Live: Germantown, NY
Previous Life: running other people’s restaurants in Brooklyn
Activities: swimming in lakes, creeks, pools and oceans, reading, making cocktails
Etc… cuddling in bed all morning with Milo, drinking coffee, talking with women
When did you start Gaskins, tell us a little bit about your journey?
We opened Gaskins in June of 2015 after getting married the previous year and moving upsate. I have worked in restaurants since I was sixteen, starting at a little French Bistro in Goshen, NY. I previously managed small owner operated restaurants in NYC including Diner, Marlow & Sons, Roman’s and Franny’s. Nick is the chef and previously operated his own catering company, Backyard Cooking Company, worked at the Modern in NYC and attended the French Culinary Institute. I grew up in Orange County, NY and Nick grew up in Westchester and CT. Once we decided we wanted to open our own restaurant, we started spending time in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. We were drawn to this region because of the abundance of small farms, vibrant business community and beautiful setting. When we found Germantown and decided to open Gaskins, we imagined a bit of a sleepy country tavern that would be a haven, serving residents and visitors. We got the sleepy part wrong, that’s for sure! We’ve been blown away by the support and success we’ve had in the 5 short years we’ve been open. It’s been busy and wild and challenging. However, the community we’ve grown here has been incredible.
Tell us a little bit about Germantown and where you are located.
Germantown is nestled on the east bank of the Hudson River, with beautiful sunsets over the Catskills. It’s a tight-knit rural community with a robust and supportive network of local business owners. We love living in Germantown because there is a thriving Main St where we can shop and run into neighbors, but there is plenty of space and quiet to be found as well. Germantown has historical sites, waterfront parks, swimming holes, farm stands, annual community events and broad open spaces. We just love this town and the people here, it’s pretty damn special.
F&B is taking a hit from this pandemic like no other, giving us your perspective of this industry’s resilience and perseverance during these times and how you see all of this unfolding?
People who work in restaurants are the best people. They are tough and kind and incredibly generous. Something I’ve learned and thought a lot about during this time is that service work takes an incredible amount of emotional labor. And that labor is often invisible. I think that our industry has long been deeply imbalanced and broken. And this crisis has just upended what was an already unstable, unjust system. We are trying to spend this time asking each other questions, learning from our peers, better understanding the needs of our staff, and thinking about how we can re-shape Gaskins. When I think about the future of restaurants and what will unfold in the coming months and years I feel overwhelmed. But I also feel hopeful. I Hope that we can use this as an opportunity to repair what is deeply broken. Restaurants and dining out cannot continue to provide comfort and nourishment for the public on the backs of laborers who are underpaid, underinsured and undersupported.
What’s something about this past year that you’ll take with you into the future?
I’m not always good at slowing down. Even now. But when I do, it’s a gift. And I’m trying every day to do that more. To listen to the birds. To listen to myself. To accept this discomfort as part of being human.
Are you doing anything right now just for you?
Reading more. And taking long baths in the evening.
What have you been cooking a lot lately?
Nick is the cook in our house for sure. He’s been making a lot of things with rice since our son loves rice. We’re grilling a lot now that the weather is lovely. Asparagus with everything. A bit more baking, like everyone else. So many cookies.
Have your customers changed at all during this Pandemic?
I’m not quite sure. It’s hard to know since we’ve only been doing Sunday Supper once a week for 5 weeks now. But I feel like I see our regulars, our neighbors, our friends and favorites picking up. Obviously we are seeing fewer weekenders and visitors, which is a big part of our clientele. But some people make the trek from afar to pick up dinner. We are grateful for them all.
Community is very important to all small businesses —how has your community played a part in your business?
Our community is humbling. People have been so generous. With buying gift certificates, with donating to our staff, with sending kind messages, offering services and just sending me funny memes. The small businesses in our town really set the tone for this pandemic. Our local grocery store, Otto’s started doing only pre-order, curbside pretty much immediately. And everyone else has followed suit. People are wearing masks, keeping distance and waving hello. We are all trying to find ways to be good neighbors right now. Our town started a network of volunteers called Germantown Together offering services to people in need during this time and Germantown also developed a small business continuation grant fund. There are also folks working on a mutual aid plan. It’s pretty amazing! Our town and the kind people who live here buoy me daily.
Over 300 places in Upstate NY with a focus on art, design hospitality and the natural world, curated by Tastemakers who live in and frequent the area.
April 4, 2020 – Letter to Upstate NY merchants featured on Tastemakers Guide.
All small businesses are important, right down to the first lemonade stand many of us had as kids when we discovered we were entrepreneurs.
Your business is one of the 300 small businesses featured in Tastemakers Guide, selected by Tastemakers that live in or frequent the Upstate Region. Upstate New York is the closest thing America has to the European countryside with its inns, restaurants, farms, and shops scattered throughout the region. I built Tastemakers Guide about a year ago because I wanted to promote our beautiful countryside. I was fortunate enough to sell my last company 1stdibs.com and have the resources to open a small hotel in the lower Hudson Valley, Valley Rock Inn, and now to use Tastemakers Guide to help us all stay in business.
Right now we all need a central station where people can search online in one place to find out everyone’s current business status and to discover new businesses and dream about where we can go when it becomes safe to venture out.
We are making it easy and comforting for people to find out who is open and what you are offering: delivery, curbside pick-up, e-commerce, gift certificates, special rates on future bookings, and acts of kindness.
While we would like to cover all small businesses we are focusing on the ones that drive spending and create local good jobs through hospitality, craft, collecting, and community essentials of which you are one.
There is no cost to be included –
The road ahead will not be easy but there is strength in numbers, even though that is counter to how many of us feel in the current moment.
Before developing Valley Rock Inn, I was the founder and CEO of 1stdibs.com for 17 years. I was responsible for developing and supporting a large online community of thousands of small business owners in the art and design field. Together, we survived and prevailed significant hardships, including 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2008 financial crisis. The entrepreneurs that were on 1stdibs came through those difficult times stronger I believe because of strength in numbers. If we all work together simply by providing and sharing information with existing and potential new customers we can do the same with this platform.
By now we have all begun to hear about the Federal Government’s programs which will give small businesses a very short lifeline to cover about 2.5 months’ worth of expenses mostly in the form of loans. If you include March, we are all on our own come mid-May, so we must act quickly. Tastemakers Guide will evolve as we go, but getting going is the most important thing.
We appreciate your input and are grateful for your participation, please provide your business status information as soon as possible as we plan to update the site the week of April 6.
Our first plan of attack, once we have updated the site with everyone’s information, will be securing media coverage and getting the site in front of New York City’s tens of thousands of employees in the tech industry. They are gainfully employed and therefore excellent consumers, they love a good database of information and they love Upstate NY.
Warm regards, Michael Bruno
Founder 1stdibs.com
Founder TastemakersGuide
Owner Valley Rock Inn