Sammies is catering to Catskill
The Daily Mail
July 14, 2009

Jim Shanagher had never run a restaurant before he opened Souper Sammies in Catskill, just more than a month ago. However he was not a stranger to food.

Shanagher’s father ran an Irish pub and his mother fed him and his 11 siblings.
“My mother was cooking for an army,” he said.

Shanagher and his wife Ronna discussed using the space on Route 9w after seeing that the Whole Donut, which had occupied the corner spot, had closed in March.

They decided a similar, yet different, business would do well on the corner.

“We wanted to continue the success of the Whole Donut,” Jim Shanagher said.

Shanagher hired chefs with restaurant experience and a store manager.

He and his team renovated the space, keeping only a stove hood in its kitchen, and opened for business about eight weeks later.

It now features a coffee bar in front of the kitchen’s counter and a flat-screen television and a large photograph of the original Yankee Stadium in the seating area.

Shanagher, a Long Island native, said the photo will show Giants Stadium in the winter.

Patrons can access free wi-fi service while they drink their coffee and eat their breakfast or lunch.

Shanagher said he wanted customers to experience a good meal with fast service and the latest technology.
A website, www.soupersammies.com, will soon be unveiled, he said.

He modeled his pattern on a restaurant serving soups, salads and sandwiches he liked in Latham, N.Y., near where he ran a DHL branch.

The Shanaghers’ menu includes breakfast sandwiches with egg, cheese and bacon or sausage, seafood salads with shellfish, cod and pollack, among other combination, and soups.

Two soup specials offered last week were mushroom brie with medera wine and roasted red pepper and smoked goulda bisque.

Ingredients, such as bagels, are brought fresh from local vendors, and breads come from a regional location of a Brooklyn bakery.

“The community supports us and we want to support the community,” Manager Kyle Carozza said.

The Shanaghers, Carozza and Director of Marketing Chris Wolpert, a college student on retainer for the summer, launched a program in which patrons can earn points. The points can then be used like cash in the restaurant.

Police, firefighters and other emergency service personnel earn double points, Wolpert said.

He estimated that more than 100 patrons have taken advantage of the program so far.

Senior citizens can take advantage of a 10-percent discount, Jim Shanagher added.

He said he the location of his business is inviting to diners who drive trucks or construction equipment.
Souper Sammies is adjacent to a large and easily accessible parking lot along the road.

And, Carozza said, the shop is open from the morning until 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, which allows customers to come in after work. Monday through Wednesday the shop closes at 3 p.m.

Carozza said that although ideas have been borrowed ideas from restaurants in metropolitan areas, he hopes the restaurant will fit in with Catskill’s needs.

“This is not Farmingdale, Long Island, this is not Albany, N.Y. Catskill has a different population and we want to cater to them,” he said.