Month: September 2017

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) reported that the recently completed summer meet at Saratoga Race Course set a record for all-sources handle with $676.7 million being wagered during the 40-day meet.

That surpassed the record of $648.3 million wagered in 2015. This year’s handle was up 4.5 percent over last year’s figure of $647.3 million, NYRA officials said.

On-track handle was $157 million, just missing the record $157.6 million wagered in 2015, but up 3.4 percent from last year’s figure of $151.8 million, NYRA said.

Total attendance, or paid admissions, for the summer was 1,117,838, just off the record of 1,123,647 set in 2016, officials said.

“We were extremely pleased with this year’s handle,” said Chris Kay, NYRA president and chief executive officer. “It’s a real credit to everyone in the organization, but in particular the racing department that we were able to generate such handle.”

The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce will host the 2017 Saratoga County Business-to-Business Expo on Thursday, Oct. 5, at the Saratoga Springs City Center.

The event will start at 3:30 p.m. for members and vendors and at 5 p.m. for non-members. The event will conclude at 7 p.m.

The Adirondack Trust Co. and Upstate Transit of Saratoga are the diamond sponsors of the Expo.

Exhibitor space is always a sell-out with nearly 150 companies on hand to share ideas, products, and service expertise with other businesses in an interactive face-to-face trade show format, Chamber officials said.

“The Saratoga County Business-to-Business Expo is the Chamber’s, and perhaps the Capital Region’s, largest business-to-business networking event of the year. With over 2,500 business professionals from all over the area, networking opportunities are plentiful if you are looking to build leads and grow your business,” said Todd Shimkus, Chamber president.

By Maureen Werther

Circus Café, 392 Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs, has long been associated with a fun, family-friendly environment and a lively nightlife.

In July, the restaurant was listed for sale by owners Colin and Christel MacLean. They plan to devote more time to their latest entrepreneurial enterprise, Saratoga Juice Bar, which is growing.

Christel called the decision to open Saratoga Juice Bar another instance of “Saratoga serendipity.”  She and Colin had just completed the purchase of the Crowne Grill and were absorbed in getting that restaurant off and running when, much to their surprise, the small storefront a few doors down that they’d been eyeing for months became available.

“I went to Colin and said, ‘Guess what?’ We’re going to open a juice bar,’” she said.

“We are always looking for ways to do something better or finding the next best thing,” she said. They determined the organic and all-natural juice business is a fast-growing across the country. Millennials are health conscious and baby boomers are looking for ways to stay younger. Saratoga County had also just been named the healthiest county in the state.  It all made good business sense. 

“We went to L.A. and New York City to study under master juicers and develop our business model for the Juice Bar,” said Colin. “Our goal was to do it one time, the right way.”

By Liz Witbeck

The Falafel Den on Phila Street has moved, but only a very short distance, to a larger space.

The establishment moved from 6 Phila St. to 10 Fila St., in the same block just off Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs.

The spot at 6 Phila St. was only about 100 square feet of space. It was mainly a takeout restaurant. Prior to being the Falafel Den, that location was occupied by Alpha Dogs, which specialized in hotdogs to go and had a few other menu options.

Falafel Den took the small space over in 2014, owned by Zouhir Lian. Lian was born in Syria and moved to the United States in 1990. He lived in New York City for many years before moving to Saratoga Springs in 2012.

Soon it became obvious that Falafel Den would need more space. The 10 Phila St. location became available and Lian opened there in July. It has 400 square feet of space, which means room to accommodate many more people.

“Our business has doubled so far since opening here,” said Lian.

The inside is adorned in red and gold, with decorations and artwork on the walls. Colorful fabrics drape the counters.

By Jill Nagy

LeverPoint, a company based in Clifton Park that provides accounting, tax preparation, payroll and similar services to private equity and venture capital firms, has seen “exponential growth” in the 10 years since it became an independent company, according to its CEO, David MacPhee.

Its latest growth spurt came with the recent acquisition of Lamplighter Financial, a small California-based company providing similar services.

MacPhee was part of a group of employees who bought a division of Ayco, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, in 2007. The company, which became LeverPoint, then had 18 employees.

He said it now has some 150 employees and serves 108 clients with close to $50 billion in assets under management. MacPhee became the company’s CEO in 2009.

Aug. 7 was LeverPoint’s official anniversary date, but a party was held Aug. 25, with a Friday afternoon employee outing at Saratoga National Gold Course. 

LeverPoint is headquartered at 5 Maxwell Drive, but it services clients throughout the United States, with the largest number in New York City. Although the company has few clients in upstate New York, MacPhee said he “doesn’t see taking the growth away from here and taking it someplace else.”

He expects to add between 20 and 30 new jobs in the coming year, mostly accountants and CPAs.

“We want to become the nation’s largest pure-play fund administrator in the not too distant future,” he said.