Just two months after first opening its doors on Sept. 4, business at Main Street eatery University Hots is booming.
“Business has been pretty steady. It has increased a little bit, but since day one it’s been doing extremely well and continues to do well,” said owner Steve Vasile. “Our name’s gotten out there more and we see a lot of repeat customers: kids that come in almost every day, adults that come in all the time, professors and workers in the town.”
“I come here like once a week, once every two weeks,” said sophomore Lou Muscato. “I live in Rochester so I’ve been eating [garbage] plates for years and as a plates place it’s really good.”
Vasile graduated from the University of Buffalo in May 2004 and opened his first University Hots location nearby that September. “It was a lot of fun being a business owner at such a young age,” Vasile said, “but it was also very time consuming.”
After about a year and a half, Vasile decided to open a second Buffalo location near Buffalo State College. “I learned a lot the first couple years, so I decided to expand, finally do another one.”
After two years, however, Vasile realized that the new location was not nearly as successful as the original, and he decided to shut its doors. Vasile said that he learned from his experience and was able to pinpoint the characteristics of Buffalo State that made it a bad location for University Hots. As it turned out, Geneseo had all the makings for success that Buffalo State did not.
Vasile said that Geneseo’s campus is cohesive, well defined and a center of community activity.
“It helps with day business, with lunch and dinner,” Vasile said. “[It’s] not just a late-night place, whereas my Buffalo location, that’s all it is, a late-night place.”
Vasile said that Main Street’s proximity to campus makes it a convenient dining location for locals, college students and employees of other businesses. “It’s a close-knit area, so it kind of gives more of a draw, whereas Buffalo’s more spread out,” he said.
Students attributed the restaurant’s success to its quality and menu.
“It’s really the only place that’s not just pizza,” said sophomore Jason Wang.
“It’s nice to have some variety,” Muscato said. “It’s good that there’s someplace to compete with Mia’s.”