Category Archives: Business News

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.

By Maureen Werther

Upstate Transit of Saratoga LLC has just completed its trolley service in and around Saratoga Springs. According to Craig LaFave, outside manager for the company, it was a success.

LaFave said service ran through the month of August. It consisted of two trolleys taking customers on tours of the city. The route included visits to Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Casino Hotel, many of the Victorian homes in town and the historic springs.

Upstate Transit, whose parent company is Brown Coach, is encouraged by its inaugural success.

“We purchased two trolleys, to be used for tours as well as chartered events,” said LaFave, who has been with Upstate for 25 years.

The tours were held on Tuesdays during August and they took approximately two hours to complete.

The 35th annual summer gala for Saratoga Hospital raised $371,184, event officials said.

More than 1,080 people attended the summer event.

The annual gala is a major source of support for Saratoga Community Health Center, which provides primary care, dental and behavioral health services to the Saratoga community, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. This year, the center added addiction medicine services to address escalating needs in the region.

Of the total raised, about $320,000 will be directed to the health center.

Officials said a surprise $50,000 gift from Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson, in honor of Dr. Joseph W. Bell, a surgeon at Saratoga Hospital and current president of the Saratoga Hospital Medical Group, will support surgical services at Saratoga Hospital. The gift was made in honor of Dr. Bell’s 50th birthday.