HOULTON — When Michelle Williams, the owner of Shelley’s Cafe and Bakery in downtown Houlton was growing up, she had fond memories of enjoying carhop service at York’s Dairy Bar on the North Road.
“You would pull right into the parking lot and turn on your headlights, and the waitresses would come out and take your order and you wouldn’t even have to get out of your car,” she recalled Friday.
That type of service ended when the dairy bar closed approximately 25 years ago, but Williams never forgot about it.
So when Williams needed a small idea to bring in more business to her own cafe, she turned back the clock to her youth, devoting one night per week to car hop service.
It was just one example of small steps that business owners in southern Aroostook took over the past year to grow their businesses without having to spend a huge influx of cash or labor. Shop owners say that such steps are paying off in increased customer traffic and cash in their registers.
At Sadie’s Bakery on Water Street, Sharon Jackett was busy baking truffles for her customers and preparing for the Thanksgiving rush.
Sharon and her husband, Blaine Jackett, took over the bakery from Tim and Sharon O’Donnell, who ran it for 38 years, in May 2014. Just by expanding hours and adding some menu items, they have turned it into a place that is “all our own.”
“When I took over the bakery, the couple that used to run it opened it a few days a week and they closed it at 1 p.m.,” Sharon Jackett said. “There was also more of a big focus on the doughnuts. Now we are open Tuesday through Saturday, and we are open until 3 p.m. Each day, there is a lunch special, like turkey or roast beef and all the fixings or lasagna or stew, and I have added all kinds of cookies, pies, mini pies and squares.”
The added hours and the menu items haven’t cost that much in money or labor, she said, and have brought in more customers to the business, Jackett said.
“I think it has brought in more traffic from the lunch crowd, especially people who work down here in Market Square at the banks or the offices,” she said. “They will drop in and buy a bowl of soup or an entree.”
Increased traffic also means the customers are seeing more of the bakery’s menu and more of Jackett’s baking style. Jackett said that if she is making a certain menu staple, such as oatmeal or white rolls, and has dough left over, she will use it to make raspberry or pepperoni rolls.
“Just this week, customers were coming in and asking when I was going to make pepperoni rolls again,” she said. “And the answer is ‘I don’t know.’ You just have to keep checking.”
At Shelley’s Cafe, Williams said she used the power of social media to spread the word about her car hop nights. Immediately, she said, people thought it was a great idea. She started in early June and went into September, “until it got too cold to do it anymore.”
She offered hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, french fries, chicken wings, BLT’s and more.
“It wasn’t fast food, but it was quick cook food,” she said. “That first Friday night, we were woefully underprepared. We had so many customers and not enough staff. I think that we suffered that second Friday because we were not prepared enough that first time.”
She said the staff was better prepared the rest of the summer, and they plan on doing it again next summer.
Jane Torres, executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, said there were a number of business that had taken such steps, and many were chamber members.
“It is really awesome to see this,” she said. “It is not always about business expansion.”
