby.

Chris, Tom and Mary Sardou of Viking Valhalla/Rose Garden Bowl, the Business of the Year.

Myron "Buddy" Brasky, Batavia High basketball coach (and JV baseball coach), the Geneseean of the Year.

ADDED: Thanks to Melissa George from the Chamber for the picture below.

Don Desjarlais, a representative of Oregon Cutting Systems out of Raleigh, N.C., talks about the differences in chain saw teeth during a chain saw safety clinic at Cedar Street Sales and Rentals.

The annual clinic provides area highway department workers and others who use chainsaws frequently detailed information on the operation of chain saws and their safe use.

Dan Fisher at WBTA was kind enough to air a story today about The Batavian, interviewing me and Billie, with Pachuco in the studio.

Ameka Cooper at Carlson's Studio shot the portrait picture.

You can listen to Dan's story here (mp3).

The awards will be handed out Saturday night at the Holiday Inn.

Previously, The Batavian ran the following stories on our fellow award winners:

• Genesee County Business of the Year: Viking Valhalla Restaurant
• Geneseean of the Year: Buddy Brasky
• Kutter's Cheese Factory Store: 2009 Agricultural Business of the Year
• Special Recognition Award: Rochester Community Baseball
• Special Service Recognition Award: The Batavia Area Jaycees

Tom Rivers is a reporter of boundless energy. He's run in marathons and worked day-long shifts in local farm fields.

Now he's published a book.

The Batavia Daily News staff writer wrote an award-winning series 2008 about his laborious research into just want it takes to work at local farms in Western New York. Those articles are the basis of Farm Hands: Hard work and hard lessons from Western New York fields.

"Books have a little more permanence," Rivers said. "You can read about the titans of industry, such as Dean Richmond, in books, but there aren't a lot of books about the people doing the work. I just think the farmworkers make a great contribution to our community. They deserve the recognition (of being in a book)."

The stories of Tom's days and nights in the fields of Genesee, Wyoming and Orleans counties picking apples and chopping and throwing cabbage give the reader a great sense of just how hard farm work is.

Although he knew it would be challenging, Rivers said he was surprised by how taxing it really is. And it takes training, experience and dedication to ensure that the produce isn't damaged before it's delivered to market.

"There's this feeling that we can just throw anybody into farm work, but not just anybody can do this," Rivers said. "Buyers could reject 40 tons of cabbage if it's not just perfect, if the heads are bruised. There's more pressure on the workers than there is in my job or in most people's jobs. They have to aim for perfection."

The book contains additional material not included in the original newspaper series, Rivers said.

Rivers self-published the book and had it printed at Hodgkins Printing in the Harvester Center.

The full-color book came out looking great, Rivers said. Daily News Publisher Tom Turnbull didn't hesitate to give Rivers permission, without fee, to reprint his own articles as well as the color photos that ran with the series.

"I like that it says, 'Printed in Batavia,' but I don't feel like I was working with a second-rate company," Rivers said. "They were great over there."

The book is for sale locally at the Holland Land Office Museum and Present Tense Books on Washington Avenue.

A bit of confirmation of rumors that Sam Pontillo is working on a deal to reopen the legendary pizzeria on East Main Street came out of the Genesee County Economic Development Center today.

Pontillo's potential landlord, BP Properties out of Rochester, was granted a $6,875 property-tax exemption by the GCEDC.

GCEDC officials said BP Properties and Sam Pontillo are trying to secure refinancing on $500,000 in debt left over from the previous operation.

(via WBTA)

Previously:

• Could uncovered Pontillo's neon be a sign of what's to come?
• Could Pontillo's in Batavia soon be a Pontillo's again?

As factory jobs have moved overseas, Western New Yorkers are making less and less money, according to a recent study from the University of Buffalo.

From 2004 to 2008, low-paying jobs -- those paying less than $30,000 per year -- increased 17 percent, while mid-wage jobs ($30,000 to $70,000) decreased 10 percent.

From the press release:

"These findings portray a new economic reality for Western New York that's in stark contrast to decades past, when the region paid some of the highest wages in the country," said Kathryn A. Foster, economics institute director. "It raises a host of questions about how to build and sustain economic security for Western New Yorkers."

During this same period, good-paying jobs -- above $70,000 -- have increased 6 percent. Those jobs comprise about 8 percent of the workforce, and the other two sectors are split evenly at 46 percent.

The federal poverty line for a single person is $10,830. For two people living together, it's $14,570. According to the report, Penn State’s Living Wage Calculator (meeting basic expenses), a single person should earn $18,300 in Buffalo. A single parent with a 5-year-old child needs $36,000 annually to meet basic needs.

A full-time, minimum wage job pays $15,000 annually. The median income in WNY is $31,080.

In 2008 dollars, a typical factory job from the 1970s might pay $60,000.

The report uses a fictional three-generation family to illustrate how the loss of good-paying factory work has forced both parents in a family of four to work and that family has less to fall back on.

But WNY is not alone. Low-paying service-sector jobs have been growing at about the same rate across the country, according to the report, though those jobs comprise just 43 percent of the work force.

As factories have closed, fewer and fewer workers enjoyed the benefits of organized labor:

"As both cause and reflection of the changing economy and wage structures, the percentage of workers represented by labor unions dropped steadily since the 1950s, from a national high of 35 percent to a current level of 12 percent. Unionization levels in the Buffalo Niagara region have mirrored national trends, particularly as manufacturing jobs have fallen. Yet the region’s unionization levels are consistently above national averages. Metro Buffalo’s 17-percent unionization rate in 2009 for private-sector workers was more than two times the 7-percent private-sector unionization rate for the nation."

Clearly, although the report concentrates on Buffalo as "Western New York," these issues do appear to be regionwide.

Full report available for download (pdf).

It was hard -- even 43 years later -- for Mary Sardou to retell the story of her husband's passing and what it meant for 13-year-old Tom.

"When my husband passed, we sat in the funeral home for three days," Mary says, and then stops, pushing back tears. "I'm sorry," she says.

"You started the story, ma. You've got to finish it," says Tom, now 56, as we sit in the dining room of the Rose Garden Bowl/Viking Valhalla Restaurant in Bergen, talking over a plate of wings about the history of Genesee County's 2009 Business of the Year.

Doc and Mary Sardou bought the Rose Garden Restaurant -- 30 years in business at the time -- in 1954, added a bowling alley three years later and renamed it Viking Valhalla in 1966. They had some rough times as young entrepreneurs, working hard, trying to raise two sons, and dealing with the region's changing business climate. But it was the death of Tom's father that may have been the biggest challenge for the family to overcome.

"Everybody," says Mary, trying to start again, "everybody who walked up to us said to him ... 'now you’re the man of the house. You’re the man.' I’m sure that just stuck in his mind. It stuck in mine. I think he felt very obligated to stay with me."

"Did that have an impact on you?"

"Absolutely," says Tom. "That was drilled into me. When I went into high school I knew what my course in life would be. It was going to be running a business."

Tom Sardou did what many teenage boys did -- he went to school, made the wresting team and even dreamed of being a cop. But after graduation, he didn't enter the University of Buffalo or RIT or even GCC. Sardou started a different education program: "the college of hard knocks," as he puts it.

First, Sardou took a job at Gates Bowl as a night manager so he could learn the bowling business. The next year, at age 19, Tom started running, with his mother, the restaurant and bowling lanes.

And he's been at it, seven days a week, ever since.

"I do enjoy it," Tom says. "There’s times when I would like a little more time off than I get. There’s times when I wake up in the morning and say, 'geez, I’d like to call in sick today.'"

Hard work and innovation to adjust to an ever-changing business climate pretty much define Viking Valhalla and the Sardous.

At 82, Mary Sardou still comes to the restaurant every day to take care of the books and look over the operation. Tom took a special interest in the bowling business, even serving for years as president of the area's bowling operators association, and manages the restaurant along with his wife, Chris -- who met Tom, where else, at the Viking Valhalla.

When Mary, Tom and Chris attend the chamber's award ceremony Saturday evening, it will be the first time ever that at least one of them was not at Viking Vahalla on a weekend night.

That's quite a bit of dedication for a restaurant Mary wasn't sure she even wanted her husband to buy when they first saw it. She didn't even want to go inside after they drove from their home in Fairport to look at it. "We came all this way," Doc said. "We might as well take a look."

Her first day of work at the restaurant began minutes later, when she saw the owner's wife needed help with the dishes.

At first, the couple paid weekly rent on the restaurant. Doc cooked and Mary tended bar, pregnant with their son, George.

Doc happened to meet one of the county's richest men at the time, Oakfield's G. Sherwin Haxton. Haxton came into the bar one day to meet Mary. He decided the Sardous seemed like decent, hard-working people. He decided to help them out. Mary calls Haxton, "our angel."

“He liked us," Mary said. "He went to bat for us. He went to the Columbia Bank in Rochester and he talked to the owner of the bank and told him to give us the loan, and he did.”

The loan helped them expand.

Winters for a restaurant along Buffalo Road in Bergen were dead. In the late '50s, there were no snowmobilers riding up to your front door looking for a brew and a burger, and with Batavia Downs closed for the season, there was very little Rochester-to-Batavia traffic. The Sardous had to figure out a way to bring in business during the cold, snowy months.

The bowling alley seemed like the right idea.

That worked for a while, but after the Thruway opened, more and more traffic bypassed Bergen. While a lot of family businesses in New York shut down as a result of the Thruway opening, the Sardous were determined to hang on. They worked harder, started hosting more parties and found ways to make ends meet.

While other business owners might have given up, Tom Sardou said, "We've never been of that mindset."

To keep the bowling business going, the Sardous have added leagues to fit into any bowler's schedule, from monthly leagues and morning leagues for mothers to a "wine and cheese league" Chris created to attract people who like to try new, fine wines.

But bowling slows down in the summer when people are more interested in outdoor activities, so Tom added sand volleyball courts in 1993.

The constant tinkering and finding new ways to keep the business going are just part of the family tradition.

"After my husband died, people said, ‘she won’t last six months,’" Mary recalls. "They were thinking I would give up or fall on my face. I’m not sure which. But I was determined to make it.

"This is my whole life."

A welcome sight on a long stretch of Route 5, at 857 Main Road in Corfu, is Kutter's Cheese Factory Store. Epicures, bus loads of tourists, wine lovers, cheese tasters and other customers make regular stops at the retail shop because they like what it offers.

The variety is impressive. Blocks of Swiss cheese, wheels of jack cheese, spreads, curds, cheesecakes, specialty cheeses like Stilton with lemon or double-cream Spanish cheddar, crackers, cranberry horseradish sauce, New York maple syrup, eggs, fresh local apples, hot mustard, bologna and more.

The success of Kutter's Cheese Factory Store and its positive impact on local agriculture are why it is being honored Saturday by the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce as Agricultural Business of the Year for 2009.

It is also a "satellite winery" of Hunt Country Wines and carries its New York wines exclusively. Wine sales at stores offering local farm and dairy products are allowed under New York Department of Agriculture and Markets law. In fact, at one time, dairymen grew grapes for vintners to augment their income.

Even so, the retail pairing isn't commonplace, according to 77-year-old Tony Kutter, son of the late founder, Leo.

"I've always been adament about promoting wine and cheese," Kutter said. "We also supply a lot of wineries with cheese for wine tasting."

In fact, the business ships worldwide, from California to Taiwan.

The small Corfu store property is leased from the adjacent Yancey's Fancy cheese producers as well as the equipment to make its own cheese. Kutter's produces fine cheddars and other cheese varieties, plus it sells products made by others, including some imports, like Port Salut from France.

Kutter lives just two houses away from the store, but is retired from the business. So is his 80-year-old brother, Richard, who lives in the area but spends winters in Florida.

Yet Tony remains active in the industry. He's on the board of directors of the New York State Cheesemaker Association and usually attends the Cheesemakers Convention. He's proud to note that the association pays half the salary of a professor at Cornell University to fund ag research.

Kutter says he's happy to work with the chamber of commerce to promote agritourism and he's honored to receive the chamber award. It recognizes a business that is now 63 years old.

In a way, it started in Bavaria, before the Great War. Leo (1893-1962) was born there and as a young man, his chosen vocation was cheese making. He was especially good at crafting the pungent Limburger variety.

Then World War I came and he served Germany. Two days prior to his being discharged, he was captured by the French and became a prisoner of war. But once the "War to End All Wars" was over, he returned to his roots. As the German economy faltered, inflation ran amouk and panic began setting in. He left for Buffalo, USA, thanks to the sponsorship of his sister. That was 1923-24.

Buffalo before the Great Depression was a boomtown, boasting large steel plants, flour mills and plenty of railroads lines to further commerce. He went to Wyoming County to find work in the dairy industry. Although the Great Depression created a shortage of milk, according to Tony, WWII created a shortage of sons to milk the cows.

Some historians claim there were more than 20 cheese factories in Western New York at the time. Leo told dairymen to bring him their milk, or let him milk their cows and otherwise make himself useful. What he really wanted, was to start his own cheese-making business.

He did so in Cowlesville in 1947, purposely on a main route with great access and visability. Tony and Richard learned young how to scrub vats and clean up equipment and the grounds after school.

After Leo's death, then-29-year-old Tony, a Korean War veteran, and his brother took over the business. It was hard, familiar work.

Early last year, they approached Brian Bailey and his wife, Heather, about buying the retail store. Brian had been a business partner of the Kutter brothers since 1995.

In November, they sealed the deal and along with Christine Adamczak, formed BHC Cheese, Inc. The trio constitutes the board of directors, with Heather as president, Brian as vice president of operations, and Adamczak as vice president of sales and marketing.

"It's an honor to be recognized, to be part of a business that is being carried on successfully after 63 years," Heather Bailey said.

Tony Kutter takes pride in creating a mighty "stinky" Limburger, the first cheese he learned to make, and claims more and more people are rediscovering it. Now with Kutter's Cheese Factory Store in award-winning hands, he's probably planning his 32nd trip to Russia.

There's a strong possiblity he'll be tempted to promote Limburger and vodka. The bold pairing does seems fitting. "Na zda-ro-vye!"

Covered by a giant tarp because business signs cannot appear on the outside of buildings that are for sale, according to city code, the neon-lit Pontillo's Pizzeria sign once again hangs proudly from the building at 500 E. Main St., Batavia.

Could it be a sign that Sam Pontillo is getting close to reopening the legendary restaurant? We still haven't heard from Sam or building owner Thomas Masachi about what's going on there, but crews continue to work inside the building.

O'Lacy's Irish Pub on School Street in Batavia celebrated its "Perfect Pour" award from Guinness this evening. Guinness representatives were on hand to add to the merriment, which include a free draught for Guinness fans as well as door prizes. The place was packed, even with the slightly bad weather.

More pictures after the jump:

Even though the property has been listed for sale, ownership of the Batavia Elks Lodge building is apparently in dispute.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks listed the property at 213 E. Main St., Batavia, with Charles Mancuso and Son, according to agent Mike Sisson.

The deed, however, lists "Batavia Lodge #950, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Batavia" as the owner. It is dated Nov. 16, 1918, according to County Clerk Don Read. The property was conveyed by Louis and Sarah Waird to the local Elks for $6,000.

Former Lodge #950 Exalted Ruler Paul Weiss left a comment on The Batavian disputing the Grand Lodge's claim to ownership.

"The Elks Lodge building is not owned by the Grand Lodge. It is owned by a local Batavia Elks corporation," Weiss wrote.

Lodge Exalted Ruler Timothy Garlock agreed that the ownership is in dispute, but he's still hoping the disagreement that led to the Grand Lodge revoking the local charter on Feb. 12 can be resolved.

The charter was apparently pulled purely for administrative reasons.

"If the Grand Lodge wants to pull our charter and make us go away, that's their call," Garlock said. "If they want to give us another crack at the bat, well, we've got some members working on that."

Kenneth Perry, one of the trustees appointed by the Grand Lodge, and who has previously commented on this matter, could not be reached.

UPDATE: News of an other New York lodge being closed, this time in Norwich.

According to an executive order issued by the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks Grand Lodge, Elk’s Lodge #1222 has failed to make reports required by the laws of the order, and has not complied with the auditing and accounting manual.

Sound familiar.  And there's this:

Officers and members of the Norwich lodge, however, strongly disagree with the decision, and have called upon the higher courts of the order for an opportunity to refute the executive ruling.

“This has been a problem for nearly a decade,” said local Exalted Ruler Jeff Cola. “We’re now in the process of appealing the Grand Lodge’s decision, and we believe it was based on past issues.”

What's up with Pontillo's? I get asked that question nearly every day. We've all seen the work crews there.

What a couple other people have seen is Sam Pontillo at the 500 E. Main St., Batavia, location.

Over the past two weeks I've called Sam Pontillo several times. I've left a few messages. I have not heard back from him.

I've also called the property owner, Thomas Masaschi, and left messages. No return call.

Admittedly, third hand, I've heard that another restaurant owner tried to buy the old Pontillo's sign and was told it wasn't for sale -- that there were plans for it.

So at this point, we only have rumors and speculation, but for all the people who keep asking me what's going on, that's the only answer I can give at this point.

The Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act, also known in these parts as the "farm death bill," will be the subject of a public hearing March 1 by the State Senate Agriculture Committee.

Sen. Darrel Aubertine (D-48) chairs the ag committee and requested the hearing after the bill, S-2247-B, passed the Senate's labor committee.

Aubertine told the Syracuse Post-Standard:

“This hearing will enable us for the first time as a committee to listen to the concerns of both the advocates for this bill and the farmers who will bear the responsibility of adhering to its new regulations,” said committee Chair Sen. Darrel Aubertine.

“We need to better assess the impact of this bill and be sure that we have the facts regarding how this bill will affect our economy, our farm workers and our family farms. We’ve lost more than a farm a day in New York State over the past 30 years and there’s no question that we cannot afford to lose another industry, especially agriculture, which is a cornerstone of our economy,” he said.

Opponents of the bill say it will devastate New York's 35,000 family farms, driving up costs and causing many farm workers to earn less.

The bill could also increase the costs of farm goods for consumers.

In an e-mail, Aubertine invited interested parties to submit testimony on the bill, which he said subjects farmers to new, complex mandates presenting a yet-undetermined impact on New York's food supply.

About the hearing, Aubertine wrote:

The Agriculture Committee will be hearing testimony on the proposed Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act on March 1st in Hearing Room A of the Legislative Office Building. While there is limited availability to provide oral testimony, I encourage you to share written testimony with the committee. If you would like to provide testimony on this topic, please contact Sarah Blood, Senate Agriculture Committee Director, at 518-455-2761 or blood@senate.ny.us by February 26. Please also provide a copy of your testimony to the committee no later than February 26. The Hearing will be streamed live via the the Senate Website starting at 9:00 AM.   

According to Wikipedia, Aubertine is a dairy farmer. He represents a primarily Republican, agriculture district. He is the only working farmer currently in the Senate.