Editor’s Note: In today’s Thursday Feature, we travel to upstate New York, where a pair of enterprising sisters have turned what some would see as a symbol of a declining industry and spun it into gold … or at least golden waffles and delicious fluffy pancakes.
The town of Greece, located in upstate New York just outside Rochester, was once home to the Eastman Kodak International Distribution Center. For decades, vast fleets of forklifts shuttled materials in and out of the facility, which at 2 million square feet, was the largest warehouse in North America when it was built in 1968.
But as digital cameras made film obsolete, Kodak had little use for the enormous warehouse. And when the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2012, the once mighty space was left vacant. Since then, Acquest Development — a leasing company out of nearby Buffalo — has been struggling to fill the facility’s vast empty halls with new clients.
A lot of people would look at this site and see a failure. But two sisters who were raised nearby in a family of 11 children and who are proud of their community’s legacy saw it as an opportunity.
And the Forklift Cafe was born.
Finding the Ideal Space
Dorothy Horn and her sister Karen Fournelle first considered opening a restaurant inside the mammoth distribution center itself.
“We looked at the cafeteria inside the warehouse, but it didn’t work for us,” Fournelle told the local newspaper, the Democrat & Chronicle.
The empty cafeteria was simply too big and unworkable. But when the sisters walked outside the facility, they found another space that was perfect for what they had in mind: The former guard shack that stood abandoned at the gates to the Kodak warehouse.
“Then we saw the guard shack. We said, ‘Wow! Look at that!’ ” Karen said. “They were so open to it. There are 30 or so businesses in the warehouse now and there’s nowhere (else) for them to go out and eat around here. It was a complete win-win.”
In August, 2012, the pair opened the Forklift Cafe. While the restaurant’s space is compact, these sisters are making the most with what they have to work with.
“It’s a very tiny building,” Karen said. “But it’s big enough. We seat about 20.”
A Lifetime of Cooking
Dorothy and Karen first learned how to cook while growing up out of necessity. In the Specksgoor household, there were always plenty of mouths to feed. So preparing daily meals was the equivalent of feeding a small army.
Dorothy’s interest in cooking for her brothers and sisters led to a career as a chef and caterer with some of Rochester’s leading restaurants.
Meanwhile, Karen was the entrepreneur of the family. She spent many years in the tech industry, including 13 years at the Xerox Corporation. She also owned her own tech business for a time.
But when her sister pitched the idea of opening their own restaurant, they knew it was a winning combination that was meant to be.
“We have a saying,” Karen said. “Karen is the one with the sharp wit and Dorothy is the one with the sharp knife. She wins every time!”
Turning Lemons into Lemonade
As the enormous warehouse slowly begins to fill up with tenants, the sisters are enjoying a growing base of regular customers and truckers just passing through.
The Forklift Cafe serves breakfast standards like bacon and eggs and pancakes. But it also features wraps and even a Friday fish fry.
The Forklift Cafe’s signature dish is the “18 Wheeler Plate”, which the sisters’ version of a longtime local Rochester specialty. It features a mixture of hamburger, hot dogs or Italian slathered in macaroni salad or french fries, then smothered in onions and hot sauce. A breakfast version of the favorite includes three eggs and your choice of breakfast meats.
Cheeseburgers are sold all the time, even at 6 in the morning for the truckers who make the Forklift Cafe a frequent stop. Other customer favorites include lasagna, shepherd’s pie and plenty more cafe originals.
The Forklift Cafe features open kitchen that allows customers to watch as Karen whips up their favorite meals from scratch. The sisters also cater group lunches to go for area businesses.
Owners Recognized for their Ingenuity
The restaurant is open Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. But after hours, customers can purchase pre-made sandwiches, soups and salads from a vending machine in a glassed-in area adjacent to the restaurant that also has a microwave oven.
Last year, the local chamber of commerce presented the sisters with a special award for best creative use of an existing building.
But they say they aren’t in it for the accolades. Or even to get rich, really.
“It’s great fun,” Karen said. “I roll out of bed at 3:15 or 3:30 in the morning, but I’m smiling.”