Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Feldmann.
Steven, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been working in restaurants since I was a freshman in high school. I started in the dish pit, worked my way up to prep cook, and eventually to the line. Waiting tables and bartending helped put me though college and beyond. After getting an MBA in 2003 I started thinking about starting my own business and wrote a business plan.
In 2005 my wife Marie and I opened the Gulu-Gulu Cafe in Lynn MA. In 2007 we moved to Salem MA and we have been there ever since. Gulu is named after a French owned cafe in Prague back in the nineties where Marie and I met. It’s a bohemian spot that is part coffee house, part art gallery, part music venue, and part beer bar. The food is purely light fare: crepes, paninis, salads, cheeses. Oh, and it’s filled with paintings of all of our flat faced snorty dogs from throughout the years.
In 2012 we welcomed our first child Mina in addition to opening the Flying Saucer Pizza Company (also in Salem). At the Saucer we serve New York style, thin crust organic pizzas with fun ingredients in a sci-fi/ nerdy location. This is the spot where you can get yourself a Vegan Gluten Free pizza while sitting in a room filled with autographed photos of Star Trek actors adjourning the walls, while playing a round of Nerd Trivia on a Monday night. Live Long and Pizza!
In 2017 we started Smokin’ Betty’s BBQ – first as a brick and mortar operation, and when that didn’t take off, as a pop up concept.
Last but not least we added 3 Kitchens Catering. 3 Kitchens brings the best of what Betty’s, Saucer, and Gulu have to offer directly to the customer. We have done everything from corporate outings to backyard barbecues to weddings to farm to table pop ups.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We’ve had plenty of ups and downs over the years. I think that’s the norm in owning a small business though. When writing a business plan you have to make assumptions, and sometimes you will be off the mark.
Three examples: when we opened our first restaurant in Lynn in 2005 we based our projections on the growth of Central Square’s downtown. It started off well however by 2007 the housing market collapsed and with that the resurgence of Lynn’s downtown paused. Shortly thereafter we opened in Salem.
Sometimes “Acts of God” will interfere. In February of 2015 the Northeast was pummeled with blizzard after blizzard. The snow continued to pile up and by the 3rd snowstorm in as many weeks there was nowhere to park in downtown Salem. Our numbers were decimated, we were forced to take out an emergency loan, and it took a year plus to come back from it. This was something we never could have seen coming.
With Smokin’ Betty’s BBQ my assumptions were just way off. We hired a great chef with a Southern cooking background. We brought over a handful of long term employees from my other restaurants including the GM. The space was huge and beautiful but it was a tad bit off the beaten path. I felt going into it that Salem really needed Southern BBQ and the people would find us. And many did, and we were well liked. But at the end of the day we never did the numbers we needed to do to make it a viable venture. It was a painful decision but within 8 months we decided to shut the doors. Closing the brick and mortar and converting Smokin’ Betty’s BBQ into a pop up concept was a much better fit.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Gulu-Gulu Cafe, Flying Saucer Pizza Company, Smokin’ Betty’s BBQ, 3 Kitchens Catering story. Tell us more about the business.
The one thing I am most proud of is the extended family that we have created at our businesses. Having owned a small business for 13 years now we have had hundreds of people come through our door as employees. For whatever reason we tend to have much less turnover than the industry average. It’s been amazing to watch kids right out of high school come to work for us and stay through their college years. There are employees that have met their significant others here and have gotten married and have had children. Our longest standing employee to date has been with us for 11 years! This just doesn’t happen in the restaurant industry. I think this really sets us apart.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck is a huge part of any business. I’ve often thought back to when we had decided to open up the Gulu-Gulu in Salem. The area we had chosen was not a “great” area – it was on the wrong side of Washington St, where all the action was. But we had a limited budget and a dream. And for many reasons it worked! Maybe we were in the right place at the right time because the area really grew up around us, making the part of Salem we were in a happening place. It’s really been amazing.
Contact Info:
- Address: Gulu-Gulu Cafe: 247 Essex St Salem MA 01970
Flying Saucer Pizza Company: 118 Washington St Salem MA 01970
3 Kitchens Catering: 118 Washington St Salem MA 01970 - Website: https://www.gulugulucafe.com/, https://www.flyingsaucerpizzacompany.com/, https://www.3kitchenscatering.com/
- Phone: Gulu: 978-740-8882, Saucer: 978-594-8189, 3 Kitchens: 978-414-5980
- Email: steve@gulugulucafe.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegulugulucafe/, https://www.instagram.com/livelongandpizza/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gulugulucafe/, https://www.facebook.com/FlyingSaucerPizzaCompany/, https://www.facebook.com/3kitchenscatering/
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