Tuscan Brands & Pelham House Resort

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought withBilly and Jenny, brought to you by
the Box Center. For more thanfifteen years, this dining duo has been
eating their way through New England,mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest lestLawrence, and giving you the inside scoop
on where to wine, dine andspend your time. So get ready,
it's Food for Thought giving you somethingto chew on. Hey, folks,

(00:22):
so welcome into Food for Thought.Billy Costa here and we're going to spend
some quality time this week with mygood friend Joe Fower. First of all,
Joe, are you there, buddy? H I'm here, Billy.
How are you? I'm doing fine. First of all, how's the back?
I know you had back surgery acouple of weeks ago. Well,
they put me back together, sowe are in good shape. And I

(00:44):
know that to be true because Iwas just with you the other day at
your incredible manufacturing facility in the beautifultown of Lawrence. And you are a
Lawrence kid, right. I wasborn and raise the Lawrence, Massachusetts.
So for the sake of people listeningwho don't know the name, Joe Farrow,
Joe Farrow is all things, TuscanKitchen. And how many restaurants do

(01:08):
you have, Joe? So wehave with the village locations, we have
eleven locations, and we have TuskanMarket, Tuskin Kitchen, Tuscan Italian Chophouse
in bar, Tuskin Seagrill Catering Company, the artist in hotel, all kinds
of stuff. Okay, now youjust mentioned a lot of stuff, more

(01:33):
than anyone else I know, bythe way, So I never know,
Joe, where to start with you. I mean, I was two days
ago at the manufacturing facility, which, by the way, blew my mind.
Either way, we're going to talkabout that, But why don't we
start with how it started with JoeFarrow and Tuscan Kitchen. What is the
history there? Joe? Absolutely well, my history is one of an Italian

(01:57):
family that imigrated to the Merrimack Valleyfrom Sicily in the late fifties and early
sixties. And I grew up ina little Italian bakery and I started making
pasta when I was in college.I actually wrote a business plan to make
pasta that ultimately turned into the largestproducer of pasta and sauces in the country.

(02:23):
That was Joseph's Pasta. That wasJoseph's Pasta Company in Habrow, Massachusetts.
Yeah. I sold that business intwo thousand and seven, started Tusking
Brands in two ten, and eversince then we have twenty four operating businesses,

(02:44):
fifteen hundred employees at about four millionsquare Peter real Estate and Development.
Now, Joe, if I canrecall the very first time I met you,
Jenny and I were shooting our TVshow and I think we were celebrating
the opening of the doors, andI think, what was your first restaurant,
right, your first Tuscan restaurant,that's correct? Now, was that

(03:05):
Salem, New Hampshire. That wasin Salem, New Hampshire on Main Street.
Yeah, and that was a hugerestaurant and by the way, a
beautiful place. Yeah, it wasa very special place for us. That
restaurant is actually moving into the bottomof the artisan hotel in the Tuscan Village

(03:25):
on on or around Labor Day weekend. Okay, that's the second time you
mentioned Tuscan Village and I feel asthough I have to explain it. Tuscan
Village is it's almost you know,what you could have called it Farowtown,
because how many millions and millions ofsquare feet is Tuscan Village up there in

(03:47):
Salem, New Hampshire. It's fourmillion square beaten total. It's a hundred
and seventy acres. It was aformer Rockingham Park Faroughbred racetrack. Yeah,
and you know I went there.Jenny and I did a shoot just recently
because we want to get back tothe Tuscan market there, which, by

(04:09):
the way, without my knowing it, you built a beautiful bar inside the
market at the village. We can'tstop, Billy. We always change.
We'd like to be better every day. So my life is like a big
continuous improvement project, I'll say itis. So all right, So back
to the village. How many differentWell, first of all, you've got
a bunch of different Tuscan brand facilitiesthere, right, you do, including

(04:34):
a man made pond. I feelthe need to mention we built a pond,
think a junction with LB. Itstarts with fish and we can do
five fishing on it and canoeing andtattle boarding and very experiential. Yeah.
Now you have to understand, Okay, Joe aj, my producer, is

(04:54):
standing here in studio with me,and she's hearing us talk and she's going,
this cannot be possible, possible.And by the way, he's just
getting started just on the village alonein Salem, New Hampshire. So there
you have the pond pretty much inthe middle. You've got Tuscan Market,
all kinds of Tuscan facilities, You'vegot a beer garden, and there's always

(05:15):
something going on there right there,always is. We have all kinds of
programming from our summer concert series tothe holiday shops. We have all kinds
of street festivals. It's really afun place to go. Is a great
Sam Adams beer garden outside of PupkinMarket. How many different retailers shoe probably

(05:41):
around one hundred A. Yeah,I know you have a big Nike store
there. I know you've got LLLBean you just mentioned LLL mean, you've
got pottery barn, You've got ourhouse. I mean, go on,
what else do you have there?So we have Williams Sonoma were of our
house. We have a container storeout six fil A Beach Plum, so

(06:08):
much, so much great retail here. Yeah, And I continue to look
at AJ's reaction because AJ, wehaven't even mentioned yet. Oh, by
the way, there's a mass Generalhospital there too, on his property.
This is all very impressive. There'sa lot. Yeah, you got to
get there and spend the day.I'm telling you. You can literally go
kayaking, you can go shopping,you sit down at the market, the

(06:28):
beer garden. I mean, youcan spend an entire day there. You
can do it all. Yeah.And by the way, Joe, you're
not done there yet, aren't you? Because I saw a few places that
aren't even finished yet. Oh,we're not done. We have about a
million and a half square feet ofconstruction coming out of the ground right now.
I think I saw a shake shackon the way. Shake Shack is
on the way. Yeah, tavernon the square is on the way.

(06:50):
Our friend Joey R carry there yougo. Oh and by the way,
AJ, the hotel soon to open. Am I making that up? Joe
Artist in Hotel is going to beopening on car Show weekend in the middle
of September this year. Okay,we're gonna have to go to break Joe.
Okay, but hold that thought,because I want you to take us,

(07:14):
me and AJ and the listeners rightnow into the brand new hotel and
give us an eyewitness account as towhat that's going to be like. So
hold on right there, Joe.We've got Joe Farrell on from Tuscan Brands.
We're gonna take our first break.It's Food for Thought. Billy Kosta
here and we'll be right back.You're listening to Food for Thought brought so
you buy the Box Center and SalemWaterfront Hotel and sweets. Hey, folks,

(07:36):
welcome back. It is a Foodfor Thought. We've got Joe Farrell
from Duskin Brands on the phone,and before we went to break, we
were talking about and describing Tuscan Villageup in Salem, New Hampshire. If
you haven't checked it out yet,please take the entire family. But soon
to open at Tuscan Village is theArtisan Hotel. So Joe walk us through

(07:56):
the front doors of the hotel.The Artisan tell is really was a culinary
and hospitality vision um, you know, between Tuscan Brands and a company called
pro Con Construction that actually designs itbuilds hotels, and the vision was right

(08:16):
in the center of the Tuscan Villageto create this kind of epicurean destination,
uh that that is designed to kindof remember a time gone by. Remember
we're in the Merrimack Valley and myfamily came here in the fifties and sixties
and worked in those mills. Everythingwas made by hand, and so everything
from food to buildings, to suits, to shoes to half it was all

(08:39):
made by hand, and we celebratethat history in the Artistan Hotel. The
Artistan Hotel has has a design elementthat kind of is reminiscent of like downtown,
you know, New York or Chicagoin the thirties and forties, and
when when you come in the hotel, believe it or not, it's actually
kind of modern inside and it's it'sa really really cool setup because you walk

(09:01):
in the hotel and you're right isthe brand new Tuscan kitchen and bar.
In front of you is the receptionfor the hotel. To the left is
our Tuskan cafe. On the topfloor is the rooftop of the Artisan Yeah.
We actually have seventy luxury residences calledthe Residence is an eighteen Artisan Yeah,

(09:22):
and they share this luxury hotel,amenity, beautiful grounds, beautiful pool,
the Grand Lawn, another concert venueright on the lake, and of
course the boardwalk that connects you toall of Tuscan Village. Yeah, I'm
trying to imagine it, because soif you walk out the doors of the
hotel once the doors open for thepublic, when you walk out the doors,

(09:43):
you've got this enormous space. You'vegot the Tuscan Market and village on
your left. You've got a giantlawn with seating and cornhole and everything else
in the live entertainment stage, andthen the pond for kayaking and everything else.
Boy, I want to live there. So are these residences kind minions
for sale? These residences, uh, they're called the residences at eighteen Artisan

(10:05):
there. Actually we just launched themfor sale, and believe it or not,
we are about thirty percent sold outin two weeks. So really beautiful
finishes, culinary kitchens, all youknow, ge cafe, culinary appliances,
gorgeous mark you know, stone counters, lots of views, balconies, great

(10:30):
interaction with the rest of the village. You come right down your elevator into
the main hotel lobby. Oh yeah, you have all kinds of restaurants right
there. Concierge, I have youknow, garage parking underneath. It's a
It's something I've been wanting to dofor a long time. Is kind of
create this, you know, bringour brand of hospitality to the residential living
in the Tustan Village. You knowwhat it is, Joe. If you

(10:52):
are home now, you never haveto leave. What was that place?
Oh yeah, let's see. Ohgod, I live here, you'd be
home by now? Yes, yes, yours can be. If you lived
here, you never have to leave. And even though we've built you a
beautiful kitchen, you never have tocook. Do you mind my asking?

(11:15):
What's the range on the condos orresidences? Of course they started five ninety
nine and they go all the wayup to you know, penthouses are in
the you know million two million threerange. Wow. That depends on your
options too. It seems very reasonable, It is very reasonable. We really
want we want everybody that has theability to live here. We want to

(11:37):
be able to offer you an optionto live in the Tuscan Village. In
ownership options. There are a lotof four rents, some great four rent
properties here. The handover, ourcompanies are here, Dolbin is here.
We're doing a four rent project atage. Those are apartment complexes to go
along with the hotel and the condominiumresorts that are there. It's ridiculous.
Imagine that we've been talking for twentyminutes. We have even left the village.

(12:01):
Oh my gosh. A lot todo, a lot to do and
more to come now. The otherday I met with you and you gave
me a tour of your manufacturing facilityin Lawrence where you grew up. You're
back home. I am back homein Lawrence, Massachusetts. The Artisan Chef
Manufacturing Company is a full renovation ofone hundred and fifty thousand foot commercial bakery

(12:28):
that believed it or not, usedto be my family's commercial bakery called Multigrains
Bakeries on one seventeen Water Street inLawrence, Massachusetts. It's a beautiful thing
that started out in the middle ofCOVID so it was it really started out
by a pivot for our hospitality organizationto start making pasta and sauces and meals

(12:52):
and breads and distributing them to supermarketsand wholesale clubs in the area that didn't
have the product because the supply chainswere so challenged, and we had a
thousand restaurant employees that didn't have anythingto do, so we brought them over
to Lawrence, Massachusetts and started makingpasta again. And since that time we

(13:13):
have grown dramatically and we shipped productsall over the country to supermarket supermarkets and
restaurant chains and wholesale clubs and homedelivery services all over the United States of
America and went from Laurastausetts. Youmentioned the employees, and that's the story
behind the story right there. Withthe pandemic, you had all these restaurant

(13:33):
employees that restaurants couldn't open, soyou put them all to work in the
manufacturing facility. We did them allthe work of the manufacturing facility. You
know our COVID everybody you know Bostonhas such a great fabric of restaurant tours
and there's so many stories through thepandemic of how you know, ingenious restaurant
tours that really had to reinvent themselves. And our story is one of just

(13:58):
a great team of people that wegot together and you know, I think
it was May of twenty and twentyand said we got to figure this out.
We can't we just can't quit onthese thousand employees and their families.
And so, you know, wedid what we needed to do, and
that gave birth to a business.And the artistan Chef Manufacturing Company is you
know, is they actually believe itor not? Bigger than Joseph's Pasta ever

(14:22):
was? Yeah, you didn't believeit. It was so fascinating to get
to tour it with you when youwalk me through all of these incredible machines
that they're brought in from Italy,and you know, so everything in your
manufacturing building or it's being made justlike it's being made in Italy, right
one hundred percent. I mean youand I saw that beautiful traveling Neapolitan pizza

(14:46):
oven. Remember that how many pizzasa minute? You gave me a figure
so that that pizza oven is actuallya seventy foot long tunnel that has seven
hundred and fifty granite slabs in it. It operates at above seven hundred degrees
and it makes sixty Neapolitan pizzas aminute per minute. Sixty Yeah, and
I'm telling you, Aja, youhave to see this place. It's amazing.

(15:07):
You were kind enough to fill abag for me. By the way,
Michelle, thanks you, my wife, thanks you everything. Oh my
god. He gave us everything frompizzas to cal zone to I mean rabbioli.
And how many different products are youbanging out at the manufacturing facility.
We make about one hundred and fiftydifferent specific products. It really goes across

(15:28):
five product lines. So we haveour Neapolitan pizzas. We also make cal
zones, We make our teasonal breads, we make fresh pasta, and we
make prepared meals. Oh my god, the olive bread, Joe. When
I got home, I dug intothe olives right out the oven agent.
And then while I was at yourplace, I had Was there a cranberry
walnut or something? Bread? Yes, there was. We're working on the

(15:50):
cranberry walnut. I understand. AjBread he's from. Bread. Bread is
where he started. I mean,it's all in the family. It sounds
amazing. I need something. Sonow you're sending zillions and zillions of boxes
out around the country and the worldaround here, Joe, where can people
find your Tuscan brands? Is itgo buy Tuscan brands or Tuscan kitchen products?

(16:12):
We have the We make the TuscanKitchen brand products. We also make
Sal's pizzas. Believe it or not, we also manufacture Papa Gino's pizzas as
well. Wow, and you willfind those in market basket. BJ's Costco
did. Different products will be shiftedto different retailers, but you can find

(16:33):
them all over New England. Andthat's a cool story too, that you're
partnered to some degree with Sal fromSales Pizza. Now he's a Lawrence guy
too, right, So Sal isactually an East Boston guy. He just
happens to be. So figure itout. How would the pasta guy become
best friends with the pizza guy?Right? And so you know it's funny.

(16:56):
I started the artist at Chef ManufacturingCompany and we were hustling, hustle
and hustling, and Sal was kindof doing the same kind of pivoting.
And in the middle of the pandemic, I think it was in twenty twenty
one, we got together and wesaid, you know what, why don't
we make your pizzas here? Andhe became a partner in the artisan Chef
Manufacturing Company. And it's been amazing. What another great story. I mean,
he revitalized that entire mill district.You should go see that. I

(17:19):
have been there. I actually hadlunch with Sale there several years ago.
Just a magnificent project. And you'reright about East Boston because I think his
very first pizza window was in RevereReach or something. You got it.
Okay, we got to take abreak. But on the other side,
if you can hang with us fora few more minutes, Joe, I
want to talk about all the otherstuff that's going on. I know you
just opened a brand new bar atyour Tusking Kitchen in the Seedpoint district,

(17:42):
so we'll talk about that and otherstuff. We've got Joe Farrell on the
line. It's Food for Thought.I'm Billy Costa and we'll be right back.
You're listening to Food for Thought RockSo you buy the box Center and
sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets.Okay, and we're back at Billy Costa.
Here. I've got my buddy JoeFarrell on the phone from a Tuscan
Brands, Tuscan Kitchen, I meanall things Tuscan, Joe. When I

(18:04):
was with you the other day,I've been to your Tuscan Seaport restaurant many
times. I've also gone to privatefunctions there and by the way, you
guys do a fabulous job. ButI was und nowhere. You opened a
new bar right in that facility atthe seaport, we did. We opened
a bar. It's called Bartskana.It's actually for those of you that no

(18:26):
Tuscan Kitchen Seaport. There is actuallyan entrance on the ground level right on
Seaport Boulevard, and it was reallynothing more than just entry lobby, stairwell,
elevator, and we took that spaceand completely gutted it. We opened
up the storefront to the streets sothat the whole thing opens up to the
outside. We put a really coolkind of European bar with this beautiful onyx

(18:52):
wall with light behind it, andit's just such a fun vibe. It's
funny you mentioned the entrance, Joe, because when I went home the other
day and was telling the Michelle,Hey, Joe opened a new bar at
Tuskin Seaports, she said, oh, like, where do you go in
by the escalator? I said,no, No, It's funny you say
that because a lot of people don'tknow there's an entrance to Tuscan Kitchen Seaport
right there on Seaport Boulevard and that'swhere the new bars. Well, they're

(19:15):
gonna know now because it really isopen right up to the Street. There's
also patio dining right down on SeaportBoulevards, So Tusky Kitchen Seaport as patio
dining right at street level. It'sreally really cool. What can we look
forward to? Obviously the opening ofthe hotel. Any breaking news you can
share with us before we say goodbyebreaking news. I think we've covered it
all. There's gonna be some funannouncements for new retailers at Tuscan Village,

(19:38):
but I can't tell you yet.I just want to say we're gonna have
a great summer at Tuscan Seagirl,at the Tuscan Village at Tuskin Seaport.
And I want to thank you,and I want to thank everybody for supporting
us through all this. And bythe way, I really have a warm
place in my heart for Tuscan Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a beautiful restaurant too.

(19:59):
And you mentioned the Sea Girl that'sright on the Mighty Merrimac Inscot's Eye and
shop house and bar right in rightin Market Square as well. We have
a Tusket Market right of market Swarealso. And if anyone listening right now
needs any information on anything Tuscan brands, they just go to Tuscan Brands dot
com. Yes, Joe, Iknow you're really busy. Thank you so

(20:19):
much for joining us on Food forThought, and I'll talk to you real
soon. You're the best. Thankyou very much. All right, Joe
Fower, we gotta take a break. On the other side, though,
we're gonna take you to Cape Cod. I mean, you want to talk
about a company that is growing leapsand bounds. Pelham House Resort in Dennis,
Massachusetts is a newly rendovated by theway, They've also got two other

(20:41):
hotels and they're opening a bakery Ithink this week. So we'll talk with
John McCarthy. What's up next?Cent By, you're listening to Food for
Thought brought to you buy the BoxCenter and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweets.
Hey, folks, welcome back toyou Food for Thought. Billy Costa Here,
I've got my friend John McCarthy onthe phone from Pelham House Resort on

(21:02):
Cape Cod in beautiful Dennis, Massachusetts. John, Welcome to Food for Thought,
buddy. Hi, Billy, how'sit going. It's great to be
here. You and I have metbefore, right, because I think I
did a TV shoot with Jenny atyour place at Pelham House, right you
did. You were down here righton Nipac of Sound on the water,
walking the beach. Who was great. I want to start with some really
good news, especially for you andfor other business owners on Cape Cod as

(21:26):
well as Cape Cotters that Sagamore Bridgeis reopened, right, yes, it
is. All that construction has done. So we're ready to We're ready to
go. And there's there's still besome traffic, but nothing like it was.
Oh man, but you know what, you're on the other side.
You got you out the other side. We're out the other side. Memorial

(21:48):
Day weekend, you week come,you know, just like Joe Farrell before
you on the first half of theshow, you and your company have so
much going on, so many newthings to talk about. I literally don't
even know where to start. Whydon't we start with Pelham House Resort,
which I have been to and itis a beautiful spot on Cape Cod,
but fairly newly renovated, right John, Yeah, So the whole hotel was

(22:14):
renovated over the last few years,inside and out. And then our new
fourteen c Street building which is ourballroom and our rooftop restaurant. We have
three outlets now three food outlets thatwe're serving. One is our primary rooftop
outlet, then we have our Wavessushi and pizza outlet, and then we

(22:34):
have our pool area and Pool Diningwhich services to the beach, and our
poolbar, so we have three differentoutlets running for this summer. Well,
we're coming up on Memorial Day weekend. I'm guessing you're sold up. Yes
we are, and we have awedding too, So a wedding rounded by

(22:55):
some of the outlets as well.So how about the other restaurants with there
be availability or those all booked upfrom Memorial Day weekend? Absolutely there's availability.
So Waves are the Susie outlet whichhas the four fire pits right on
the where you were sitting when youwere down the last time doing one of
the suits. So we have thatwill be open on Friday of Memorial Day

(23:18):
weekend straight through, and then wehave the pool bar will obviously be open
and the rooftop other than Saturday forthe wedding. Wow, how many rooms
at the facility and we're just talkingabout Pelham House right now. We'll get
to the new places in a coupleof seconds. Yeah, so only there's
thirty three rooms, all private balconies, all beautiful ocean views redone. It

(23:40):
really is a beautiful section of beach. What is that actual beach called.
We're right next to the C Streetbeach. Yeah, so right next to
C Street beach here in Dennis Port, four hundred feet of private beach front.
And if you remember, you alsosat in that fire pit we have
in the middle of the pool.I was going to bring that up.

(24:00):
What was I'm trying to remember whatwas unique about the fire pit. It's
right in the middle of the swimmingpool, right, Yeah, So what
what's unique is? I was lookingfor a cool feature and I happened to
Google pool features and Selene Dion's poolcame up and it had a fire pit
in the pool. So I said, hey, let's try it. My

(24:22):
partner said, John, go forit. So it's actually modeled after Selene
Dion's pool. Yeah, that's correctGoogle. Okay, So you can check
out Pelham House Resort. Definitely gothere, grab a bite to eat,
and enjoy the scenery on the beach. But since you and I last spoke,
John, you've opened two other hotels, right, Pelham on Earl and

(24:44):
Pelham on Maine. You got itone of them. Pelham on Maine is
on Route twenty eight in West Tennisand it's mainly overflowed for Pelham. It
doesn't have a food outlet, butall the rooms have been completely renovated,
beautiful pool out in the back.And then we take we have a shuttle
now we got let's go Pelham shuttlethat we take people from Pelham on Maine

(25:07):
over here for the beach for theday. They can come over to eat
at any of our outlets, butPelham on Earl that's the newest one,
which is on Earl Road in Harwichand it's nestled in the in this beautiful
community in Harwich. It had asmall restaurant and bar, but we've completely
redone it. For this summer,we're gonna have an outlet called Tides at
Earl and it's opening up on Juneeighth and it's got an amazing brand new

(25:33):
bar and small restaurant just steps fromthe beach. How do you juggle your
time, John, Well, wenow have over two hundred employees. So
four years ago I was a smallinnkeeper running the Pelham Pelham House without the
restaurants and without the big wedding venue. And now four years later, over

(25:56):
two hundred employees and our executive teamhelps execute this and we have an amazing
team. So that's how we getit done. Now or did you say
a couple of minutes ago you haveshuttle service? Now? Does that shuttle
service take you either from Pelham onMaine, pelhamon Earl and the Pelham House.
You got it. So it's runningon the hour, every hour,

(26:17):
and we get to take people toand from. People can go from Pelham
to Pelham on Earl and try anew restaurant, you know, and then
they can come from Pelham on Earland Maine to here to the beach and
restaurants. Do you know what I'mthinking, John, I'm thinking bar hop.
I'm thinking you know, I've donethat on Boston Harbor and I cannot
recommend it enough, especially with allof your places. Make it a bar

(26:38):
hop, but have appetizers along theway, you know what I mean.
So you start at one place,if five or six people, everybody gets
a drink and everybody orders an appbut you got to eat real fast,
move along and then say okay,we're up, we're gone. You get
back on the shuttle, you goto the next place, do the same
thing, and then the next placeand do the same thing, and end
up at the Pelham House resort.That's just an idea you might want to
market that, John. I thinkwe're already going to market that up.

(27:03):
We've already done something similar during SaintPatrick's Day and Christmas and veron the holidays.
All right, hold that thought,hold that thought. Job, because
I'm getting the orders from AJ.We gotta take a break and we'll come
right back and we'll pick it upright there. We're with John McCarthy,
Pelham House down on Cape Cod.We'll take a break, we'll be right
back. You're listening to Food forThought, brought to you by the Box
Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets. Hey, folks, welcome back to

(27:26):
Food for Thought. Really enjoying theshow of this week. And did I
mention with the lead in to sixtyminute Sixty minutes is coming up soon enough.
But in the meantime, first halfof the show, I had my
buddy Joe Farrow, and he's gotTuskin Brand's Tuskan kitchen, he's got restaurants,
he has a manufacturing facility, he'sopening a hotel, and Joe Farrow
and John McCarthy, who's on thephone right now, are very similar because

(27:48):
John McCarthy has expanded pretty much allover Dennis and Dennisport and the Cape.
And we're talking about his facilities,one of which is Pelham House Resort in
Dennis. But now he's got thePelham on Earl, He's got the Pelam
on Maine. And John I couldn'thelp but notice in some of your bio
that you have a partner named DennisLeary. Is it my friend Dennis Learry,

(28:12):
the comedian actor? It is not. He gets that very very often,
but it's not the comedian Dennis Leary. He's from Saint Petersburg, Florida,
and they have a house down hereon the Cape. And his father
in law knew my dad really well. And him and his father in law

(28:32):
are the ones that came in andwe spent a couple of months working on
a partnership and they helped me executeall this. Yeah, but it had
to be more complicated than that.I mean, he's down there in Florida.
I know he had a place inthe Cape, but how do the
two of you, as businessmen gettogether and put a deal together. So
it's really funny. His father inlaw, Frank Frank Hersey, he is

(28:56):
the one who had a house nextto the Pelam, so for ten years
he knew my dad really well.Would come in and talk to my dad
when my dad owned the Peleam originallyand my dad passed away five years ago.
Shortly after my dad passes away,Frank with his son in law Dennis,
who does a lot of investing forFrank, they come into the lobby

(29:18):
of the Pelam and they just startasking me what the Pelam could look like
if maybe you had some more investorsor partners behind you. And then for
two months we start working on whatthe first Pelam renovation hotel would look like.
But then it just kept spiraling andwe added some more partners and the
rest is history. Wow, letme ask you this, am I mistaken

(29:41):
or did you just open another businessof bakery? Yes, we did,
so we ran out of space atthe Pelham House kitchen. We have three
kitchens on property, but our mainkitchen in the new building, that's our
banquet kitchen, that's our event kitchen, that's our kitchen for our rooftop restaurant

(30:02):
and we've had a small pastry section, but our executive pastry chef, Patty
Anne Curtain, she ran out ofspace in that area because we needed so
much to execute multiple events and restaurants. So we searched and we found this
beautiful spot again on twenty eight downin Dennisport, five minutes away, and

(30:22):
we ended up leasing that spot,retro fitting it with brand new equipment for
a bakery, and we now havetell them on the Rise bakery. It
was Patty Anne's dream. And notnot only are we doing regular all of
the all of the desserts and pastriesand um and wedding cakes, but we're

(30:47):
also doing retail now. So PattyAnn has a bakery that has multiple functions,
brand new kitchen and we've just openedup a few days ago. Wow,
so it's not only a bakery,is there? Can you sit down
and enjoy the goods so to speak? No, it's actually a walk in
counter service. Come and grab yourdelicious items and hopefully take him down to

(31:11):
one of our Pelham properties. Andnow, what's the chef's specialty? What's
the absolute must get at the bakery? Yeah, so I would say them
must get would be one of hercroissants, or she's got an amazing almond
croissant, ham and cheese. Hercinnamon bun is to die for, Danish,
his muffins, you name it,we got, we got all of

(31:33):
it. Her chocolate chunk cookie isincredible. So she's really just getting started.
How did it all start for PelhamHouse, John, what's the history
there? So the history is innineteen ninety seven, my dad, who
met my mom on the Cape.They always wanted to get back and in
the middle of his life. He'sa north Shore guy. I grew up

(31:55):
on the North Shore. I wasin Melrose for twenty years, but he
yeah, So in the middle ofour life, my dad decided to move
from Melrose when I was in collegeand buy the Pelham House. And I
spent summers in college and then graduatingcollege. I decided to come down and
continue to run it with him.So it's incredible and from there I was

(32:16):
here. I've been here ever since. And my dad was the one who
identified this property, identified the location, and the Pelham House is just it's
got an amazing vibe to it nowand he's really the one to thank for
identifying this location. And you wantto talk about prime real estate. That
beach runt you've got right there.I can't even imagine what a property like

(32:42):
that would go for today. Yeah, it's pretty incredible. I mean when
you're talking about four hundred feet ofprivate beach. As you likely know,
there's not a lot of restaurants orocean front like wedding venues on the water
like this where one of only afew, maybe a handful. So it's
on Cape Cod there's not as manyas you think. So when it comes

(33:04):
to what we've been able to,well, we've been able to pull off
just incredible and so grateful every day. I love every minute of coming in
here, which I think you cantell well. A couple of minutes ago,
John, you mentioned your dad passedsadly about five years ago. And
I'm looking at Pelham House Resort,the Pelham on Earl, the Pelamon,
Maine. You've got the new Pelamon the Rise bakery with the commissary.

(33:30):
What would your dad dad think rightnow? Yeah, I'm looking down at
me right now. I think Ithink he'd say I've said this a few
times, kid, You've done good, and it would have been for the
last fifteen years of his life,or so he probably would have been.
It would have been probably too muchfor him. He would have been a
little stressed. But I know he'stremendously proud. One thing I haven't mentioned

(33:52):
that one of the things that helpsus like make this thing all go one
huge aspect is our Lighthouse Living employeecommunity. We bought a hotel, we
converted it into employee housing, sixtydifferent beds and all summer long, it's
full, and it's one of theonly reasons we can keep our staffing level

(34:13):
the way it is. I'm soglad you brought that up, John,
because that's been a huge problem forbusiness owners, restaurant owners or whatever on
Nantucket as well as the vineyard.They can't get help because there's no place
to put them. And some ofthe restaurant owners on Nantucket over the years
have actually, like you, boughtproperties where they can house. It's almost

(34:34):
like a barrack or a place tolive for all of the workers. A
lot of them come in from overseas. So how is that all working out?
John? For you? It's incredible. So we identified the need immediately
and three years ago, three anda half years ago, we ended up
buying. It was called the CoveResort and we bought it. It's again

(34:58):
right in Debt has Port a fewa few minutes away, and we converted
it, put in kitchenet units,made a beautiful common area with ping pong
and TVs, while washers dryers.But the big thing is because we're open
year round, which a lot ofplaces close on keep. But because we're
opening year round, we keep ussteady close to one hundred employees. So

(35:22):
when we open up in the springfull time, seven days a week,
we already have a hundred. Thenwhen you add in the seasonal with our
Lighthouse Living employee community, we actuallyare in a much better spot than a
lot of people are. And Ireally believe staying open year round is a
big key for that. And youknow what's great, John, It's as
good for them as it is foryou, because they don't have to stress

(35:44):
out about where to live and youdon't have to stress out about how to
keep employees. It's incredible one hundredpercent. So we're really really excited about
that. Another thing that we're tremendouslyexcited about is because we our resort and
we have these three properties that alltend to come over to Pelham. One

(36:05):
thing that we've decided to do thelast couple of months and then I'm gonna
I think I'm going to continue allsummer is we're going to provide a lot
of entertainment options. We've had doingpiano nights, We've had patio parties.
We're gonna do an Elton John kindof look alike night where he comes and
sings and plays. And then wehave Fourhanded Illusions from Boston coming on May

(36:27):
twenty six, Memorial Day weekend.It's one of the best entertainment shows in
Boston. Who I've asked to comedown and do a show for us.
So we're trying to put on alot of different entertainment shows so people that
are at all of our three propertieshave something to do every night. Well,
you know, John, I happento have the Elton John in my
contact list. If you like,I could give him a call, and
so if he doesn't want to stopby Pelham, that would be great,

(36:51):
that would be great. You know, I'm looking at everything you're doing.
It's all in the town of Dennis. Why don't you just buy the town?
John? Somebody the other day benchand hey, John, maybe we
should call this Pelhamport. All right, we're gonna take a break, but
here's the deal. I do wantto spend a few more minutes before we
say goodbye, John on your functionfacility, because I can't imagine a more

(37:12):
beautiful wedding than Pelham House Resort rightthere on that beautiful stretch of beach.
So I want to talk about availability, what a wedding might look like at
Pelham House, as well as anykind of other private event or private party.
So John, can you hold on? John? Absolutely? All right,
So it's Food for Thought. We'lltake a break on Billy Coster.
We'll be back with John McCarthy outat Pelham House Resorts in Dennis on the

(37:37):
cave. That's next. Then bye. You're listening to Food for Thought,
brought to you by the Box Centerand Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweets. Hey,
guys, welcome back to Food forThought. We've got a few more
minutes with John McCarthy down there onthe cave. First of all, John,
thank you for joining us. Iknow you're crazy busy, especially right
now. Thank you. I amenjoying every minute of it. We mentioned
well, we're coming up on MemorialDay weekend. You know, you can

(38:00):
definitely go to any of the Pelhamproperties, enjoy a cocktail, enjoy a
bite of food, or a fulldinner. But in terms of the resort
itself, that's booked up for MemorialDay weekend. How about Pelham on Earo,
Pelham on Maine, any rooms availablefor Memorial Day weekend? John,
We have just a few left,so yeah, there's not much, but
we have a few rooms here there. I want to talk about weddings and

(38:22):
private functions because one of the firstthings that hit me in the face and
when I came to your place toshoot a whole well, we shot a
hole dining Politbok episode at your placea couple of summers ago. I couldn't
help but notice how beautiful it mustbe for a wedding. So how far
in advance does someone have to starttalking to your team, John, in

(38:43):
terms of booking a wedding there,Yeah, it's usually a year or two,
a year and a half for themost part, for sure. So
we're already we're already more than halffull for twenty twenty four weddings. For
our twenty twenty three weddings, thisMemorial Day weekend, is our first,
our first big buyout wedding for thisyear, and then we go all the

(39:04):
way through into November. When yousay buy out in the biz, does
that mean they booked the entire place. Yeah, for the hope, it
means the hotel is bought out fortwo days. So picture this. You
check in on Friday, your wholefamily, everybody checks in, they get
into the hotel, they go intothe pool area of the beach. It's
all yours for two days. Therestaurants still open on Friday night, The

(39:28):
Waves Sushi outlet is still open onFriday night. But then on Saturday,
your wedding day, because you havethe hotel for two nights, we close
the whole property. So I don'tknow if there's many properties like this that
offer that type of exclusive wedding experiencewhere on the day of your wedding we
close the whole place down. Soyour function staff that must be a completely

(39:52):
different staff, right from all therestaurants and such. It is so imagine
this too. Imagine so you havea function staff, the works events,
and we do all sorts of smalland large events during the week, but
on our big wedding day, weobviously have that function staff come in.
So imagine our restaurant staff in thesummer on Cape Cod that your Saturdays are

(40:15):
off. So one day they getoff is Saturdays because we have a wedding
and every other day is so busythat every other day is a Saturday anyway,
So for them they get a Saturdayoff. You've been listening to John
McCarthy, and I should mention yourpartner again, Dennis Learry, not to
be confused with the comedian actor DennisLearry, good friend of mine. But

(40:37):
we're talking about Pelham House Resort,newly renovated, by the way, in
Dennis, Dennis, Pelham on Earl, Pelham on Maine and the new Pelham
on the Rise bakery and the commissary. Where in Dennis is that again,
John? That's right downtown on twentyeight and Dennis Ports. And it's efficiently
opened as off a few days ago, right, Yes it is. It

(40:59):
opened on Friday, all right?And where do people need to go for
all things Pelham? They go toPellamoster Resort dot com and I will take
you to everything you need, allof our dining sections, including tell them
on Earl and John. I'm notkidding. You may want to start marketing
that bar hopping thing. And I'mjust saying, you know, take the
shuttle to in and out. That'sa good time. I think, I

(41:22):
think, I think I'm already onit. I'm already planning it as we're
talking. John, thank you somuch for coming on and say hello to
everybody down there for us, andgood luck and have a great weekend,
buddy, Thank you so much.This was amazing. All right, John,
that's it. We're out of time. Billy Costa here, it's Food
for Thought. Jenny Johnson is backnext week with a whole new episode of

(41:45):
Food for Thought. Oh and thenthe following week, June. The following
week, I've got all my friendsfrom Boston Harbor. We'll be telling you
all the great things you can doaround Boston Harbor. We've got quite a
lineup coming up. And by theway, coming up sixty minutes. We'll
see you bye.