SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Ron Loeber decided to start his own small business after 20 years as a chef.
He began making spice blends — hand-cutting and frying potato chips to season for sampling customers. Loeber had a hit, and he didn’t even realize it yet.
“They said, ‘Oh, do you sell the potato chips too?’” Loeber said. “And I said, ‘oh no — we don’t sell them. We just use them as a sampling tool.’ They’re like — ‘well, you really need to sell them.’ So I started selling them, and they’ve been extremely popular.”
Loeber’s business, Campside Chef Gourmet Food Company, was one of 14 businesses invited to showcase their products at this year’s CNY Brewfest. Campside Chef has multiple varieties of spice blends, such as “Sweet Heat,” “Smokehouse BBQ,” “Southwest,” and “Sweet and Smoky.” Loeber said that every spice blend he sells is also on his homemade potato chips.
The 26th-annual edition took place over a two-day period, last Friday and Saturday. Over 100 breweries set up shop at the New York State Fairgrounds, with hundreds of people filing in to sample different local brews from Upstate New York during different sessions.
Like Loeber, not every business making its way to the Fairgrounds came from Syracuse or the immediate suburbs. St. Johnsville, where Loeber’s business is located, is about 40 minutes east of Utica. Keuka, a craft brewery from Hammondsport, is about an hour and 40 minutes southwest from Syracuse.
Many business owners did not have to go far to find an eager crowd. Zach Marji parked his food truck outside the event venue — looking to draw hungry customers in a whipping wind.
“We’ve been making the best out of it, but it’s so windy that I don’t even blame people for wanting to just go right to their cars and leave because it’s so cold outside,” Marji said.
Marji’s business, the Fair Deli Food Truck, is the offspring of his family’s Fair Deli, which opened in 2000. It’s located on State Fair Boulevard — a stone’s throw away from the Fairgrounds and the Brewfest. He came to Brewfest last year as an attendee. This year, he’s back as a vendor at the event, warming up for the weeks and months ahead.
“This is our first public event of the season, so we don’t want to be super slammed for a first event — but we want to get the wheels turning again, get everyone acclimated in the truck,” he said.
Marji proudly displayed his best seller when talking to NCC News Saturday — “The Gotti.” The sandwich consists of chicken cutlets, riggies — a CNY staple, and parmesan cheese on a sub roll.
“We did this at the New York State Fair and we got great feedback from it,” Marji said. “Everyone loved it. So, this is a classic that I’d like to bring back every year.”
Marji said it isn’t just event goers that benefit from CNY Brewfest. As much as the local breweries receive exposure from people paying the get-in price and taste-testing loads of craft beer, there’s also a community of small businesses helping each other out. He said the event allows him to support numerous local breweries that his business already works with.
On the other hand, Loeber isn’t content with his current set of spice blends and potato chips. He told NCC News he hopes to diversify his offerings to customers.
“We’re gonna eventually branch out into different food groups and do pickles and pecans and other things, using our seasonings,” he said.
